Overview

The Police keep us safe from all the murderers, bank robbers and other people

that cause crime in this world. Most police officers work forty hours a week with

some overtime if they are working on a case. Some officers work weekends nights

holidays and rotating shifts because, just because it's your day off doesn't mean its

a robbers day off.

In an average, day if you were a street cop, you would patrol the highways and

make sure everything is safe. Most cops don't make lots of arrests like the ones

you see on the show Cops they may make one arrest a day and most are just

disturbance calls. If an officer does make an arrest then they have to take the

person that they arrested to the station and book them. To book somebody you fill

out the proper paperwork and put them in jail. If needed you might have to go

testify in court. In some cases when chasing a criminal you might get hurt or shot,

that's why the injury rate for law enforcement officers is higher than most

occupations. Some other hazards are that you might be exposed to hazardous

chemicals or diseases. Many police and other law enforcers wear uniforms, but

others like detectives don't. Some officers buy their own handguns and those can

cost up to $700 or more depending on the quality. Some law enforcers travel a lot,

like the secret service.

How To Get Hired

Most law enforcement people get hired by the city, county, state and sometimes

federal governments. Some people are private security officers. Most cops have

education beyond high school but others don't. When hiring a, lot of police chiefs

prefer officers who went to police academy. Not all police have to be certified. To

be hired people must meet six qualifications, have a good driving record and take a

drug test and physical agility test. It is best to learn as many foreign languages as

possible to speak to all the different languages of our population.

Salary

Entry level police officers and deputy sheriffs earn an average of about $2,175

per month. Top wages earned can go up to about 2,900 a month. Officers in higher

rank earn even more. (Detectives) as an added bonus, they don't have to wear

uniforms and have the lowest risk of getting hurt in duty (make about 2,650 per

month). Police hiring is running about average and will slowly increase.

How To Get Certified

You have to be a citizen of the United States and at least 21 years of age. Pass a

background investigation and they might even talk to your high school teachers.

You must have a high school diploma or GED. Pass a physical exam and have

corrected or uncorrected vision of 20/20 sight and good hearing. To be sure you are

not a criminal they finger print you and you must also have passed a course at the

police academy and have taken on the job training there. Also you must have CPR

cards.

Preparation

Law agencies, when hiring people or promoting more law agencies look for

people with college education. Some agencies even require 2 and 4 year college.

Most training can be done at community colleges. Some officer take apprenticeship

to get more employable even though all officer get on the job training after they got

hired.

Secret Service

The secret service is an agency that protect many governmental officials and

investigates crimes that has to do with money, like counterfeiting. The secret

service was started in 1865 and is America's oldest agency. The secret service

didn't start protecting the president until 1901 when president William McKinley

was assented. The secret service was successful in protecting nine presidents until

J.F.K. was assented. After the J.F.K. assignation the secret service increased the

budget for the agency and hired additional agents. With the increase in budget the

secret service aquired equipment and many new computers. No president since

J.F.K has been assented since then and there budget increase must have helped.

FBI

The name FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI didn't get it's

current name until 1935. The FBI was started in 1908 and had the name of the

Bureau and later the Division. J. Edgar Hoover was the first director of the FBI in

1924. The FBI usually works on federal crimes like bank robbery, kidnapping,

terrorism, and white collar crimes. Since there are many federal crimes committed

the FBI has 56 different locations which are in large cities and one in Puerto Rico.

The FBI has it's main office in Washington D.C. in the event of something

happening to the government.

CIA

The name CIA stands for Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA is a division of

the Executive Office of the President. The CIA is kind of like our governments

spies because they investigate foreign affairs such as Atomic Bomb security. The

CIA has been under investigation a couple of times by the U.S. government. The

CIA was being charged with illegal weapons trade and spying when they weren't

supposed to. The CIA was the group that lead the Bay of Pigs invasion by J.F.K.

The CIA was started in 1947 and was directed by William J. Casey. The CIA has

some of the best technology. They invented the U-2 a secret spy plane and are now

working with under water technology that can bring up submarines from the bottom

of the sea after they have sunk.

DEA

The name DEA stand for Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA was

established in 1973 to investigate the trade and selling of illegal narcotics. The

DEA has now started working with the FBI to investigate narcotics. This agency

has offices in more than 40 foreign countries like Columbia. Many times DEA

agents work undercover.

ATF

The name ATF stands for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The ATF investigates

the sale of illegal weapons and works to control alcohol and tobacco and the sale of

it to minors although, often the police help stop the illegal sales.

Conclusion

Even though law enforcement is a dangerous job, many American's each day

risk their lives to help keep us safe from bank robberies to kidnappings. Each

agency is devoted to different crimes. There are many agencies not listed here and

many that are to undercover to find out about. One kind of law enforcement that I

did not mention is the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The don't protect us

from everyday things, but they protect us from bigger things like war. We all give

our thanks to the men and women of Law Enforcement.