How Do You Know If You Would Make a Good Police Officer?

Policing is a career like no other. You are frequently being put into new situations and you have to find the best ways of dealing with them. It is not a career you can train for easily before you join up; however, police recruiters look for certain qualities when they decide whether to hire or pass on an applicant. If this is a career that appeals to you, how do you know if you would make a good police officer?

Integrity

Police officers need to have integrity. They have to be honest and inspire trustworthiness in others. That way they will gain the respect of their colleagues and the people they encounter. A police officer who is lacking in integrity brings down the moral fiber of the police service and won’t last long in the position.

Ability to Keep Calm

Rudyard Kipling once said you’ll do well ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…’ He may not have been referring directly to police officers, but this is a good way of describing one of the top attributes a good officer needs to have. Keeping calm in a crisis is imperative to the job and it is not a skill that is easy to learn. If this is something you are great at though, you would make a fantastic officer.

A Good Team Player

You are not going to be able to deal with every situation on your own so the ability to work as part of a team is important. This may mean that you have to work well with the rest of your team, police officers in other departments, or outside agencies such as border control or social services.

Leadership Skills

Once you put on the uniform, you will be expected to lead from the front. The public doesn’t know if they are witnessing your first day on the job or you have been part of the service for decades. All they know is that a police officer has arrived, and help is at hand. Therefore, it is important that you can lead others from day one and this is a skilled recruiter will be looking for.

Initiative

You have to be able to take the initiative to assess a situation accurately and quickly. The chances are you will be put in a lot of brand-new situations over the course of your career and without taking initiative you won’t be able to deal with them.

Common Sense

Common sense is an integral part of being a good police officer, but it can’t be learned from a book. Common sense is what will help you assess and digest what you are being told. Does the story a detainee is telling you to make sense, or are there good reasons you can pick holes in their story? Common sense will help you to solve a lot of crimes.

Communication Skills

These are important for most jobs but especially so if you want to have a policing career. You will be expected to communicate with people from all walks of life from children to adults, intellectuals to high school dropouts and you need to be able to adapt the way you talk to people depending on who they are.

Another important communication skill is the ability to listen. Many people think they have great listening skills, but do they really listen? Often the most important things will sound like a throwaway comment or an add-on. However, if you listen to these seemingly small nuggets of information, they can help you crack the case a lot better than from a well-concocted story.

Negotiation Skills

A great police officer has excellent negotiation skills. Whether this helps you to diffuse a lover’s tiff without needing to make an arrest, negotiating with a violent criminal, or taking charge in a hostage situation, your ability to negotiate could be crucial. As a new recruit, it is likely that you could be the first on the scene to any of these events so your ability to negotiate from the offset could make a huge difference to the result.

Thirst for Knowledge

This is important on many levels. Most obviously it will help you to solve the crime as you will have a natural hunger to learn everything you can about a case. When you join the police force you will find there is a lot to learn in terms of police procedure and the law. Once you have learned this you will find that it changes frequently. Over a 25-year career, the best way to carry out procedures might change greatly; new technology will change the way you work dramatically and the law itself could even be changed. To stay on top of this constant change you will need to have a thirst for knowledge.

If you want to get promoted to the police force, you need to take additional qualifications. A policing degree such as those available through Wilfrid Laurier University will teach you leadership and management skills that will help to create promotion opportunities for you.

Ability to Manage Stress

Policing is a stressful job, and it is important that you don’t let this stress take over your life. You will be put in many unpleasant situations throughout your career and if you can’t manage the stress of dealing with them, you may struggle with the job. If you are used to dealing with stressful situations and know that you can, then great. However, this is something you may not find out until you have started your policing career.

Policing is a fantastic career if you like variety and excitement. No two days are the same and your career will be ever-changing. If you have considered applying to join the police service and you possess the qualities listed above, then the chances are you will make an excellent officer. Let yourself shine in the interview and your dream career will be yours.

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November 15, 2021