Law enforcement is an ever-evolving career path. Even and especially during the past few years, the ideas behind policing have changed and will continue to do so. If you’re looking to be the face of this new future of policing, the time is now!
However, becoming a police officer is a big decision and something you’ll need to consider seriously before taking any concrete steps. There are a lot of benefits to becoming an enforcer of the law and a public servant.
Getting familiar with these various benefits can help you to make your final decision when it comes to these kinds of career choices. Read on and we’ll walk you through a few basics that you’ll need to know.
Remain Fit and Active
Policing is not a stilted job, and you certainly won’t find yourself tucked away at some desk for hours on end. If you’re looking for work that’s going to keep you on the move and in good shape, the role of a police officer could do just that.
Your first task will be getting through the police training academy, which includes a whole physical element when it comes to their training. You’ll have to get in quite a good shape to graduate from your time at school, and you’ll be pushed to your physical limits there quite often.
Being in good shape is crucial for the lifestyle of a police officer. You’ll need to be able to move quickly when in a tense situation, and there may even be instances where physical strength is required.
For this reason, most police officers receive free access to gyms and may even have a private gym located at their office. You’ll have the encouragement of your coworkers and peers and other people to stay in shape alongside.
If you’re looking for a job that will push you to stay at peak mental and physical condition, this is the job for you.
Close Bonds and Relationships
There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. Policing isn’t always easy. But the positive side of all that hard work is that close bonds are created out of it. The sense of community amongst fellow officers is a bond like none other, and it can be one of the more positive lights in your life.
When you work as a police officer, your coworkers can become a second family. They’ll be there for you through hell and high water, no matter if the issue you are facing is work-related or entirely personal.
Policing is a large community, with hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters spread out across the country. You can tap into this sense of community no matter where you go. This can be reassuring and gratifying and is often one of the benefits that current officers enjoy the most.
There are many gifts for police officers that highlight the importance of these fraternal relationships. Challenge coins, for example, are a common token exchanged between various police officers. It is a physical symbol of the bond between members of this organization.
Salary and Benefits
You may not become a billionaire by becoming a police officer, but it’s perfectly possible to live a very stable life on an officer’s salary. The average salary for a police officer is greater than the average salary for most of America, hovering somewhere between $60 and $80K depending on location and position.
Many officers also get to enjoy many additional benefits as well. Retirement packages for officers are common and provide an easy way to a happy senior life after many years of public service. In many departments and agencies, it’s possible for an officer to retire after two decades of service, no matter what age they happen to be at the time.
This means you might be able to retire early, live off of your pension, start a second career, or throw yourself head-first into a hobby.
Police officers also tend to get great health insurance (often better than most private insurance plans) and a very solid amount of time off. They also get the vehicles they can use to get to and from work, which is more than most jobs would give you!
Job Satisfaction & Aiding the Community
At the end of the day, it’s important that your job satisfy you and give your life some sort of meaning. Many jobs don’t provide any sort of satisfaction and leave the employee feeling like they don’t make any sort of impact on the world around them.
That certainly can’t be said about policing. You make a direct impact on your community when you become a police officer, and you can work hard to make the neighborhood you live in a better place.
That means fair, balanced policing with a heart in the right place. You often see people who work as police officers volunteering in their community during their off-hours. This is because this type of position draws in the type of people who want to engage and see results in the world around them.
Most work doesn’t offer this kind of benefit, but you’ll find it every day on the job as a police officer.
Benefits of Becoming a Police Officer
If you’re working through a few different career options at the moment, there are a number of reasons why you might want to consider becoming a police officer. There are so many different benefits to working as part of the police department, and the above are just a few of the many to consider.
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