Contact your local department to find out the requirements and process for going on a ride-along with an officer. Get first-hand experience & see if this career would interest you! 

Career

Go on a ride-along with an officer!

ROTC stands for Reserve Officer Training Corps and prepares young adults to become officers in the U.S. Military. Look into joining your schools ROTC to learn valuable skills outside the classroom. 

Join your school's ROTC. 

Enroll in a criminal justice class at your school, in your city, or online and explore the different elements of the field. Is this something you would be interested in majoring in?

Education

Take a class in criminal justice.

Supervisors of Police and Detectives

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of members of police force.

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Third Interest High-Point

First Interest High-Point

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Second Interest High-Point

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives

First-Line Supervisors of Law Enforcement Workers

Protective Service Occupations

Supervisors of Protective Service Workers

Explain police operations to subordinates to assist them in performing their job duties.

Inform personnel of changes in regulations and policies, implications of new or amended laws, and new techniques of police work.

Supervise and coordinate the investigation of criminal cases, offering guidance and expertise to investigators, and ensuring that procedures are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations.

Investigate and resolve personnel problems within organization and charges of misconduct against staff.

Train staff in proper police work procedures.

Maintain logs, prepare reports, and direct the preparation, handling, and maintenance of departmental records.

Monitor and evaluate the job performance of subordinates, and authorize promotions and transfers.

Direct collection, preparation, and handling of evidence and personal property of prisoners.

Develop, implement and revise departmental policies and procedures.

Conduct raids and order detention of witnesses and suspects for questioning.

Prepare work schedules and assign duties to subordinates.

Discipline staff for violation of department rules and regulations.

Cooperate with court personnel and officials from other law enforcement agencies and testify in court as necessary.

Review contents of written orders to ensure adherence to legal requirements.

Inspect facilities, supplies, vehicles, and equipment to ensure conformance to standards.

Prepare news releases and respond to police correspondence.

Requisition and issue equipment and supplies.

Meet with civic, educational, and community groups to develop community programs and events, and to discuss law enforcement subjects.

Prepare budgets and manage expenditures of department funds.

