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Police Officers

Emily Baker

Salt Lake Community College

Criminal Justice 1010

John N. Minichino

April 29, 2017

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The topic on which I chose to write about was a Police Officer. As I have studied criminal justice

this semester, I have become fascinated about how much they have to know. When I was

growing up my brother and dad always watched cops, so I have always had an interest in what

they do and what it takes to become a police officer. This class gave me a little bit of an insight

of what they do, but I wanted to learn more about them.

I decided to look into one of the major police agencies here in Utah that we see all the time on

the news all of the time: The West Valley City Police Department. The West Valley City Police

Department has one of the highest crime rates in the Salt Lake County. The officers are just as

busy as the Salt Lake City Officers and there a lot fewer of them in West Valley City.

Becoming An Officer

Hiring a Police Officer can be a complicated process and there are more steps in the hiring

process as a police officer than most people know. The first step in becoming a police officer for

West Valley City or anywhere in the state of Utah requires you to take a test, which is called the

NPOST (National Police Officer Selection Test). This test is required to be taken by all officers

and you must get 80% to pass. The test results take two weeks to get and you are required to

have them before you start any process in becoming a police officer.

Once you have received you test scores, you may start applying for police agencies. After you

have applied, police agencies will send you information regarding the hiring process. With West

Valley City Police and most agencies, the next step is a physical fitness test. The Physical fitness

test requires that applicants do 25 pushups without stopping, at least 16 vertical jump, 35 sit ups

in under a minute and be able to run a mile and a half under 15:35. These requirements are the

minimum requirements before entering POST, which we will discuss later.

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Candidates that can pass this physical standard move on to the next phase of the hiring process.

Anyone who doesnt pass this portion is thanked for his or her time and told to work on his or

her fitness and may apply again later on.

After you have passed the PT portion, you move into the background stage. During the

background stage, you will submit a background packet containing everything that you have ever

done. It contains things such as school history, places you have lived in the past 10 years,

employment information, crimes you may have been arrest for or have committed and have not

been caught and other personal information. After you have completed the packet, either a

detective with that respected agency conducts the background check or it is given to a private

investigator to do. They have the resources to find out everything about you because they want

the most trusted men to become officers.

During this portion the PIs or detectives may show up at your house, friends houses, or even

neighbors houses. They conduct all interviews with your references in person, making sure your

background checks out.

If you pass the background, you are moved onto the next part of the process that is an oral board

interview. The oral board interview consists of a Deputy Chief, a Sargent, HR manager and

someone from city council. During the oral board interview, they will ask you questions on why

you want to work for them, what made you want to become a police officer, what you may know

about the city that you want to work for, weaknesses, strengths, and many more.

After the oral board interviews are done, they rank candidates applying all the scores from the

Physical test, NPOST and oral board. Depending if you rank high enough and selected to

continue in the hiring process, you move onto the next phase.
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Phase 2

The next phase consists that you take a Voice Stress Analysis Test, which is like a polygraph.

During the Voice Stress Analysis, they asked you questions about your background packet and

follow up questions to make sure you have not lied. You also get a physical done, to have your

overall health evaluated by a medical professional and lastly you undergo a mental evaluation.

The mental evaluation consists of you taking several written tests and speaking with a

physiatrist. This is all done to make sure you are a good candidate for the police force. This job is

clearly not an easy one.

After completing all that you are finally at the last step of the hiring process and you have a

Chiefs interview. This is where you meet with the chief of police. The chief of police will ask

you questions and if you are lucky, he will give you a job offer. This process takes over several

months to complete and is the same for each agency.

Getting Hired

Once you have been hired, you training will finally start. Your respected police agency will send

you to Utah POST (Police Officer Standard Training). This is where you will spend your next

four months, being trained by lawyers and police offices.

The first month and a half is a portion called SFO (special Function Officer) block. During the

SFO block, officers work learning the laws which they will enforce and on their physical

conditioning.

