Writing a police officer job description will help save time to be spent sifting through resumes of unqualified candidates. A police officer is responsible for several duties and roles in a community.
The police officer ensures that law and order are maintained in society. They provide emergency services by responding to emergency calls, patrolling assigned areas, and investigating crimes while ensuring that culpable suspects are jailed and punished properly.
Creating a well-written police officer job description will enable you to attract only the most experienced officers to your job call. This police officer job description template is designed to be customizable to enable you to post it on online career pages and job boards.
Are you interested in crafting a good police officer job description template for your company? Or maybe you’re just curious to find out what the daily duties of a police officer entail?
This article highlights an easily customizable police officer job description template covering all the duties and responsibilities, qualifications and requirements, and qualities needed in a police officer.
Table of contents
Who is a police officer?
A police officer is also known as a law enforcement officer. Whenever we hear of police officers, our minds mostly go to people who are tasked with maintaining law and order in society. Police officers are people who detect and prevent crimes in society.
They also try to put up adequate programs or measures to prevent or curb the growth of crimes in society. The key goal of a police officer is the protection of both public life and property. The rigorous system to becoming a police officer is put in place to ensure that only the people with a core calling to protect society are able to advance forward.
The slogan “The police is your friend” goes to tell how much police officers are to care about the well-being of every civilian. The best police officers are not just burly and fit but are those that are capable of exercising proper judgment and showing feelings of empathy.
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Police Officer Job Description Brief/Summary
When writing your police officer job description, it should contain a straightforward and clear job brief. The police officer’s job description should give the interested applicant background information on the duties required of him as a police officer.
An example of a perfect police officer job description brief is this below:
Overview
We at XYZ are currently hiring experienced and qualified police officers to perform a wide variety of duties, mostly relating to the maintenance of law and order. Your duties will mostly include responding to distress calls, investigative duties, patrolling a specific area, proper documentation of reports, and many more. You must be in the good physical condition and also have the quality of being level-headed in extreme situations. “
Duties And Responsibilities
Which duties will the applicant be tasked with performing? This section of your police officer job description template mostly highlights all the duties and responsibilities required by the police officer. Most police officers have a wide variety of duties and responsibilities which include:
- Deal with all administrative issues pertaining to a case.
- Establish a good and healthy relationship with individuals in the community.
- Enforcing all laws and regulations in the society.
- Quick response to both emergency and non-emergency calls.
- Proper patrolling of assigned areas in the society.
- Enforcing various traffic rules and regulations.
- Providing crime prevention and intervention measures in the community like showing delinquents the cost of breaking laws.
- Proper punishment for the failure of traffic regulations by citizens.
- Proper securing and investigation of crime scenes.
- Ensuring that evidence from crime scenes is well collected and stored safely.
- Testify in any court when need be.
Qualifications And Requirements
What are the basic requirements the hiring company is searching for in a police officer? This section will help separate the qualified candidates from the herd as you clearly explain the qualifications and requirements that are needed for applying for this position. Most police officer job descriptions should contain basic qualifications and requirements like:
- High school diploma or general education degree(GED)
- Degree in policing (OPTIONAL)
- Police constable degree apprenticeship (OPTIONAL)
- At least 21 years or older
- Valid driver’s license.
- Clean criminal record.
- A good physical agility test score.
- Good knowledge of all federal, state, and local laws.
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Skills And Qualities Required From A Police Officer
Problem-Solving Skills
This is a key skill that is required not just from all police officers but all law personnel. Having problem-solving skills as a police officer means being able to pay attention to details in order to bring about the resolution of problems.
A police officer’s duties and responsibilities revolve around solving various crimes and problems, being able to pay attention to detail is key to identifying potential evidence or even preventing a crime from occurring. A police officer should be able to combine various means both collaborative and independent toward solving various problems in his line of work.
Communication Skills
For every law enforcement professional to be able to carry out their duties, they must have effective communication skills. A police officer should be able to communicate clearly and properly with individuals from different backgrounds without any prejudice toward them.
In an industry where pretty much everything is built upon how much your community trusts or believes in your abilities.
Having good communication skills will go a long way in building trust, creating transparency, and fostering a respectful relationship between the police officers and the community. Using effective communication skills as a police officer will help in controlling situations that could escalate out of your control.
When a police officer has excellent communication skills, the citizens will be able to easily co-operate with their instructions. Being steadily involved in interviewing victims and interrogating suspects, having good communication skills as a police officer is a basic skill you must cultivate.
Mental and physical agility
As a police officer, you must be physically fit, emotionally fit, and mentally sharp. These are the 4 pillars of personal wellness in law enforcement. Being physically fit is of course a must as a police officer.
Police officers usually find themselves in unexpected situations in which a few seconds can determine the event’s outcome. You should possess mental agility to react quickly to events and think quickly, especially in the face of disastrous or life-threatening events.
A police officer should always make sure to grow his mind through the constant pursuit and growth in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
Conflict Resolution
Finding yourself in a line of work where you are constantly tasked with deescalating conflicts and issues in the communities. A good police officer must have key conflict resolution skills, you must be able to keep a clear mind no matter how extreme the condition becomes.
Police officers are usually the first law enforcement personnel called to de-escalate a riot or protest. How you react in those few moments will determine if the whole issue becomes more severe or reduced.
This brings us back to good communication skills. A police officer with good communication skills will be able to communicate effectively with rioters and protesters and find level ground for agreement in order to prevent any loss of life or property.
Adaptability
Being in a line of work where every day is different from the previous and the next. A police officer must be able to adapt to the ever-changing scenario. The duties and tasks which a police officer might face in a day are usually not predictable.
Police officers should be ready to adapt and face whatever challenges that might come their way. Being adaptable simply means that the police officers are capable of changing in order to fit the particular situation they find themselves in at that particular time.
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Conclusion
Crafting a good police officer job description helps enlighten job seekers to what is unique about your company and the job being offered. The myriad of duties and responsibilities which the applicant will perform should be clearly stated for easy understanding.
A well-written police officer description will give you clear information about the needs of the company hiring a police officer and the qualifications you, as an applicant, should bring to the table.
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References
- targetjobs.co.uk – Police officer: job description
- indeed.com – Police Officer Job Description: Top Duties and Qualifications
- resources.workable.com – Police Officer job description
- police.unc.edu – Officer Expectations and Duties
- betterteam.com – Police Officer Job Description
