The entry level position that I would like to attain upon graduation from college would be in a medium to large sized police department, or a job in a federal law enforcement agency such as the ATF or the US Marshall’s. If I don’t get a job in a federal agency, I would like to work in a police department in the cities or Duluth. I am also planning on applying to the FBI as soon as I gain my three years of work experience that they require. According to the General Occupational Themes, I have a strong interest in investigative and social aspects and some interest in enterprising.
The investigative and social parts will definitely be of help in law enforcement. The investigative area will help in solving cases, and the social part will be useful in working with different people and listening to their complaints and their side of the story. According to the personal style inventory, I am an INFP (introversion, intuition, feeling, perceiving). The I, F, and the P are all qualities that are helpful for a career in law enforcement. I have been preparing for a career in law enforcement by double majoring in criminology and sociology and getting my minor in psychology.
I have taken many courses that are related to my potential field, like law enforcement administration, law enforcement and society, delinquency and juvenile justice, correctional continuum, deviance, research methods, sociology of rape, social psychology, law and society, social stratification, sociology of criminal law, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and psychology of food abuse. I am also planning on taking psychology of drug abuse, sociology of gangs, correctional agency administration, Victimology, criminal investigation, criminal evidence and procedures, and Minnesota statutes and traffic laws.
I have also attended a Minnesota Corrections Association training seminar, which had classes that are applicable in the law enforcement world as well as corrections. I have spent time watching court proceedings this past summer because I have a friend who is a judge. This past summer I took a handgun safety and familiarization class, and I have been shooting a few more times to get used to firing different kinds of handguns. My internship will give me a wide range of experience of police operations.
I will most likely get to see every area in the police department, as well as working with city council and the people of the community. I will gain experiences working with all sorts of different people, which will be a great deal of help when I graduate and get a job. I would have this internship help me grow in several areas, knowledge, skills, and personal development. I would like to know more about policing and how the police environment operates. I want to learn how police officers act in different settings with different types of people.
I want to learn the training that the officers go through, both before they become an officer, and during the course of their occupation. I would like to see what kind of skills I may need to learn to become a good officer. I would also like to become more self-confident in interacting with different people. I hope that I will not be intimidated by working with police and many people in authority, and if I am intimidated that I would learn how to not be intimidated. I would also like to make sure that I could remain calm and function normally in various stressful situations.