LEO
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The last portion is called the LEO (Law Enforcement Officer), block. During this portion, the

cadets learn how to shoot, investigate, conduct investigations and put all of the tools they are

learning into practice with scenarios.

After the four months of training is complete, they have final examinations. The examinations

are testing both their knowledge of the laws which they have learned and their physical fitness. If

a cadet is lucky enough to pass, they move to graduation where they will receive their certificate

and move on to their respected agencies.

As I have chosen specially West Valley City Police, the officers training doesnt stop after

graduation. Like most officers, they undergo an FTO (Field Training Officer) phase. Every law

enforcement agencies have their owner program. With West Valley City, their program is 18-19

weeks longs.

The first three weeks of the FTO process is an in house academy program. During this in house

academy officers learn policies and procedures and gets certified with O.C (pepper spray) and

Taser (and yes each officer is both O.Cd and tased in order to be certified). Once they complete

the in house academy, they are finally assigned to their first FTO. They then will work with their

officer and many others until their training is completed.

As West Valley City, there are four phases to the FTO phase. They are the first, second, third and

fourth phase. Each of these phases are normally 3-4 weeks long and there are certain

requirements that each new officer must complete in each phase. Then they are moved on to the

next phase with a new FTO.

FTO Phases
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The first phase, consists of an observation week. During this week, the new officer rides with the

FTO and observes the officer work. After the first week, the new officer will drive and conduct

the investigations with the help of the FTO. During the first phase, officers need to show

proficiency in simple investigations and traffic stops. After this phase is over and the officer is

more competent in their work they move on to the second phase.

The second phase has one observation day, and then the officer in training takes over. As they are

now in second phase, more is required from the OIT (officer in training), but the FTO still is

allowed to assist them with their investigations. Before officers can move on from second phase,

they are required to show proficiency in moderate investigations and DUIs. After this they then

move on the third stage of being with an FTO.

The third phase like second phase consists of one observation day. During this phase, officers

are expected to start being able to do things on their own with little to no assistance from the

FTO. The officers in training are expected to be able to do everything on their own just as it

would be if there were no FTO with them. This phase is preparing the OIT for phase four, which

is a shadow week.

The fourth week is also known as a shadow two weeks. During these two weeks, OITs are only

observed by the FTOs. The FTOs only step in to prevent the OIT from breaking any law or any

civil rights. If the OIT shows proficiency and can perform each task by themselves, they are able

to move on. If they officer does not show proficiency, they are sent back to phase three for

remedial training.

Final Step To Being On Your Own

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If you are lucky enough to pass the 19-week FTO process, then you meet with the Deputy Chief

over patrol. During this interview, the Deputy Chief speaks with you about how the process was

and gives you your patrol vehicle and assigns you to your new shift.

At last you are on your own, but like in any profession you still learn in this job daily. You rely

on the senior officers or sergeants if you have any questions. Even though you spent almost a

year in training, your training is not over. Utah requires a minimum of 40 training hours a year,

to keep your certifications. Most Agencies have more required trainings a year, which exceed the

40 hours.

Now that you are an officer and finally on your own, you can prepare yourself on where you

want to go in your career. There are many options you can choose from:

Detectives: Screen cases, follow up on cases taken by patrol officers and interview suspects.

Community Response Unit: building relationships with the community, going to organized

events, help with recruiting new officers.

Crime Suppression Unit: Proactively work hot zones in order to reduce crime.

Task Force Officer: these officers area assigned to work and are cross deputized as federal

officers like an ATF agent, FBI agent and the U.S. Marshall office.

After you have worked long and hard in a specialized assignment or patrol, you can look at

promoting after six years. The first step is a Sargent, second step is a Lieutenant, Third is a

Deputy Chief, then the Police Chief. Before taking this class and learning about police officers, I

did not how complex it was to become an officer. They require more training yearly that I would

have thought which I am grateful for knowing that I am in safe hands.

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