Becoming a Police Officer

Did You Know.....

The process for becoming a police officer in the State of Oregon is complex, challenging and very rewarding. Becoming a police officer requires months of training before you can even step foot into a police car. This training continues and must be maintained for the rest of a police officer’s career.

If you wish to learn more please see below.

HIRING PROCESS

The first step in a person’s journey to becoming a police officer is the hiring process. The hiring process starts with an application to the police department. The applicant is then referred to a testing service. The applicant is tested in math, reading, writing and grammar. The applicant is also given video scenarios to rate their judgement and decision making. Following this test the applicant performs a timed physical ability test. After successfully completing testing, the applicant is ranked against fellow applicants. Typically, the top fifteen to twenty applicants are moved forward to an assessment board.

The assessment board is made up of senior law enforcement officers, elected officials, citizens from the community and a local head of government. During the assessment boards the applicants are asked a wide range of questions in a formal setting in front of and by the members of the assessment board.

At the conclusion of the assessment board typically five to seven applicants are recommended to an interview with the Chief of Police. At the conclusion of the chief interview one person is selected and moved forward to the background investigation process. The background investigation is conducted by a third party who investigates every aspect of the applicant’s life. This process can feel very intrusive and intimidating. The purpose of this is to make sure there is nothing in the applicants past that could call into question their integrity, honesty, and truthfulness. These are some of the pillars that build trust between a police department and their community.

After successfully passing the background investigation the applicant is then offered a job dependent on a physical, psychological, vision and hearing examination.

TRAINING

The first few weeks of a police recruits training consists of issuing of uniforms, policy manual testing, and certification in multiple databases made up of local, state, and federal partners. The recruit will complete multiple ride alongs and begin to become familiar with some of the different duty assignments from within the department. The recruit will job shadow various partner agencies such as the jail, Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office, and our dispatch center.

The recruit is then required to attend a 16-week police academy in Salem. The police academy is five days a week, eight to ten hours a day and the recruit typically stays all week at the academy while in training. The academy training is based off skills and knowledge training.

Some of the skills the recruit will learn and become proficient in are, firearms and qualifications, emergency vehicle operations, defensive tactics, patrol tactics, building searches, officer safety skills and scenarios. The recruits will spend hundreds of hours in the classroom were there are taught about local, state, and federal law. The recruit will be required to pass proficiency tests in all the skills and knowledge training taught in the academy.

Upon successful completion of the academy the recruit is returned to there agency to begin a phased field training and evaluation process (FTEP). FTEP consists of four phases with different coaches in each phase and lasts up 18 weeks. An FTEP coach is a specially trained police officer that will teach and guide the recruit to become a certified police officer. FTEP progresses from teaching the recruit the fundamentals of law enforcement and progresses to the recruit showing the coach their ability to apply everything they have learned through the academy and training.

At the successful completion of FTEP the recruit is then moved to solo status and is patrolling by themselves. The recruit is on probation for 18 months and their performance is monitored through evaluations and supervisor reviews. At the end of the 18 months the recruit becomes a certified police officer.

To maintain police officer certification, the officer must complete hundreds of hours of continuing training and education every year. As an officer promotes even more training and education is required along with additional certifications.