Why I Want To Be a Police Officer
Career Choices in Criminal Justice
Dr. Darwin L. Driggers, Ybor Campus
October 11, 2011
Why I Want To Be a Police Officer
For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a police officer. I’m sure, as a little boy, what first caught my attention were the flashing lights and sirens on the police cars. It could have also been then the facts that police officer were permitted to carry a gun and had the ability to run red lights. This is why as I grew up and played games like cops and robbers, I was always the police officer. During my teenage years, I later joined the police explorer program and really started to learn about police work. That’s when I realized that a police officer was nothing like I thought. I started to understand the role of the police was not as a symbol of power, but one of peace. I started to understand that society needed law enforcement measures to uphold the laws that have been set for our city`s and county`s. I also learned that a police presence was the best tool in deterring crime and creating a safe environment for everyone. Police officers were in the community for all the right reasons, to educate us as children and educate our parents on safety. They were there when my friends and family needed them. Not only for the worse of times, but in the best as well. To me, police officer were my hero`s and I wanted to be one of them in order to be able to return to the community and provide the service and knowledge I’ve gained over the years of growing up pursuing my dreams of being a police officer.
Although I’ve always wanted to be a police office, since I am human and had to grow from a boy to a man, I have made mistakes in my life growing up by allowing peer pressure got the best of me in some aspects. Although I did my best to overcome the pressures of high school, by distancing myself from those bad influences there were times when I failed to avoid