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What’s so great about law enforcement? If it wasn’t for these men and women risking their lives
to keep these this country safe, where would we be? Police officers dedicate 40 hours a week to protect
our streets, others work 48 hours a week (real). The exact job requirements for a police officer are quite
diverse, depending on the region in which he or she works and the exact position.Most people think all
police officers do is hand out tickets and citations for legal infractions. But being a police officer is more
complex. They respond to complaints ranging from noise to calls for help, then investigate crimes,
collect evidence. Many testify in court (what). Even though being a police officer is hard, it’s worth it.
To become a police officer, you have to require a lot of things. I sat down with Officer Mitchell
and he said “In order to become a police officer there’s a school you go to for 3 months, now its 4
months, but they’re going to make it a mandatory 6 months.” “You also have to take a state exam and
you have to have a high school diploma plus a 4 year degree.” Police officers in many cities are required
to poses a bachelor’s degree (what). ` `
Law enforcement isn’t always guns, tazers, giving out tickets and arresting people. It is law
enforcements job to protect people and make this world a better place. There are several types of
crimes and felonies, such as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and arson. The types of
felonies include kickbacks, tax invasion, insider trading, bribery, embezzlement, identity theft, antitrust
and at least a dozen forms of fraud (types). There are also numerous types of school violence, including
physical mental or sexual abuse, theft and vandalism. Certain people think that school violence is just
getting caught smoking ore skipping. It’s much more than that. Most common is bullying, fighting,
assaulting inside or outside the school premises, bringing drugs and other components to school, sexual
harassment, vandalism, robbing, or stealing, bringing handheld weapons and fire arms inside school
(different).
Lots things can go wrong when being a police officer. During 1992-97, over 1,100 law

2. enforcement personnel and firefighters were killed in the line of duty. A proportion of these crashes
were alcohol related. Most of the 887 police fatalities were cause during pursuit of criminals, some shot
and others fatally injured in highway crashes. In 1997, over one million violent crimes were reported in
the US and about 700,00 arrests were made by police officers. Or the period 1992-97 homicides and
highway crashes were 2 major events contributing the 75% of the law enforcement deaths (Clark). I
asked Officer Mitchell in our interview was there anything he worried about when working? “My safety,
if I get to come home or not.” I also asked him how his family felt about him being a police officer. “They
honor me in what I do. My wife was worried, but I was in the air force for 10 years, I love the thrill and
excitement I get from it.”
There’s a question that we all have on our minds, just how dangerous is police work? Generally,
police are about 3 times as likely to be killed out the job as the average American. About ½ of the police
are killed in traffic accidents and most of those are NOT while in pursuit of a criminal or rushing to the
scene. If you take out traffic accidents and other nonviolent deaths and your left with 69 police officers
killed in the line of duty in the year 2006. That’s 69 out of 850,000 officers nationwide. That’s about 8
deaths per 100,000 police officers. The job of a police officer can be dangerous, depending on the pay
that is low to mid range($33,000-$44,000 average starting pay). The lowest 10% earned by police and
sheriffs patrol officers in 2004 was less than $26,910 and the highest 10% more than $68,880. (Just).
Police on Wall Street are the most forceful due to the protesters. They use tear gas and it hits an 84 year
old Seattle woman in the face. Police arrested 21 demonstrators in Las Vegas, and 20 were led away in
plastic handcuffs in Portland Oregon (Police). I asked Officer Mitchell what his opinion was on this
subject, he said “A lot didn’t want to do it, because these people there arresting are like family.”
Since the 19th century, woman in America have
worked in law enforcement. Women were mostly relegated to clerical roles (women). Officer Mitchell
had a very unique opinion about this subject. I asked him about his opinion on working with female

3. officers he said, “Depending on how they act. If they act to feminine, they need a strong will. I would
rather have Female officers as back up than male, depending on if they do there part.
In conclusion, a police officer protects us from harms
way. The challenges as a police officer are getting home safely keeping an eye on there surroundings so
they don’t get hurt or injured because someone care out of nowhere and they get killed. Don’t judge
something on the way it looks, because its harder than you think. Even though officers might not be in
your job category, it’s still good to have them around because they protect us from the murders, rapist,
drug dealers and gang members that live around us. Keep us from making the worn decisions,
sometimes we’ll be in a predicament and they’ll sit and talk to us about ways we could turn ou0r life
around. That’s the most important part of a police officer. They’ll be there for you when you need them
and they’ll keep you from making bad decisions, like dropping out of school, doing drugs, skipping,
running away, and doing something illegal. There also good role models