Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
At one department, there were three patrol zones and only a single station. A sergeant plus three or four officers were on duty at any given time. (Not including any specialty units.)
At a larger agency, there were six patrol zones with multiple officers assigned to each zone. There were three "sector offices" plus the main station. There were up to 24 patrol officers on the road. Generally there were 2-3 sergeants on duty at any given time plus a lieutenant and possibly a captain depending on time of day/day of week. Those staffing numbers did not include specialty units that might have also been working. For example, three traffic units plus a sergeant, a gang unit plus sergeant, etc.
Check your local laws.
There are a lot of good aspects to being a police officer. If you are interested in the job, I highly recommend doing a ride-along with a few different departments and see what the job is like.
You can call. Please don't cause an accident by calling while driving to report someone else on their phone while driving.
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You should contact the recruiter for the department you want to work for.
See below.
It varies from department to department. One agency allowed for a 30 minute break, while another allowed for 45 minutes. Of course, you were still subject to calls during these breaks.
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