How To Become A Crime Prevention Police Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a crime prevention police officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Jill Myers

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a crime prevention police officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.39 an hour? That's $40,337 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a crime prevention police officer?

Jill Myers

Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration

The more skill sets you have the better prepared you will be for future advancement and salary increases. Having a solid education, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a masters degree will sometimes result in increased wages. Having federal certifications and competencies will enhance your opportunities and create potential marketability for your career. It is always a great skill set to have people skills, communication in both written and oral formats. It will enhance your ability to explain yourself in court, in the warrants one prepares, and with dealing with the public in all circumstances from victims and witnesses and suspects, to legislators, the funding sources like mayors and city council and the public at large.

ScoreCrime Prevention Police OfficerUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,337

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.94%

Asian 3.76%

Black or African American 13.29%

Hispanic or Latino 16.36%

Unknown 4.43%

White 61.23%

Gender

female 27.13%

male 72.87%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a crime prevention police officer

Explore crime prevention police officer education requirements

Most common crime prevention police officer degrees

Bachelor's

46.6 %

Associate

28.8 %

Master's

9.6 %

Start to develop specific crime prevention police officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	28.65%
Public Safety	24.76%
Emergency Calls	8.35%
Crime Prevention Programs	7.41%
Law Enforcement Agencies	6.49%

Complete relevant crime prevention police officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New crime prevention police officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a crime prevention police officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real crime prevention police officer resumes.

Research crime prevention police officer duties and responsibilities

Assist and aid patrol and special units with intervention support and coordinate partnerships with social service agencies.
Document all activities note during patrol
Review civilian complaints; conduct comprehensive interviews and disciplinary hearings; recommend and implement disciplinary action; handle removal of firearms.
Complete all law enforcement requirements for FTO before academy.

Prepare your crime prevention police officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your crime prevention police officer resume.

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