Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 671,200 people employed as police and sheriff's patrol officers in the United States. The median annual salary is $65,500. Entry level employees earn approximately $38,420 per year and senior employees earn approximately $109,040 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.
• Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.
• Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.
• Render aid to accident victims and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.
• Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
• Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved.
• Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area.
• Testify in court to present evidence or act as witness in traffic and criminal cases.
• Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.
• Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures.
• Relay complaint and emergency-request information to appropriate agency dispatchers.
• Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
• Photograph or draw diagrams of crime or accident scenes and interview principals and eyewitnesses.
• Evaluate complaint and emergency-request information to determine response requirements.
• Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody.
• Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance.
• Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed.
• Direct traffic flow and reroute traffic in case of emergencies.
• Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid.
• Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders.
• Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary.
• Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.
• Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities.
• Inform citizens of community services and recommend options to facilitate longer-term problem resolution.
• Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order.
• Provide road information to assist motorists.
• Process prisoners, and prepare and maintain records of prisoner bookings and prisoner status during booking and pre-trial process.
• Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.
• Place people in protective custody.

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