Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
On the Job
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers maintain order by enforcing laws and ordinances. They perform a variety of duties, including directing traffic, investigating accidents, making arrests, or working in courts.
Physical Demands
This career requires physical strength and good hearing.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Interview people to obtain information about actions or status of individuals.
- Investigate accidents to determine causes.
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
- Interview people to gather information about criminal activities.
- Investigate accidents to determine causes.
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
- Determine operational procedures.
- Communicate situation details to appropriate personnel.
- Relay information about incidents or emergencies to personnel using phones or two-way radios.
- Maintain operational records.
Typical Working Conditions
- Working in a closed vehicle or equipment.
- Having face-to-face discussions.
- Dealing with external customers.
- The importance of being accurate or exact.
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people.
- Frequent decision-making.
- Responsibility for others' health and safety.
- Working in extremely bright or not enough lighting.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Exposure to hazardous equipment.
- Wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, hard hats, or life jackets.
- Sitting.
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.