Pros And Cons Of Being A Rookie Officer

FTOs will have a significant influence on their trainees and thus influence the future of law enforcement making the selection of the trainers a critical component of the process (Scoville, 2005). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed 90% of officers interviewed stated their FTO was the most significant

There is an endless amount of careers in criminal justice. Out of that endless amount, I chose the career of a small town police officer. Ever since the ending of last year, I’ve wanted to be a police officer. I pictured it as what better way to learn about the career I want to pursue than to research and write a paper about it. Small town police officers are the backbone of any community. They worry about everyone who comes in or goes out of that area. This paper will identify the requirements and prerequisites to become a small town police officer, small town police training and education, major duties and responsibilities, and salary and promotion opportunities.

Gilmartin begins by describing the typical rookie officer. Most are energetic, idealistic, enthusiastic and very driven. Quickly this enthusiasm can change from one of positivity to one that is very cynical and emotionally charged. These behaviors and thoughts over time if not corrected become exacerbated leading to noticeable mental and physical changes. The author, Gilmartin, uses personal experiences and other real life stories effectively so that many officers can relate and identify with the topic of the book.

Many people might argue that the lack of training in the police force is more harmful to the officers than the effect it has on society. Leslie Pfeiffer mentions in her article “” that the Federal government devotes a shocking amount of money toward training, yet local police agencies are often left to fend for themselves” (Pfeiffer). Whatsoever the federal government may be doing with the funds should undoubtedly be providing effective programs and necessities to ensure a complete and sufficient training process for officers. Often time’s people forget that although the officer is vulnerable to failure, error, and possible injury, in the event of a possible suspect or wrongfully accused person the lack of knowledge perceived by the officer can cause outcomes such as hostility, hatred, and death. Not only are officers fending for themselves but in

They don’t know how much was there in the first place. When asked if he felt that there is enough training offered in ethics at the police academy level the reply was that there is enough initial training offered in ethics for police at the academy level. To try to put too much information into the head of a person who is trying to learn all the laws and all the ethics, and maintain character traits that are necessary in order to be an exemplary officer. In Chapter 10 of Character and Cops by Edwin J. Delattre, the text states that “Instruction in ethics for police has to be more specific, precise, and respectful of time limits” (pg. 162, 2006). Ethics can also be taught or reinforced after the initial academy training by the partners that are provided to the officer. If a refresher training course is offered after an officer has been on the force for a year or two, it would be more benefit to them than an initial inundation of the information. I also asked Officer Davidson if ethics training should be offered as an on-going process for law enforcement officers. He answered me by saying that one can never know too much, you can never know it all. In order to continue to recall, or learn new methods to deal with every day situations and unique situations, one must continue to advance their knowledge; they must try to maintain a high level of education. A formal sitting is a good way to teach new ideas that have come up due to new problems that may

New officers need to know that no profession demands a higher ethical standard than law enforcement. Whether or not there are other careers that require a similar dedication to doing the right thing, it is undeniable that there is a tremendous degree of expectations placed upon police officers. Every officer knows, or at least should know by now, that they live in a fishbowl. Friends, relatives, neighbors and strangers watch every move law enforcement officers make, both on and off duty. The fact is that the public scrutinizes police officers more than most other professions, either because they are cynical or hope to catch them screwing up or because they are hopeful

Field training officer (FTO) programs were created so that agencies could better manage the post academy training for officers that traditionally were not hired into this field of work (Doerner, 2012). The “good old boy” program was out, and the implementation of a structured, standardized FTO program became the replacement (Doerner, 2012). In order to implement a FTO program, it must be defined so that the overall objectives are met. The San Jose Police Department was the first to initiate an FTO program. With some slight changes, this system is typically the one in use today (Doerner, 2012).

·       Supervised resident trainees/cadets at the Louisiana State Police Training Academy as the Duty Officer; charged with supervision the day-to-day training operations of new employees as well as new law enforcement agents.

In JROTC there are many topics to learn as a cadet. A cadet must memorize the cadet creed and be dedicated to the program. As a cadet I learned a lot of topics in JROTC during my freshman year. In the JROTC I learned the basic rules on how to be a good cadet and the Cadet Staff’s Responsibilities. During freshman year in JROTC we learned a lot about leadership and how it will affect us in the future. Leadership was a big topic that we learned during ROTC, the 11 principles of leadership was also an important topic we covered, it thought us how to become leaders. In the future everything I learned in JROTC will make me more independent, reliable, and a helpful person. JROTC taught me how to become more independent and how to lead others,

After the interaction between the rookie deputy and the night shift sergeant, a case was discussed in which I got to observe the two rookie deputies reaction that highlighted a topic in our class readings known as “reality shock,” or basically when a rookie officer experiences the unpleasant aspects of dealing with the public, the department in which he works, and in this

While becoming a police officer has many benefits there are also some cons that come to being one. Some of the benefits are you get to protect the people from criminals and bring them to justice for the wrong they have done. If a person works in homicide they get to solve murders and get to bring peace to the loved ones that this happened to and that would be a great feeling to have knowing that a person spent maybe hours, weeks, months, maybe even years to bring that person in and have peace knowing that person can now not do that again that’s a feeling that would be very satisfying to have. So more benefits of having this job is since it’s a government job you get extensive medical and dental coverage, top notch retirement plans, 2-5 week paid vacation, and holiday pay

Officers are being ordered in on their off days or holidays, forced to work mandatory overtime, a higher inmate to Correctional Officer ratio, as well as experienced Officers having to work with an extensive amount of “rookie” or inexperienced Correctional Officers. This combining of experienced officers with new hires, who have not received any type of prior training, raises the stress level during dangerous interactions with inmates, as well lowering the morale of the Officers who remain and attempt to complete their careers with a specific agency. This may be due to long term employees realizing that many of the new hires are using their time as a Correctional Officer to gain experience, or as a stepping-stone to eventually become a road or patrol Officer, which may involve more experienced Officers not spending the time necessary to assist, or provide “On the job training” to the new hires. Additional causes of stress

The FTO program has strict standards, example, writing skills, radio skills, etc must be on point. The primary cause of the FTO program has put an end to the mistreatment of non-traditional recruits might receive from senior officers for the sake of fairness and equality. The FTO program determines rather or not the rookie is cut out to deal with Police work due to the hands-on nature of Police work, which is either pass or fails. The FTO program is better than it was years ago because it had a way of weeding out Blacks and female rookies. The senior officers used to do underhanded things to make women and minorities uncomfortable, including double-standards (Doerner, 2012). I believe that the FTO program is striving to improve

In the past, post-training practices were brief and informal (Doerner, 2012). Rookie officers only spent a few weeks with one assigned senior officer (Doerner, 2012). Based on only that view, the senior officer decided if the rookie passed or was terminated from employment (Doerner, 2012). The FTO program used today provides ten exceptional benefits compared to past practices (Doerner, 2012).

Police “officers work and live in a constantly changing environment in which they are exposed to a myriad of ethical conflicts. When either unprepared or unaware, police officers are more likely to “go with the flow” than they would be if they were adequately prepared to face potentially ethical risks.” (Gilmartin & Harris, 1998) Most ethical violations are committed because the officer is exposed to a situation in which he was inadequately prepared. The lack of time to think about the situation before committing an ethical violation has detrimental life changing consequences. Police work can be very exciting and very rewarding but if not properly prepared and trained an officer can easily find himself involved in an ethical violation. Understanding the issues and being mentally prepared will help police officers become more responsible and make better