Once you’ve passed the written test, the oral interview, the physical agility test, and you’ve successfully jumped through a few other hoops, you’re probably ready for the background investigation. How ironic that part of the process to become a crime fighter is to be investigated by one! In this competitive job market, the background investigation is becoming even more important to ...

PoliceLink created the quiz Do You Know Your 10-Codes? to test your knowledge about popular 10-Codes as provided by the Association of Public Communications Officers (APCO). Find out which you got wrong or right by checking out the correct answers on the following pages. Don't cheat! If you haven't tested yourself first, go take the quiz! See answers on the next ...

When I finally procured my criminal justice employment, where I would eventually spend the majority of my law enforcement career, I was so thrilled to receive that letter of appointment that I didn’t bother to find out how much money I’d be taking home each week. I’d been involved in the testing process for months, I was 21, single, still in ...

While police entrance processes vary widely from state to state, and even from department to department, most law enforcement applicant screening processes begin with the written exam. By starting with the written exam, most sheriffs and police chiefs (having been one I understand this concept) use the written exam as just that: a screening tool. Written exams are a fairly cheap ...

The first thing most people think of when they here the term ‘special agent’ is the FBI. In reality, the FBI is only one of almost 100 federal law enforcement agencies that employ special agents. [widget:368] Special agents serve in all three branches of government – the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch – and many of the ...

Wouldn't it be great if there was one and _only one_ police entrance exam for every department in the nation? However, as many of you know, that's just not the case. Every police agency has different requirements and different attributes they are looking for in an employee, which means you could take a dozen police entrance exams and none of them ...

Criminal Justice programs combine a broad variety of topics and discliplines related to law enforcement, the courts, and America’s criminal justice system. Most Criminal Justice programs offer specific concentrations to focus on, such as: [widget:366] • Crime and criminology for those interested in law enforcement • Justice Policy for those interested in law and public policy • Community Justice for those ...

*“Forget everything you learned in the academy”* At least one veteran officer is going to say this to you as you begin your FTO program. And you know what? They’re probably right! All those weeks you spent in your criminal justice degree program learning about tactics, law, procedure, ethics, human behavior, report writing, firearms and traffic stop procedures from that dedicated ...

I had been a field training sergeant for several years when we hired a new recruit who sat down with my boss and told him that she really didn’t have the time or the inclination to go through all that silly police academy and patrol officer stuff. She asked to be immediately assigned to our Investigations Division as a detective, and ...

Degrees such as Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, and Forensic Science seem like the logical choice for a planned career in law enforcement, but they’re not the only choice, and sometimes may not even be the best option. [widget:366] Many law enforcement agencies, federal investigative agencies in particular, are involved in very complex investigations every day of the year -investigations that cannot ...

As with an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice, a Master’s degree in the field is used to enhance a career in the criminal justice field. In most cases, the degree is sought after and obtained by highly motivated leaders in public service, such as the command staff of a law enforcement agency or directors in federal law enforcement. [widget:366] The coursework ...

So you want to be a SWAT Officer, huh? Many individuals can put together an article about theories and research from their respective fields of training and tactical experiences. Many can also quote statements from books that have been written from many of the so called modern day warriors in years past. However, looking at today’s modern times and current threats ...

You’re out of the academy, done with field training and out on your own. You may be just off probation, ten years into the job, a detective, a supervisor, a manager; you may even be the chief, but chances are, you’re hoping to _never_ have to sit in a classroom again. After all, isn’t most of what we learn in law ...

In the general orders or in the personnel manual of virtually every police organization there is language about "ethics" and "integrity." But what exactly does than mean? Ethics is an easy word to throw around and yet very hard to define. Police officers are held to a higher standard than the general public, both on and off duty, but do we ...

Most of us start the academy with a servant’s heart. Remember the old LAPD motto “To Serve and Protect?” That’s all of us, that’s supposed to be what cops are all about, but pretty quickly into your law enforcement career, it becomes less about “them” and more about “us.” We separate ourselves from the rest of society, even from our family ...

My mom was a school teacher and both my parents were college-educated so I spent most of my childhood enduring frequent lectures about the importance of academics. Grades were not a problem for me until I entered middle school; then there were just too many other interesting things to do besides study and my grades slipped a bit. This did not ...

When I became a cop in 1980 many of the veteran officers made fun of the new recruits who had college degrees. We heard things like “What are you going to do in that bar fight, Rookie, hit ‘em with your diploma?!” And to be honest, at the time I really didn’t see how my four year degree in “Law Enforcement ...

So you’ve decided that law enforcement is the profession for you. Congratulations! As you’ve probably figured out by now, it’s not as simple as choosing your agency, walking in the door, filling out an application and being handed your dream assignment. Law enforcement is a diverse profession with literally thousands of options, specialties, and career paths. That’s the good news. Here’s ...

You’ve decided to go back to college. You figured how to pay for it (or have your agency do so). You’ve set up a place in your home to study for exams and do papers. But here’s the question that many people ask…what should you study? Picking a major has never been harder than it is now. With the explosion of ...

People always ask me, “Why did you become a cop?” I’d love to have a great philosophical answer like, “I wanted to have the opportunity to give back to my community” or a really cool answer like “I wanted to drive fast cars, shoot big guns and put evil men behind bars” or even the standard oral board interview answer everyone ...