The police academy portion of an officer’s training is often not well understood by laymen, and generally isn’t accurately portrayed in TV, movies, or other media. The training that prospective police officers receive at the police academy is more than just how to arrest someone and read them their Miranda rights. Men and women who wish to become police officers have to meet certain requirements to even be considered for the academy to begin with, have to pass a battery of entrance exams to be able to get into the academy, demonstrate their ability to learn a wide variety of subjects while in the academy, and then have to pass even more exams on their way out. This ensures that only the best applicants are able to graduate, allowing only the most qualified, capable men and women to serve and protect the populace.
While the process and requirements for becoming a police officer vary from state to state, the general academy process goes something like this:
Entrance Exams
After an applicant has made it through an interview, he or she must pass a few entrance exams to determine if they are physically and mentally fit enough to get into the police academy or not. These exams are based on age, gender, and on the native state of the applicant, since all states have different requirements for their academies.
For the physical portion, prospective academy attendees usually have to perform a simple task, like running a mile in under a certain amount of time, to demonstrate their level of physical fitness. Police work is very physically demanding, and prospective police officers go through rigorous physical training at the academy. For the mental portion, they will have to be examined and given a seal of approval that they are well enough to handle the stress of being a police officer. These tests aren’t specifically intended to determine how well a person is going to perform as a police officer, per se; they are general indicators of fitness and mental health.
The Academy Itself- Law
At the police academy, attendees learn about a very wide range of subjects pertaining to law enforcement. Students learn about criminal law, as well as other branches of law, depending on the individual requirements imposed by their state. Some states might require students to learn about immigration law in depth, for example, while other states will not. Throughout this coursework, students will have to complete assignments, study, and pass numerous exams to determine how well they grasp the material. Considering all of the legal troubles a police officer can get into if he or she doesn’t follow the law themselves, having a very solid background in is crucial for being an effective police officer.
The Academy Itself- Physical Classes
Aside from law and other heavy reading, students of the academy will also have to learn several very important physical skills, and demonstrate their proficiency in them on a routine basis. Cops frequently come across people who want to hurt them, or try to resist arrest, and training at the academy is partially geared toward teaching them how to handle these situations.
Self defense training is required, to show potential officers how to react in hand-to-hand combat against an assailant. There are also required to learn the arrest techniques in training session, so officers can learn how to handle subduing and handcuffing a suspect in a variety of situations. Prospective officers are also required to learn how to handle the weapons that cops use in the line of duty, to make sure that they can handle a gun or taser safely, and understand all of the ramifications of doing so. Basic academy recruits generally receive between eighty to ninety hours of firearms training alone, though the exact amount can vary by state.
Exit Exams
To graduate from the academy, potential officers have to demonstrate how well they’ve learned everything they were taught. Just like any other school, this means final exams. Police academy graduates will have to have passed written tests about criminal law, and physical tests to demonstrate their arrest technique, firearms proficiency, and self-defense skills. It is only after passing all of these exams, as well as satisfactorily completing all of their coursework, that academy attendees finally get to become full-fledged police officers. The academy is several weeks of very stressful, intensive training, and not every attendee will pass. The exit exams ensure that only the best students make it out into the world as actual police officers.
Though going through the police academy is hard, being a police officer is even more of a challenge. The academy is designed to instill prospective officers with all of the skills they will need in the real world, whether they have to file paperwork or chase down a violent criminal. Though attending the police academy requires several separate batteries of tests, all of these are important to making sure that only those applicants who are the fittest both mentally and physically, understand the most about law, and can handle themselves when they have to arrest someone are able to carry the title of “Officer.”