Many police organizations are quite large, and as a new recruit, you are going to have to realize that with large organizations, there will inevitably be people that you have to work with that you just don’t get along with. This could be an even bigger problem in a smaller service, where there might be less room to avoid the officer you dislike. You will encounter conflicts with fellow officers and superiors. For some situations, it is difficult to determine what to do, especially if the conflicts are between other people and you find yourself caught in the middle.

Scenario:
Officer Jordan has been working for about a year in his division. He gets along well with his fellow officers and his supervisors. James is on a different platoon and often relieves Jordan at the end of his shift. James and Jordan went through training together and got along very well. Having spoken to James between shifts one day Jordan is aware that the sergeant of that shift is not well liked by the officers. The sergeant had apparently written up a number of the officers for what many people considered very frivolous citations and negative documentations. These citations would go into the permanent record of the officers.

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Once you are hired as a police officer, you are going to encounter many situations that will have multiple solutions. Depending on the officer and or sergeants involved, different approaches will be taken. You are going to have to make sure that you are comfortable with any decision you choose to make. These decisions will impact your personal morals as well as your relationships with fellow officers.

Scenario:
Officer Stuart has been working for about a year in primary response. He got along well with the officers as well as the detectives who were in charge of major cases. One night he was called to a robbery in progress. When he arrived on scene there was a young man running from the scene. Officer Stuart chased the male down and arrested him for robbery.

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If you are hired by a police service, and begin a career as a police officer, you are going to be put in situations that require strong decision-making skills. There are times when you will be the first officer on scene, and completely in charge of crime scenes or traffic collisions. Despite excellent training, testing, and hopefully a great experience with a coach officer, you are at times going to feel overwhelmed and confused. One piece of advice I could offer you is to prioritize quickly, make a decision and begin taking action. As you are working, on something, if there is a higher priority, or if you feel that you made a bad decision, correct and move on. Sometimes just taking the first step or two, even if they are in the wrong direction, will allow you to begin thinking more clearly and working towards resolving a crisis.

Scenario:
Office Achria was relatively new on the job. He had been working for almost a year, but was seconded to a traffic unit, which was responsible for patrolling the highways in a busy city. Achria didn’t have a lot of experience with traffic collisions, or traffic crimes as he handled a lot more criminal work with his training officer.
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As mentioned in previous posts, your partner can have a huge impact on how well work goes as a police officer, both in terms of productivity and enjoyment. You are going to have to learn to work with a wide variety of people who take the job more or less seriously than others. There are also going to be people who you enjoy working with for the most part, but do little things to aggravate you. As a new police recruit, the learning curve will be steep in terms of police knowledge and human dynamics.

Scenario:
Calvin had been working for several months as a police officer and really enjoyed the shift he was on. Everyone got along very well and the sergeant made sure that partners were constantly shuffled around so people consistently worked with different people. It was a busy division and for the most part the officers worked hard.

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As police recruits, many of you will be asked during an interview “What would you do if you caught your father drinking and driving?” These are difficult questions to answer, and until you are actually in the situation. There are going to be times as an officer where you will have to make difficult decisions, under less than ideal circumstances.

Scenario:
Thomas considered himself a hard working officer. He consistently made a large number of criminal arrests, wrote a large amount of tickets for traffic infractions and investigated a lot of people during his daily tour. He had a zero tolerance policy on drinking and driving, and actively searched for these arrests by stopping a lot of vehicles late at night, participating in road side spot checks regularly, and patrolling areas known to have problems with drunk drivers.

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Officers encounter a lot in the course of their work. They are involved in situations, looking through property, and coming across all sorts of things. In some cases you come across things that are clear-cut and you know what actions you should take. In other situations, officers will have to make judgment calls about what is appropriate.

Scenario:
Shannon and Kelly had been working together as partners for several months now. They got along very well and were well respected on the shift. They were relatively young officers, both with only about two years on the job.

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Use of force is something that will occur as a police officer. Anytime you put your hands on an individual to arrest someone you are technically assaulting them. You do have more authority as a police officer that the average citizen doesn’t have when it comes to using force so long as you are acting legally in the course of your duties. Once you are hired as a new police recruit there are going to be situations where you are uncertain what authority you have to act and situations where you might go over board.

Denny had been a police officer for about two months. He worked in a large urban centre and his division was in a very tough neighbourhood. One night there was a complaint of fighting with weapons outside of a local bar. When Denny arrived on scene, there was no fight, but another officer who had about a year on the job was questioning three teenagers. There were four other officers on scene.
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Integrity and honesty are important characteristics of any police officer, especially new recuirts. So is protecting the public, and looking out for victims of crime. You will encounter situations where people acting irresponsibly, or performing deliberate seriously hurt other people. As a police officer you will have a lot more information than the public usually has about the people involved and how guilty they often are. Rules of evidence in courts often exclude a great deal of evidence that would indicate guilt. This can be frustrating but they are the rules that exist in society. Police officers have to consider the importance of protecting the public on the one hand and acting honestly on the other.
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I’ve been writing quite a few of these stories, a lot based on my personal experience. If anyone has a story they would like to share, send it to us at info@policeprep.com. You can send us a brief idea and we will adapt a story, or publish one that you give us. People might be interested in commenting on a situation you might have found yourself in. Today I’m going to touch on a bit of a problem you may find on the job when you are hired. There are many apathetic officers out there who have been treated unfairly and feel discouraged working in the legal system. You have to decide the type of police officer you want to be when you put on the uniform. Are you going to simply respond to radio calls, or are you going to initiate investigations. If so, how are you going to learn?

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