35 millimeter cameras

Audio recording equipment

Automated external defibrillators AED

Base station radios

Biohazard suits

Body armor

Breathalyzers

Bulletproof vests

Crime scene tape measures

Desktop computers

Digital cameras

Digital video cameras

Distance measuring wheels

Drug testing kits

Explosive detectors

Filter masks

Fingerprint evidence kits

Fingerprint scanners

First aid kits

Laptop computers

Metal detectors

Metal handcuffs

Mobile data computers

Multi-line telephone systems

Multipurpose fire extinguishers

Nightsticks

Noise meters

Pepper spray

Personal computers

Plastic handcuffs

Police motorcycles

Police patrol cars

Police rifles

Police shotguns

Radar speed readers

Radio scanners

Remote traffic signal controllers

Riot shields

Road flares

Semiautomatic handguns

Semiautomatic pistols

Service revolvers

Side-handle batons

Surveillance binoculars

Suspect fingerprinting equipment

Teletype terminals

Two way radios

Computer aided composite drawing software

Corel WordPerfect Office Suite

Crime mapping software

Data entry software

DesignWare 3D EyeWitness

Email software

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS

Law enforcement information databases

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Office

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Word

National Crime Information Center NCIC database

National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN

Scheduling software

SmartDraw.com SmartDraw Legal

Spillman Technologies Records Management

The CAD Zone The Crime Zone

Police Commissioner

What do you wanna do with your life? You should be a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant, blah, blah, blah. [MUSIC] >> The road other people expect you to take in life is not necessarily the one that will make you happy. [MUSIC] Last summer, three groups of friends from the U.S., England and Canada went on a roadtrip across North America to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. >> On the road, we spoke with inspirational people to find how how they found their way. This is Roadtrip Nation. [MUSIC] >> I've considered doing a lot of things in the last year and a half, some more seriously than others. But for example, I thought about going to journalism school, I thought about going to law school, I thought about going to film school. I thought about getting a master's degree in philosophy or some kind of liberal arts thing, and being a teacher. I thought about being a rabbi, or a religious educator. Going into business, getting an MBA. I mean those are the main ones but there are a couple more, probably. Having all those options out there is very exciting and very scary. It's an exciting possibility, knowing that I might be able to figure it out in the next 30 days. [MUSIC] >> Heading to Damon Dash's Rocawear headquarters. [MUSIC] >> I was ridiculous when I was young, I was crazy. I'm quite sure the people I went to high school with, in school, I was probably most unlikely to succeed, you know what I'm saying? I was such a clown and I was such a smart ass. Even when I was little, like ten, I used to always introduce myself as Damon Dash. Like I'm Damon Dash and they'd be like, and? I'd be like I'm just saying I'm Damon Dash. >> We want to talk to you about the period of time in your life when you maybe didn't know what you were going to be. >> I still don't know what I'm gonna be. All I knew, all my life, was that I was gonna be rich. That's all I knew. You know what I'm saying? I didn't know how I was gonna be rich. I didn't know how I was gonna make my money. I just knew that there were opportunities that would present themselves and that I would capitalize and that I never wanted to have a boss. And if I did have a boss, he'd have to be paying me money like I was the boss. >> How and when did you develop this- >> Entrepreneurial spirit? Hanging out in Harlem. We have this attitude in Harlem, you have to have this swagger, you have to have the best clothes, the best cars, the best girls, the best jewelry. And you have to make money to get those things, so everyone's always trying to get money. Like before, I used to hang out on a stoop, I used to hang out on the corner, this is my stoop now, I'm in an office, you know what I'm saying? I get paid for this, how could I knock this hustle? >> Can you talk a little bit more about the harder times, like growing up maybe? >> The hardest things that have ever happened to me have been the tragedies in my life. I don't necessarily think I went through anymore pain than anybody else did but I just know that when it hit, [BLEEP] hit hard. I've caught a couple of bricks. When you get obliterated, like when as a child, you loose your mother, and I lost my mother and I was obliterated but I was in pain and at that point, I became fearless. You know what I'm saying? I'm not scared of nothing, like what I was scared of already happened. At that time, really when my mother died, one of my things was, damn, I don't have the security I had. I always knew that if I didn't have money, my mother would take care of me, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, who's gonna take care of me now? So, actually, yeah, that might have been the moment I turned into a pure, I gotta get money. >> At what point in your career have you felt most successful, and why? >> I never really feel that successful. It's almost like the smarter you get, the dumber you know you are, you know what I'm saying? The minute I have success, I'm like damn but now, I'm around people that are having ridiculous amounts of success. >> You know you don't say your successful but from the outside people look at you as like a mogul and an icon for our generation, for your culture. You're sitting here on top of Manhattan, are there still things that you fear and doubts that you still have? >> No. >> Nothing, I mean even on a personal- >> There's no doubt in my mind that I'm gonna be a billionaire, I know it. It's just how long it's gonna take. I know I'm gonna have $1 billion when it's all said and done. >> If you were born with $1 million, just the day you were born, what would you do with your life? >> I probably wouldn't appreciate a lot of things. The reason why I have so much fun is cuz I went through, I saw so much. I know how it feels to not have a lot of money, I know how it feels to struggle. I know how it feels to just overall have a lack of something, so I appreciate it. >> It's like everything I got is just because I fought for it. I didn't go to school for none of this, you know what I'm saying? Not for music, not for fashion. I've directed movies, it's crazy to me. You know what I'm saying? I just did it. You know what I'm saying? School is great but if you don't know what you wanna be or if you do know what you wanna be, you have to go live it. You gotta go do it. The best school is experience, and you, to a degree, have to start from the- Despite who I am and what I got, every business I went to, I started from the ground up. And then overall, I just think I'm also better than everyone who's doing it. I don't want to undermine