Why I Want to Be a Police Officer

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a police officer. My mother tells me that I left the womb saying “Freeze, Police!” I’m sure that it was the lights and sirens on a police vehicle that infatuated me. Maybe it was because a police officer carried a gun and had the ability to run red lights. As I grew up, cops and robbers was always a favorite game and I was always the cop. As I grew older, I realized that a police officer was nothing like I thought. I started to understand the role of the police. Not as a symbol of power, but one of peace. I started to understand that society needed an enforcement measure to uphold the laws that have been set. I found that police presence was the best tool to deter crime, 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, family, and neighbors needed them. Not only for the worse of times, but in the best. To me a police officer was my hero, and I wanted to return to the community as much as I had gained growing up. I am human, and I have made mistakes in life. Growing up, peer pressure got the best of me. I did my best to overcome the pressures of high school, distancing myself from those bad influences. I have learned from my mistakes and bad decisions I’ve made, expanding my knowledge of the consequences to bad decision making. It was at this point in life that defined me as an individual. Through experience, I’ve learned the best route is the truthful one, no matter how difficult. After high school, I joined the United States Army Military Police Corps. I moved to Fort Lewis, Washington and experienced the basics of Law Enforcement. The U.S. Army made me a Traffic Accident Investigator after a tour in Iraq, sending me to the U.S. Air Force Traffic School, Washington State Basic and Advanced Collision Investigations Course, and RADAR/LIDAR