Law Enforcement Training

My son recently began his senior year of high school. We had filled out several financial assistance forms in preparation for his post secondary education. He still had not decided which college he wanted to attend or what field he was interested in. I was surprised when he came home from school one day and stated that he wanted to check out law enforcement training. His best friend’s dad was a police officer, and my son had always been interested in his job.

I knew nothing about law enforcement training. I suggested to my son that we invite his friend and parents over for dinner so that we could discuss with the officer where he went to get his law enforcement training. I was surprised when we started discussing this career choice that there are so many specialty areas to look into. The officer we talked with had started by going through an eighteen month course of law enforcement training through a vocational college.

After he had completed this course he found the only type of job he qualified for was to be a patrol officer. The law enforcement training he completed went through the basic techniques of being a police officer, which included weapons training, but the more advanced training to become a detective required a four year college degree. He took a position as a patrol officer part time and then entered into a four year criminal justice program at the university to advance his law enforcement training.

He stated that in the past police officers moved up through the ranks of the police force, however with the advances in technology and the complexity of crimes that people are committing more and more police departments prefer that all officers have a four year degree in addition to the basic law enforcement training.

My son took the information that the officer had given us and started doing some additional research. There are many specialty areas that you can get into. My son needed to decide if he wanted to go through the basic law enforcement training immediately and then take the college courses, or to complete the college courses first. He made an appointment to talk with our local sheriff.

The sheriff told him that by taking the basic law enforcement training first he could work part time while completing his education. Because officers are needed 24 hours a day seven days a week, he could work hours that would be flexible around his classes. By working while he was doing the advanced course work he would be able to decide if there is a specialty area that he wants to concentrate on.