Institute for Career Research

Careers with County and State Police Institute for Career Research

Publisher Marketing: CHOOSING A CAREER SHOULD BE inspiring and fun. What do you like to do? What do you want to get out of your career? Money? Fame? Responsibility? How about deep satisfaction at doing your duty? Serving others? Being a part of something larger than yourself? Those are good goals, too. Nobody ever said that being a police officer is an easy way to earn a living. The hours can be long and inconvenient, some people will never appreciate what you do, and sometimes the work is dangerous. But policing is also a noble and necessary profession, and the rewards are numerous. Big-city police departments get most of the glory in movies and television, but state and county police departments are what hold the criminal justice system together. Arrangements vary from state to state, but most county and state police departments provide security to state and county prisons and jails, and to state and county courts. They also patrol the unincorporated areas between incorporated cities. Many also staff and equip high-cost assets like crime labs and police academies, and make them available to municipal police departments too small to maintain their own. State and county police departments are also often the lead agencies on cooperative projects like anti--gang task and drug enforcement task forces undertaken in cooperation with the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency or Federal Bureau of Investigation. State and county police departments (county police departments are usually known as sheriff's departments and are led by a county sheriff elected by the residents of the county) may not get much pop-culture glory, but they can provide a very wide range of career opportunities to dedicated professionals."