ipooptoomuch's Journal: sfdsfd

Jean Carriere Hour 3 11/25/07 Police officers are employed by the government to maintain order, protect life and property, and keep the peace. They are given the power to arrest offending suspects by the government. There is a variety of education that will aid a person in obtaining a job in law enforcement. The bare minimum requirement is simply a high school diploma. Education that is related to criminal justice or law enforcement will give somebody an advantage over somebody who doesn't have a degree in that field. A person with a degree may also get a higher salary, and will get an even higher salary with harder to obtain degrees. In order to graduate from high school, a person usually must obtain around 23 credits. There are certain requirements police departments use for age, height, vision, and physical fitness. A person must meet all of these minimum requirements in order to be employed as a police officer. These requirements usually include U.S. citizenship, a high school diploma, a driver's license, and a police record free of any charges. Police officers have many responsibilities but the primary ones are to protect life and property, preserve the peace, and enforce local, state and federal laws. The other responsibilities include Investigating, detecting, and preventing offenses; recovering lost or stolen property; collecting and preserving evidence; resolving domestic and other disturbances; enforcing traffic laws and ordinances and investigating traffic accidents; providing public safety services to the community; testifying and presenting evidence in court; and collecting and preserving evidence. Salary for a law enforcement officer varies. Their salary depends on many different things such as location, rank, duties, and education. In 2004 The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that police and sheriff patrol officers had an average annual income of about $45,000. Opportunities for career advancement for police officers and sheriff's include heading up specialized units like homicide. A full-time week is 40 hours. Police officers provide a 24-hour public service so hours may vary. Conditions for police officers vary widely (they may be in a patrol car or on foot). Dangers faced by officers include death, increased risk of physical injury, and increased potential for emotional disorder. 18,838 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty in the United States. There are many work activities involved in being a police officer. Activities included are patrolling on foot, by car and bicycle; responding to calls/requests from the public to assist at incidents; attending road-related incidents including collision scenes, vehicle check points and traffic offences; delivering death and hospital messages to families; keeping the peace at public meetings, events, processions, trade disputes or strikes; conducting initial investigations, gathering evidence and taking statements, and complying with relevant legal requirements; interviewing suspects, victims and witnesses in accordance with relevant legislation; searching individuals, personal property, vehicles, premises and land; conducting arrests, whilst having regard for human rights, security and the health and safety of individuals detained, members of the public, colleagues and self; administering custody procedures as an arresting officer; gathering, recording and analyzing intelligence to achieve community safety and crime reduction objectives; attending and giving evidence in court and at other hearings; developing and maintaining community relations. Police officers carry a variety of equipment including body armor, radio equipment, night stick, handcuffs, notebook, pencil, pepper spray, tasers, badge, evidence bags, flashlights and latex gloves. Officers may also carry more equipment in their patrol car which includes barrier tape, rubber gloves, traffic cones, loud hailer, first aid kit, breath alcohol meter, speed gun, video recording equipment, chalk, rope, flashlight, box cutter and warning signs.