INTRODUCTION

 

A typical day at the station for me as a sergeant begins with preparing for roll call- I determine info that needs to be provided to my shift, etc. I then conduct roll call, where I assign the officers their beats for the day, make them aware of pertinent info, assign them any special assignments, etc.

 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

What University did you go to? What was your major?

I went to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and UIC. My major was Criminal Justice and I have a Bachelors degree from SIU.

 

What did you do at your university that has attributed to your success in the workforce?

I took my studies very seriously and got good grades. I believe this ultimately helped me when it got late in the police testing process, when the candidates are narrowed down and a police dept has to decide which candidates to hire or place on the eligibility list

 

JOB TRANSITION

 

What inspired you to do what you do today?

I can’t really say what inspired me to do this. When I was in college deciding on a career to pursue I considered things like “What will I enjoy doing for the next 30 years of my life?” I knew I did not want to be in an office. I knew I enjoyed dealing with people. I am in pretty good physical shape and like being involved when things are happening. These are the things that led me to pursuing a career in law enforcement.

 

Describe your transition from being a police officer to a police sergeant.

The transition from police officer to sergeant was interesting. You have to adjust to going from being the person to handle the calls, to being the person who oversees how the calls are handled by the officers. Instead of having to worry only about handling your own things, you now become responsible for how everything is handled. Also, you are now in charge of officers that were your peers and it takes a while to assert yourself as a boss to people who did not look at you as a boss in the past.

 

JOB INSIGHT

 

Describe important responsibilities that you have as a police sergeant.

To me the most important responsibilities I have are to ensure that my shift runs smoothly, that all officers are safe and go home safe and sound at the end of the shift, and that we get the job done right. I have to trust my officers to do the right thing, and I have to be prepared to step in to make sure the right thing is done if necessary. It is ultimately my responsibility as the Sergeant of a shift to ensure that the department is represented well, and that we treat people right and do not violate people’s rights, etc.

 

Describe a typical day at the police station.

A typical day at the station for me as a sergeant begins with preparing for roll call- I determine info that needs to be provided to my shift, etc. I then conduct roll call, where I assign the officers their beats for the day, make them aware of pertinent info, assign them any special assignments, etc. Then my shift hits the street and we handle our calls and deal with things as they occur. I have to monitor what is occurring on my shift and decide which calls I should go to- any serious type calls involving deaths or serious crimes, etc. I have to be available to my officers if they need assistance or guidance on calls. I also have various administrative duties to tend to such as approving reports, dealing with citizens who have questions or complaints, etc.

 

Describe the procedure that candidates have to go through before they can become an officer. (Training process)

The procedure candidates have to go through is as follows—first there is a long testing process consisting of completing a very detailed application, a written test, a physical agility test, a background check, drug screening, medical examination. This process can take months and candidates are “weeded out” as the process goes. There may be as many as 300-400 candidates to start. This number is typically narrowed down to maybe 20 by this point of the process. The final remaining candidates then have an oral interview with the village’s Board of Police and Fire commissioners. The final candidates are than placed onto an eligibility list. As the decision is made to hire officers, the village will make job offers starting with the highest candidate on the list.  Once hired, the candidate is sent to the police academy for 3 months of training. Our dept generally sends our candidates to the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy at the College of Dupage. Once completing the academy, the officers come back to our department for 3 more months of field training, where they train with 3 different Field Training officers and generally work all 3 shifts (Days, Afternoons, and Midnights). If field training goes well, the officer is then released on their own and assigned to a shift. So you can see it is a long process from the time a candidate applies for the job until the time that candidate is a functioning police officer.

 

JOB OPINION

 

What is most challenging about your role? How do you overcome the challenges that you face?

There are many challenging aspects to being a police officer. Probably too many to list. You have to be willing to work a schedule which is different from a schedule most of society works ie: working weekends, working holidays, working various different shifts. You do not punch a clock and go home at a certain time. If my shift is due to end at 11:00 PM, but something major happens at 10:45 PM, I am here for the duration of time it takes until that situation is resolved and completed. I recently worked a shift where my 10- hour shift was just about to end and a fatal crash occurred. I was here for another 9 hours, making for a 19 hour day.

  

In addition to these physical types of challenges, there are many mental and psychological challenges. As police officers we see many different things- often not very pleasant. We see a lot of the negative aspects of human nature, things that the typical citizen does not often experience or even know exists. It is challenging not to become jaded by the things we see and experience. I think it is very important for officers to have interests and hobbies away from work. For me, I enjoy working out and playing sports on my off time. This has always helped me personally to have a release from the stresses of police work.

 

Another challenge that has always existed, but probably now more than ever in my career, is the fact that police are often seen in such a negative light. Don’t get me wrong, there are cops who make mistakes just like people in any other profession. But recent events and the way the media has portrayed them have had an effect of turning a lot of people against the police. We are seen often as the bad guys, when we (99.9% of us) are trying to do the right things out here. People have lost respect for authority, and that makes an already difficult job that much more difficult to do.

 

JOB SPECIFIC

 

Describe problems that you have to overcome on a typical day.

The first thing I would say is there really isn’t a “typical Day” in my job. Every day brings new challenges. That is definitely one of the aspects I enjoy most about what I do. But some common problems can be dealing with citizen complaints, where citizens are not happy with how an officer treated them or handled a situation. In an overwhelming majority of the time, I find the officer did nothing wrong, which is good. But it is never pleasant to deal with an unhappy citizen. Fortunately there are many instances- but not enough in my opinion- where people call to praise an officer or express appreciation for the way our department handled a situation.

 

What steps do you take to ensure that your police officers are accountable?

We take many steps to make sure our officers are accountable. We make tremendous efforts to ensure our officers receive the training they need to do their jobs right. Our officers are evaluated quarterly to ensure they are maintaining standards and expectations. If an officer does do something wrong, there are various forms ranging from being written up, to being suspended, to even being fired for major violations. I have unfortunately seen officers fired for lying and having poor credibility. There is no place for non-credible people in this line of work. accountable and making sure they are representing your station the right way.

 

What is something that most officers struggle with when they get into the force?

I think one of the struggles new officers experience is that they realize the job is not what it seems on TV or in the movies. There is a lot of paperwork and that is never shown on the show C.O.P.S. TV makes it look like we arrest people and then go right back out there for more action. TV does not show the rest of it-ie: processing the arrestee, filling out many forms, doing the report and printing it up, etc. Another area of struggle for new officers is they realize that they will now be working weekends, holidays, different shifts, etc. Their social life will be affected. I have seen young officers struggle with this.

 

ADVICE

 

If you can give advice to your 20 year old self, what would you say?

If I was to give advice to my 20 year-old self I would probably say to slow down and enjoy the ride. Police work can be a very enjoyable and rewarding career, despite all the negative things I have touched on in this survey. I can’t believe how fast the time has passed in my career. I now have 27 years on the job and might be retiring in 3 years or so. I would also tell my 20 year old self to be careful and be smart. There are many ways officers get themselves in trouble. Coming into this job today, you have to basically assume that anything you say or do is probably being recorded somehow. Treat people with respect and professionalism, and you will always be okay. I have found that the best thing you can do is treat everybody, even the worst bad guys, professionally. I have arrested people and even charged them with crimes that will probably end up sending them to jail or prison, but yet those same people often have said “thank you” to me just because I treated them with dignity. They appreciated that I was doing my job, and I was going to be firm with them, but you don’t have to treat them poorly or disrespectfully. It goes a long way to just treat people well.