WHY I WANT TO BE A POLICE OFFICER Why I Want To Be a Police Officer Career Choices in Criminal Justice Dr. Darwin L. Driggers, Ybor Campus October 11, 2011 Why I Want To Be a Police Officer For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a police officer. I’m sure, as a little boy, what first caught my attention were the flashing lights and sirens on the police cars. It could have also been then the facts that police officer were permitted to carry a gun and had the ability to run red lights.

This is why as I grew up and played games like cops and robbers, I was always the police officer. During my teenage years, I later joined the police explorer program and really started to learn about police work. That’s when I realized that a police officer was nothing like I thought. I started to understand the role of the police was not as a symbol of power, but one of peace. I started to understand that society needed law enforcement measures to uphold the laws that have been set for our city`s and county`s.

I also learned that a police presence was the best tool in deterring crime and creating a safe environment for everyone. Police officers were in the community for all the right reasons, to educate us as children and educate our parents on safety. They were there when my friends and family needed them. Not only for the worse of times, but in the best as well. To me, police officer were my hero`s and I wanted to be one of them in order to be able to return to the community and provide the service and knowledge I’ve gained over the years of growing up pursuing my dreams of being a police officer.

Although I’ve always wanted to be a police office, since I am human and had to grow from a boy to a man, I have made mistakes in my life growing up by allowing peer pressure got the best of me in some aspects. Although I did my best to overcome the pressures of high school, by distancing myself from those bad influences there were times when I failed to avoid lives pressures. But, thru the proper upbringing and the basis fear of my parents, I avoided getting myself in any troubles that involved the legal system or anything that would cause me to have a criminal record.

Rather, I have learned from my mistakes and any bad decisions I’ve made over the years and expanding my knowledge of the consequences to bad decision making. This is the point in my life that defined me as an individual. Through experience, I’ve learned the best route is the truthful one, no matter how difficult telling the truth made if for me. After high school I started Jr. College and began majoring in Criminal Justice. But, I did not complete school to obtain my degree.

In time, I joined the United States Marine Corps. There they help enhanced my decision making skills, leadership abilities, and helped me grow as a man. After serving on active duty I worked in the corporate world and joined the Marine Corp reserves. It wasn’t until after a few deployments to Iraq I decided to finally get focused on my career in law enforcement by attending the Hillsborough Community College Police Academy and continuing my education there by working on my A.

A. S. Degree in Criminal Justice there as well. I do plan on expanding on that by getting a Bachelor’s degree at U. S. F. I understand that the life of a police officer is spent responding to crimes in progress, patrolling assigned areas to maintain public safety, interviewing witnesses and suspects, apprehending fugitives, collecting evidence, writing reports and providing testimony in court. Police officers usually work a 40-hour week, but paid overtime work is common.

Shift work is necessary because police protection must be provided around the clock. I am also aware that police officers need to meet physical agility, strength, fitness and vision requirements. They also need to be prepared for the risks associated with pursuing speeding motorists, apprehending criminals and dealing with public disorders. While working as a Police Officer I have learned that you’re constantly learning new things.

You have to stay up on the new laws and city ordinances, the ever changing equipment and gear, and the new things criminals do on the street. With all of the new upcoming technology and the use of the internet, there are always new ways that criminal can pray upon the community, so the criminals have now become my driving force of me becoming a police officer. My goal is to protect the community and the ones I love.