What is a Police Foundations Diploma Program?
In general, law enforcement officers protect the lives and property of the citizens in their jurisdiction. There are officers at the state, local and federal levels, as well as officers employed by specific agencies and charged with the enforcement of those laws placed under their authority. The CIA, the FBI, Federal Marshals and state police are all examples of different classifications of law enforcement officials. For most police officers, law enforcement is a way of life, since they are expected to exercise their authority even when they are technically off duty. A diploma in police foundations will provide you with an education that combines aspects of legal education with practical skill development, and will enhance your chances of entering formal police or agency academy training. With continued education, a police foundations diploma can ready you for specialized training in areas such as chemical and microscopic analysis, training and firearms instruction, or handwriting and fingerprint identification.
Skills Acquired
You will learn the basics of law enforcement common to any agency or specialization. You will study the mental and physical aspects of crime and learn about the roots of various motivating factors leading to criminal acts, such as conspiracies and the specific defenses of age, insanity, drunkenness, provocation and duress. This knowledge is important to the understanding and implementing the various techniques of crime prevention, which you will also study. You will learn from case studies about the interaction between society, the individual and the interrelated components of the criminal justice system. Adequate record keeping is crucial to law enforcement. A good program will enable you with the latest methods for obtaining, recording, and reporting information pertaining to a crime or civil disturbance, as well as effective interviewing skills, information systems and databases skills, and how to construct a criminal profile.
Coursework in a Police Foundations Diploma Program
Courses that students in this diploma program may be required to take include:
- Criminal Justice System
- Introduction to Psychology
- Conflict Management
- Crime Prevention and Community Policing
- Forensic Crime Scene Investigation
- Criminology
- Rules of Evidence
Career Outlook and Salary Information
In today's security minded society, more research and funding are available for expansions in law enforcement, leading to a steady increase in employment opportunities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that average annual salaries for police officers in 2004 were about $45K, while the highest paid officers at the patrol level earned as much as $68K per year.
