Criminal Justice: The Right Career For You?
If you're interested in pursuing a career as a criminal justice professional, contact the Criminal Justice Information Service at
http://crimjust.org/criminal-justice-career.html
In this article, we will go over some of the top reasons why becoming a criminal justice professional is the right career for you. We'll also explore some of the more popular careers in the field and how they compare with each other, followed by a list on what it takes to break into criminal justice (with links to various sources).
With that out of the way, lets talk about what makes being a cop so great.
Cops are fun. You get to carry a gun, arrest criminals, and help people. What's not to love? Plus, it's not as bad as you think. Cops have it easier than you might think. In fact, they have a lot of support systems in place that make their job easier.
Because they're cops, they have great support networks in place where you can get help from the union if you are struggling with things at work or need to talk about anything that is bothering you. Police officers also typically go through a lot of training and therefore are paid more than the average person for doing their job. The training helps to ensure that you're less likely to be injured or killed.
Most people have the mistaken belief that police officers are constantly being attacked by criminals and that is simply not true. In fact, in most cases, the officer will never have to draw his gun or make an arrest. Most police officers get through their entire career without firing their weapon at a single person. Further, even when your life is in danger and you do fire your weapon, it's fairly unlikely that the guy will die (I'll talk about this more later). Basically, cops don't have it nearly as bad as they think they do and most of them live long healthy lives because of it (most cops are alive after 10 years on the job).
Police officers also have a lot of support systems in place to help you cope with traumatic incidents. Most police forces actually have psychologists and psychiatrists available on staff to help you work through any issues you might be having. This is NOT the case for the average person who works an office job and even most people who work in physically dangerous jobs such as construction, forestry, etc.
Police officers can get pretty laid back at times...because they don't typically deal with anything too serious. Most of your time will be spent on traffic stops and responding to calls about minor crimes. You'll spend a lot of time on the radio, but your days will be filled with relatively mundane tasks (I suspect that many boring bachelor's degree majors are actually taking the police exam in order to become cops). If you don't like going to work or spending your days doing mundane things all day long, then becoming a cop might not be the right career for you. But if you're looking for something exciting, fun and rewarding where you have a lot of flexibility in what you do and when you do it, then becoming a cop is definitely right up your alley. Most people find that they can fit their vacation time around their new job working as an officer.
Police officers get to have a lot of fun with their job, too. They have the freedom to create their own schedule and are typically given a lot of leeway in how they go about doing their job (for example, they can decide when they want to eat lunch, when they want to take breaks and which calls/incidents they want to respond to).
Police officers get paid decent money for doing what appears on the surface as a fairly simple task. Many people think that cops just walk around all day putting people in jail. In fact, most officers spend a lot of time simply walking around and talking with people (most crimes are not solved by running after bad guys). The number of arrests that an officer makes in a week is a very small part of their job. Most arrests are made by just talking to people, most times without pulling out a weapon. The average cop makes about 10 arrests per month (and even if you don't make 10 arrests a month, you'll still likely be making more than most office workers).
Cops also typically get homes with nice yards, cars and country clubs. They get to travel the world, but they can come home at the end of the day and sit on their front porch and talk with their neighbors. They can go out on vacation whenever they want and they typically have time off during their first year or so with the department. Think about all that...you get to be a cop, travel the world and live in your dream home. There's no reason you can't do that if you become a cop.
Cops are great people to know because they have a lot of experience with dealing with all kinds of situations that normal citizens don't. They deal with crises all the time and typically manage them well as opposed to some people who might panic when they get into an unexpected situation (i.e.. normal people would freak out and start running around like crazy). Since cops deal with crises all the time and since they've learned to keep their cool in these types of situations, they are great people to talk to if you're ever in a similar situation. Knowing an experienced officer can be a huge benefit to you when you need help.
Cops make great friends because they tend to be very down-to-earth and will have no problem hanging out with their friends regardless of what their position is. Cops are also usually more open minded than your average person and aren't afraid to try new things (e.g.. if someone wanted them to do some kinky sexual act, most officers wouldn't bat an eye...although they might laugh). They enjoy doing the same types of things that your friends do, but on a bigger scale. You'll probably see them at the bars and get drunk and then go home to their nice suburban homes. Sometimes they'll tell you about all the crazy things that happen to them on their days off and other times they'll just sit by themselves talking with you about how boring it is to sit in a car all day making traffic stops. A lot of cops are quite boring, but at the same time, they always have a story or two to tell you.
Cops are also typically very interesting people (i.e.. since so many cops spend most of their time dealing with boring crime dramas).
Conclusion
Cops are not evil. They're not particularly special either and many of them are just people trying to make a living.
If you choose to become a cop, then do it because you want to help people. Don't do it for the power, the cool stuff or the glory (if you do). There's plenty of that in being a cop as well, but there's other things as well...stuff that isn't so glamorous. Most cops have no problem telling you about what they don't like about their job because they realize that everyone is different and everyone has different motivations for becoming an officer.