Everyone has heard about the rigors of basic police recruit training provided by the police academy. Ever wonder what the training for police officers looks like beyond the police academy. In service training has many aspects. First there is the mandatory in-service training of a 40-hour annual block required for officers to maintain their MPOETC certification. This mandated training is supplemented by forward moving police agencies with enhanced training opportunities for career development. This means that officers are provided demanding training that is designed to provide and develop expertise in a wide array of disciplines.

When you were sitting in those long hours of classroom instruction in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, biology, or statistics trying to figure out how this would ever apply in a career beyond the scientific disciplines, did you ever ask yourself “When will I ever need or use this knowledge?” Sometimes the question was even more to the point –“How can I get paid to do what I enjoy?”

Obviously, mathematicians and scientists rely on mathematical principles to do the most basic aspects of their work such as test hypotheses and conduct research. While scientific careers famously involve math, they are not the only careers to do so. Math is a required job skill for those members of professional law enforcement who are attached to the crash reconstruction function and other areas of applied specialized training. Police professionals apply their specialized math skills to such diverse criminal justice needs such as blood spatter analysis, statistical projections, budgeting, agency logistics, and planning. One of the most high-profile public safety math application is in the field of crash reconstruction and dynamics.

If you are seeking a challenging career that encourages use of applied science in the workplace – consider a career in law enforcement. Police service offers a competitive salary and benefits, and as a police services member, work in the largest laboratory in the world – the laboratory of life!