anything that anyone's done but to me, none of this is just brain surgery. If they could do it, I could do it. I can probably do it way better. The experiences that I have made me the man I am today. Those experiences are the things that I sell. To me, life now is a constant test. You test it every day to see if you're gonna do the right thing or the wrong thing and I know, for sure, what goes around always comes around. I believe in karma. I believe in do unto others as you want them to do unto you and that's exactly what happens. You lie to somebody, they're gonna lie to you. You steal from somebody, somebodies gonna steal from you. As it relates to business or just living, always be honest, no matter what. Just have good intent when you do things and good things will come to you. But then, as far as work and work ethic, you have to work hard. You know what I mean? Always work hard, don' t expect anybody to give you anything. You know what I mean? And if you believe in something 100%, like 100%, some people believe in things because they can make money because they wanna make a dollar. But that's not how you really make money. If you really believe in something, believe, believe in something, then fight for it. You know what I mean? Don't let anybody tell you any different. [MUSIC] >> Oh my God. Oh my God. >> I'm mind boggled. He pummeled us. >> We thought he was gonna give us five minutes. I don't know what Laura thought. >> I think I have a very different perspective than you guys because I didn't know very much about him. He doesn't need $1 billion, no one needs $1 billion, that's just money hungry. >> Despite all that, you don't know what he's been through, seeing people get shot in the head. He's had such a different life, so yeah, our morals clash, what we believe in certainly clash, because we didn't grow up like him. I grew up in Forest Hills, that guy grew up in Harlem, big difference. It's crazy how driven he was towards money. >> Crazy! >> Almost solely, that was it. >> Yeah. >> But at the same time, it was good to see someone just honest about it, finally, someone says I want money, I love money. >> I don't even necessarily want to get into it, cuz I think we all agree more or less on some of this stuff but I also think it's important to think about it, you have to feel the flash and know where it comes from [MUSIC] >> We're meeting with Raymond Kelly, he's the NYPD Commissioner down at police headquarters. That's 4:00, and- >> Where is that again? >> It's at One Police Plaza. >> This'll be a really interesting experience. [MUSIC] >> I'm the youngest of five For children born on the west side of Manhattan when the west side was not nearly what it is today. It was a dangerous place. It was kind of a Westside story environment, where ultimately when I was 13 we moved out of there to Queens, because it was so bad. But, my three older brothers were all in the US Marine Corps. And that was kinda something that by dint of just being in the family I kind of wanted to do that. The police department advertised for the first time for a police cadet program. The idea was to get college graduates into policing. So I joined the first police cadet class ever. And it became a very exciting, interesting job for me. I realized that I really loved being a cop. I loved the excitement, the action, the activity. There's something about having flow and going to a call, responding on the radio to something, somebody with a gun or whatever. I mean your heart pounds but it's exciting and it probably is not unlike the feeling that I had in the Marine Corp. Certain people are attracted to that sort of work and I guess I'm one of them. [MUSIC] A lot of people, believe it or not, don't think about it. They don't think about what makes them happy, what they wanna do. They do it because their father did it or because they had family do it or go into family business or they go to the family school. There comes a point and time ideally if you can sit back and say what do I wanna do and it's not about money. This is never about money. Anybody that I know that's made a decision based on money. Don't get me wrong. It's nice to have it, but it's just no longer that important in this society. It's always, I've got more than this guy and so what? There's always somebody who has more than you. I think, if you think about it and focus on it, you'll find something naturally, just the right thing for you. But there are certain things that you find attractive, comfortable doing, those things are where you're gonna be happiest. [MUSIC] >> I feel like this is the worst morning of my life. Sweat and gunk is pouring out of my body. There's no breeze, still air it's like being in a dessert in the middle of Manhattan. See, I'm at the point where I'm just gonna knock on someone's random condo or apartment. [MUSIC] >> We're living off a mobile home. Our shower is broken. We haven't showered for a couple of days. >> Do you wanna take a shower? Go to my place, take shower. >> You know the guy who designed those three glass buildings? >> Yes. >> We're interviewing him at 3 O'clock, we wanna hose off. [MUSIC] >> We just showered on the streets of Greenwich Village with ahose from a body shop, mechanic's shop. We're actually a block away from Richard Meier's swanky building who have made this afternoon. [MUSIC] >> When I was growing up my parents had a basement in their house and I had a drafting board where I would make drawings. And I made model boats and model airplanes. And I just liked making things. I decided that architecture was what I wanted to do. I wanted to make things, I wanted to build things, I wanted to contribute to society. I wanted to make the world a better place if that's possible in architecture, and then I went to architecture school and I never looked back. I always felt that's what I wanted to do and I feel very fortunate. And I began by designing exhibitions, and one thing led to another and so I don't know where the next job is coming from, but somewhere, somehow it appears. Architecture can in a sense allow us to see things that perhaps we wouldn't see without architecture, that it heightens our perspective and our perceptions. >> And then personally why do you think you're attracted to that? >> Oh, cuz it gives me pleasure. It's the same reason I paint or I make drawings or collages. It's sort of my view of the world no matter what it is. I think I strive for a certain sense of order, try to take a certain amount of chaos that is all around us, and give it a sense of order. And I think that buildings, as I said, can reach out and create more order in a city that desperately needs it. It just helps everybody. >> It seems like you've done so much to be proud of. What would have been the most thrilling things for you and professionally and personally? >> It's always the last thing that you finish that's the most satisfying. Right now we're working on a house in Palm Beach. I'm as excited about working on that house as I was on working on a house 30 years ago. The Getty is very important to me, it always will be. But it's the past, there's nothing I can do there anymore. So it's