Police Officer Job Description

Series Summary

People depend on police officers and detectives to protect their lives and property. Law enforcement officers, some of whom are State or Federal special agents or inspectors, perform these duties in a variety of ways depending on the size and type of their organization. In most jurisdictions, they are expected to exercise authority when necessary, whether on or off duty. Police work can be dangerous and stressful but it is not always serious and police officers are usually an extremely close-knit group. This free law enforcement career video series provides important career information if considering becoming a police officer. This video series will describe a police officer's career, salary, qualifications and pros and cons. In addition, hear about a police officer's hardest day and funniest moments. If considering becoming a police officer, get valuable tips and advice and make an informed decision. A career as a police officer may be a perfect fit!

Video Transcript

"One o eight. One o eight go ahead. How do you copy this radio. My name is Sergeant Carl Nielson, I work with the Pleasant Grove Police Department in Utah. I've been a police officer almost eight years now, part of the responsibility of a police officer, there's different stages, the main goal we want to make sure the community is safe. When school is in we patrol the school areas, watch where people are speeding in the area. Make it safe for them whether they are walking to school or riding a bike to and from school that's our main goal there. And officers we try to drive through the areas be seen out there so we can deter any crime. And then if there is any crime out there then we possible be in the area and we can stop the individual, pull them over, make an arrest or do what we need to do to keep the community safe. It just depends on the area we also assist the community in Pleasant Grove as far as if they are broke down, if they lock their keys in their car we help them do, unlock their cars so they can get on with their everyday errands they have to run. And it's pretty interesting it's never the same day twice, there's always something new happening each day. Some jobs you do the same thing over and over with the, as a police officer things change minute to minute and it's pretty exciting. This a police officer there's different rules. There's you can start off as an officer and you work your way up through the ranks. I started off as a patrolman and then I went into the schools as a resource officer and from there I went to the detectives and now I'm a patrol sergeant. One of the things that are different between a patrolman and a detective is the patrolman takes the initial call and goes, takes the call or the case as far as he can. If he has to do follow up, go to a different city or something like that, stuff that he can't do, then it will get passed on to the detective and the detective takes the case from there and does the follow up. And gets more information and finishes up the case that way. So it's kind of two parts, both officer and patrol or patrolmen and the detective work hand in hand."