Expert: Jason Grabill - 3/6/2007

Question
oh yeah. sorry but i have another question. When you said police officers do alot of writing so im gonna have to need to take some classes that deal with creative writing and journalism courses. What are those classes? like what do you do? and by the way, since you said that police officers do alot of writing, what kind of stuff do they write?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I am now in the 10th grade, and I have been admiring what our police officers do. I figured that it is actually a good job, so I thought I would be one. My question is, since you don't need a college degree or anything like that what do you need to be a police officer? Do I just need to go to an Academy and just sign up for it and afterwards I'm ready to be an officer? By the way how long is the academy? Finally, why if you have slacked your 9th and 10th grade year and have bad grades and do good on your 11th and 12th grade year would you still be accepted?
-----Answer-----
Hi, first, your high school grades do matter, but don't stress over them too much.  From here on out, if this is what you want to do, take lots of English, Creative Writing, and Journalism courses, Police officers do far more writing than anything else.  Some computer courses wouldn't hurt, either.

Some agencies do require a college degree, others do not.  It will depend on who you want to work for and what you want to do.  I will say, however, that almost all agencies require you to be 21 years old before they will hire you as a Police officer, unless you start out in a cadet program and work your way up.  There are a few states who hire officers at 18, but very few, mostly in the south.

No, you will have to go through a selection process, you don't just sign up to be a police officer.  The process is very rigorous and demanding, and by no means is it assured you will be picked.  Academy length differs by state;  in some states, it is 6 months long;  others about 3.

Best of luck!

Jason

Answer
My answers follow your followup question:

oh yeah. sorry but i have another question. When you said police officers do alot of writing so im gonna have to need to take some classes that deal with creative writing and journalism courses. What are those classes?

Those classes are journalism, AP English, Creative Writing, etc.  Check with your guidance counselor at school for more information.  

like what do you do? and by the way, since you said that police officers do alot of writing, what kind of stuff do they write?

They have to write reports, write charging documents, write warrants, write tickets, etc.  When they do investigations, that is all writing.  The "who, what, when, where, why, & how" is what they have to write.  Unless you are a better than average writer, with good spelling, punctuation, and English skills, you will have a hard time as a Police officer, so it's best to start to work on those skills now.

Good luck,
Jason