the really the things that are happening now that are the most exciting. The funny thing is that, you know, with all of the things that I've done I still worry you know what are we gonna do next week, next month. What happens in September when we finish I know what are the things we're doing, what am I gonna do then? So I guess you fear that, somehow, you won't have enough to do. >> If we're giving you a microphone to speak to our generation of people who are trying to figure it out what they wanna do with their passion, what kind of things would you say? >> Well first of all, there's no one way. There's so many things you can do, there's so many things you can do well, but you can't do them all. It's not so much what you do, it's how you do it and what your attitude is about it. I think that if people just decide, this is what gives them pleasure, that's what they should be doing. [MUSIC] Me and Questlove, the drummer for The Roots and that we just, sort of the last minute decision. On our way to Chicago, we're gonna wing it back to Philly, and meet up with him this morning. And then head out to Chicago, so it's kind of a last minute change, but we're pretty excited. And he's not just a drummer, he arranges a lot, plays a lot of instruments. Very talented and cool guy. [MUSIC] I don't know if anyone who's truly successful feels a sense of completion. I think it's just a constant mission to stay ahead. Always work. Never sleep. Cutthroat. More more more, more more more. I don't know if I'm just insatiable by nature, or not, but average day I do 18 to 20 hour days. A lot of it is also just due to the fact that I'm sorta like the hamster on a treadmill going 300 miles per hour. And if the treadmill is taken up at a tally of how many miles I've done, I've not stopped to say, okay, how many? Oh man, 4,000 miles. Okay, you know. Obviously this is further than I would imagine 17 years ago. I started drumming at the age of two. I got my first drum set when I was eight. I had to go downstairs and practice every day from like three to five hours. The year that Michael Jackson won all those Grammy's, I think in 83, Wyn Marsalis had also won and man, I'd to this day I wish we'd just turned the channel. The first thing Wynton Marsalis said is you know as I stand here I really Want to thank my father for making me practice eight hours a day. And my dad's like [SOUND] >> Oh my god. [LAUGH] >> And I knew that my father's plan for me was to be like a top session musician. And I didn't even mention a word of the Roots to my father until probably 1992. We literally played on the streets of Philadelphia, had a shoebox out there, oh my god, if someone put a 20 out, that was Donald Trump city. All we wanted was date money. We just wanted to take our girl to a movie theater and go to McDonald's afterwards. Literally, I swear that's all we wanted to do. Just during that whole period, I had those feelings of anxiety. I had those feelings of we're not gonna make it. I mean my father was hard on me. Around that point that was a crossroads for me because, I got accepted to Julliard up in New York, but because of my financial situation I couldn't afford to live in New York City and attend that school. And then we got a record deal. So when we started, we moved to Europe and stayed in two-star whore houses, flipping over, okay, you get the bed, you get the comforter, you get the pillow. That was the lesson that we had to learn for three years. And then, eventually the ray of light came in 1999. I just thank God that we had some sorta focus of what the end result, not what the end result should be, just that there's something else better than this. And that is what enabled us to rise above water level and not drown. I think at the end of the day I just wanna be recognized. I will be happy if we are just remembered in the history books. I feel as though we're very fortunate to have longevity. But I definitely treat it as though each year is like Russian roulette. [SOUND] Okay, one year goes by. [NOISE] Oh, damn, 2009. [NOISE] 2010. A lot of the reasons that prevented a record label from just pressing the button that will cause the guillotine to slice our heads off was the fact that these albums are in Time Magazines ten best records of the year whatever. Then it's like I would kill the Roots, but this album got Album of the Year in over 300 critics pools. This industry taught me how to be a chess player. And even my girlfriend rags me like two members of my group just recently had children in the last three weeks. And I'm thinking, man don't they know that June is one of the most crucial, lucrative times? I told both of them, if you two want to have children you need to consummate it in April. >> [LAUGH] >> That way, during the slow down period of December through February you can have your children, we won't be on the road. And that's just how I think. I think like a chess player. I gotta think 12 steps ahead. I think the true answer to life is proper planning. Everyone on my block that I grew up with was either dead or in jail by the time we all turned 21, none of them are around. Two people in particular. Two of the greatest thinking minds are both doing 25 to life. For just a tiny bit of inebriation and a little bit of pride in front of a female. That's why I always use the chess analogy. People always move in the heat of passion. I've learned that it's so much better to properly plan out your life. Proper planning is my answer. [MUSIC] Life on the road has given me a lot of time to reflect, which is crucial. It's focused more life just experience. I think that's a big thing. It's like, this is the first time where you actually can pour all of your energy into the experience itself. That's actually the goal. And I'm still figuring out what that feels like and I'm still figuring out even if I'm comfortable with that because I've never really lived like that before. [MUSIC] >> From Illinois we went down into Iowa. I know Iowa from Field of Dreams and Kevin Costner. That's it. So Iowa was pretty wacky and we're getting out west and I never been really west of Chicago my whole life. And driving out to Kansas, tornado town. It was cool. [MUSIC] You get a lot of thinking done on the open road just driving for hours and I kinda like it. [MUSIC] >> An open road is a empty road in some ways. It's a place where you don't know what's ahead of you. And you have the opportunity to go forward unhindered, and you have the opportunity to turn back if you desire. >> We've seen like the whole spectrum of American culture in the last few weeks, 20 states, the Atlantic to the Pacific. >> Be open to any opportunities that present itself and build yourself up into a sorta human being that eventually can make a real difference. >> When you have a gift, I think you just have a gift in something and you'll feel it. >> And if you think, oh, I might be interested in that but, oh, I'm not sure, just go and try it. >> Is to basically kinda find where your limit is and then that's your starting point. [MUSIC] >> For more information on Road Trip Nation, and to learn how you can hit the road, go to pbs.org. [MUSIC] 

