Policing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policing - Research Paper Example Policing How to Become a Police Officer in New York City New York has the second biggest police force in the United States with a total number of police officers in the department estimated to be about 5,000 (Skogan, 2006). The labor department foresees that there are going to be about 1,700 vacancies in the New York police department until 2018 (Skogan, 2006). Some of the positions available for interested candidates include aviation, highway patrol, criminal investigations, crime scene analysts as well as drug enforcement (Skogan, 2006). Educational requirements for candidates applying for positions in the police department in New York are a little bit higher as compared to other states. Candidates are required to have at least 60 credit units from college and a GPA of 2.0. The candidates are also required to be US citizens of about 21 years of age (Sherman & Eck, 2002). They must be New York residents with valid driving licenses and great vision of 20/100. Corrected vision with sp ectacle glasses has to be 20/20 for candidates to qualify. Apart from these qualifications, candidates are also taken through background investigations and tests as well as drug and substance abuse tests (Gaines & LeRoy Miller, 2006). The candidates are also obligated to take written Service Exam from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). This examination helps the department to pick highly qualified candidates to serve in the police force. Other examination tests taken include the written psychological test. Candidates will also be taken through very rigorous oral interviews and job standardized test to determine how the candidates can perform at various police tasks. Qualifying candidates will undergo police training at the New York Police Training Academy for about 28 weeks, after which they will go through field training for 10 more weeks before they can start serving the police department (Sherman & Eck, 2002). Management Structure of the New York Police De partment The New York Police Department is structured into various bureaus and units that help maintain peace and order in the State. The head of the department is the New City York Police Commissioner. The commissioner appoints deputies and assistants to help him run the department. In total, the New York Police Department is divided into eight different bureaus, among which six act as enforcement bureaus (Gaines & LeRoy Miller, 2006). The head of each bureau is known as the Bureau Chief, for instance the Chief of Patrol or Chief of Internal affairs. Each bureau is subdivided into various units, divisions and sections, each dealing with a specific issue (Gaines & LeRoy Miller, 2006). The department also has some specialized units that do not fall under any bureau, for instance the Operations Unit. These specialized units report directly to the Police Commissioner (Braga, Kennedy, Waring, & Piehl, 2001). The Police Commissioner, who is the head of the department, is a civilian polic e officer appointed by the Mayor of New York City (Braga et al., 2001). The police staff of the department comprises both civilian and uniformed police. Uniformed police officers in the department are charged with the responsibility of investigating crimes and performing law enforcement operations in the state. On the other hand, the civilian police o