Occupations of the Badge

Occupations of the Badge

(different occupations as a Law Enforcement Officer)

Seven hours into shift I am ready to go home. While thinking of the details of my child's birthday party tomorrow, the call comes over the radio, "All patrols, be advised a vehicle has driven past the gate at Shafter Flatts. Be on the lookout for a dark in color SUV." A patrol calls in that they are in the area, and I am almost thirty minutes away. Besides, I am a Traffic Collision Investigator, and there is no accident. Suddenly, I hear the same patrol that called in the area call on the radio, "I made contact; this guy is driving off.... He's all over the road....This guy is gonna cause an accident!" On the word "accident" I turn on my emergency light and drive as fast as I can down the highway, hoping I get there before anyone gets hurt. There are many roles involved within law enforcement. I am personally interested in three specific occupations mentioned in the given course material; Police Officer or road patrol, K9, and a motorcycle patrol. I will discuss the job description, advantages, and difficulties of each occupation in this paper.

Police Officers are commonly called road patrols, or street cops. They are the "boots on the ground" in the city, the go between for citizen and criminal. Depending on the individual officer's personality and location, there are many advantages to being a street cop. A common task while on patrol is called community policing. This enables the officer to go out in the community and talk to people, make his or her presence known to any who may be thinking of violating the law, and react swiftly to any event that happens in his or her area of responsibility. For the officer that has good personal communication skills and thrives on being the reason his or her fellow citizens are safe, this is ideal. Advantages are seldom noticed for face value because they are not always apparent. If a motorist is stopped for running a stop sign and is cited a citation, that driver will most likely ensure they stop fully at stop signs in the future. One of those stop signs they could have driven through could have caused an accident that took lives. Unknown to the officer, lives were saved because of a simple traffic citation. Other advantages are more apparent. Helping an elderly woman cross a crowded street safely can yield immediate gratification in the form of a simple thank you. When dispatched to calls, an officer has the ability to save lives on the spot, or simple ease the minds of those involved right there on scene. While most officers do not do the job for the ability to look like the "good guy", the opportunity to instantly feel like you make a difference is always welcome. However, not all aspects of this job are positive. The major disadvantage to being a street cop is danger. While responding to a domestic disturbance, a spouse can freak out and pull a gun. While arresting an abusive husband, the battered wife may realize her livelihood is being escorted to a police car in handcuffs and stab the arresting officer in the neck. The amount of what if's when it comes to the dangers on an officer's job are endless. The only thing between an officer and tragedy is training and awareness, and sometimes that is just not enough. The occupation of police officer is the basis for all law enforcement; next I will be discussing K9.

As a K9 handler, you are never alone. Your dog is attached to your hip, just like your pistol. Through vigorous training a handler and his or her dog will become unstoppable partners, both willing to protect each other with their lives. As a handler, you have multiple jobs that can vary depending on the type of dog you have. The classes of dogs include personnel search, narcotics, explosive, and bite. A personnel search K9 unit will be dispatched to cases involving identification and location of persons of interest. Cases vary from missing persons to escaped prisoners. Narc K9 units commonly search for illegal drugs. During casual walking patrols, narc K9 units can pick up on the scent of drugs anywhere at any time without a permit due to the "open air" law. Narc K9 units are dispatched to schools, businesses, and also used in airports. Explosive trained dogs are essentially the same as a narc K9 unit. However, the illegal