<p>The Canadian team reaches New York City where they interview Damon Dash, hip hop mogul and entrepreneur. Next they interview Ray Kelly, NYPD police commissioner. The team also has the opportunity of meeting with Richard Meir, architect of the Getty museum. The team heads back to Philadelphia to interview Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, drummer for The Roots.</p>

New York City - Philadelphia

[MUSIC] I'm the youngest of the five children, born on the West Side of Manhattan, when the West Side was not nearly what it is today. It was a dangerous place. It was kind of West Side Story environment where ultimately when I was 13 we moved out of there to Queens because it was so bad. But, my three older brothers were all in the Marine Corps, US Marine Corps, and that was kind of something that you know, by of just being in the family, I kind of wanted to do that. The police department advertised for the first time for the police cadet program. The idea was to get college graduates into policing. So I joined the first police cadet class ever. And it became a very exciting, interesting job for me. I realized that I really love being a cop. I love the excitement, the action, the activity. There's something about having the adrenaline flow. And you know going to a call responding on the radio to something, somebody with a gun or whatever. I mean, your heart pounds, but it's exciting and probably is not unlike the feeling that I had in the Marine Corps. Certain people are attracted to that sort of work and I guess I'm one of them. [MUSIC] A lot of people, believe it or not, don't think about it. They don't think about what makes them happy, what they want to do. They do it because their father did it, or because their family do it, they go into family business, or they go to the family school. You know, there comes a point in time, ideally, you can sit back and say, what do I want to do? And it's not about money. It is never about money. Anybody that I know has made a decision based on money. Don't get me wrong it's nice to have it. But it's just no longer that important in this society. There's always so many, hey, I've got more than this guy. Well so what. There's always somebody that has more than you. I think if you think about it, and focus on it, you'll find something naturally that just the right thing for you. But there are certain things that you find attractive, comfortable doing. Those things are where you're gonna be happiest. 

Ray Kelly Highlight

[MUSIC] A lot of people, believe it or not, don't think about it. They don't think about what makes them happy, what they wanna do. They do it because their father did it, or because their family do it, they go into the family business or they go to the family school. You know there comes a point in time ideally if you can, sit back and say, what do I want to do? And it's not about money. It is never about money. Anybody that I know made a decision based on money, don't get me wrong, it's nice to have it but it's just no longer that important in this society. It's always a you know, somebody, hey I've got more than this guy. Well, so what. There's always somebody who has more than you, you know. I think if you think about it, focus on it, you'll find some, something naturally that, that's just the right thing for you. But there are certain things that you find attractive, comfortable doing. Those things are were you're gonna be happiest. 

Money & Financial Security

Not About Money

I'm the youngest of five children born on the west side of Manhattan when the west side was not nearly what it is today. It was a dangerous place. It was kind of West Side Story environment, where ultimately, when I was 13 we moved out of there to Queens because it was so bad. But my three older brothers were all in the U.S. Marine Corps and that was something that by dint of just being in the family, I wanted to do that. The police department advertised, for the first time, for a police cadet program. The idea was to get college graduates into policing. I joined the first police cadet class ever, and it became a very exciting, interesting job for me. I've realized that I really love being a cop. I love the excitement, the action, the activity. There's something about having the adrenaline flow and going to a call, responding on the radio to something, somebody with a gun or whatever. I mean, your heart pounds but it's exciting and it probably is not unlike the feeling that I had in the Marine Corps. Certain people are attracted to that sort of work, and I guess I'm one of them. 

Ray Kelly

Police Commissioner

Videos

Ray Kelly

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Government

Armed Services

Accomplishing Goals