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K9 police officer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.,

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical k9 police officer skills. We ranked the top skills for k9 police officers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 44.6% of k9 police officer resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a k9 police officer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 k9 police officer skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how k9 police officers use patrol:

Conduct routine criminal patrol in a highly populated urban type environment.
Certified as a patrol, tracking, and narcotic dog handler through the United States Police K-9 Associations.

2. Team Training

Here's how k9 police officers use team training:

Completed countless hours of K9 Team training to enhance the team skills.

3. Law Enforcement Agencies

Here's how k9 police officers use law enforcement agencies:

Cooperated with in-house staff and external law enforcement agencies while conducting investigations.
Communicate information regularly via mobile and portable two-way radio, with dispatch center, other officers and other law enforcement agencies.

4. Public Safety

Public safety can be defined as the well-being or protection of a community, citizen, or nation as a whole. There are 4 basic elements that come under public safety namely: national security, border policy, countering crime, and emergency management.

Here's how k9 police officers use public safety:

Performed various protective services of law enforcement, criminal activity investigation, and public safety within the county and for community events
Distinguished 30-plus year service career ensuring public safety and protection for Harris County residents while working with its culturally diverse population.

5. Crime Scenes

Crime scenes refer to places or locations of an offence where forensic evidence may get gathered.

Here's how k9 police officers use crime scenes:

Preserved crime scenes and arrested suspects, wrote accurate and complete reports and testified in court when required.
Conduct interviews and interrogations as needed as well as process crime scenes for major cases.

6. Incident Reports

An Incident Report, in a medical facility such as hospitals and nursing homes, is a type of paperwork filled out immediately after and in the case of an incident of some sort, with the goal of describing the incident and its consequences, as well as the measurements taken after or during the incident, as well as any other information relevant to said incident. Such an incident might be a patient acting out or a patient being injured.

Here's how k9 police officers use incident reports:

Write complete and accurate incident reports or affidavits for arrest or search warrants and provide court testimony as required.
Assisted in training with K-9's (Agitation/Tracking) Responded to Alarm activation Documented incident reports involving theft and emergencies

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7. Criminal Investigations

Here's how k9 police officers use criminal investigations:

Conduct criminal investigations, interview people, and gather evidence of crimes committed.
Perform criminal investigations and follow-up on citizen complaints and calls for service.

8. Non-Emergency Calls

Non-emergency calls are calls that do not require immediate attention or intervention. They are simply a request for police, fire or rescue service that does not present a life or death situation. In this case, the local non-emergency number should be used if immediate dispatch of the police is not required.

Here's how k9 police officers use non-emergency calls:

Responded to critical incidents to include crimes in progress as well as non-emergency calls for service and conducted preliminary criminal investigations.
Perform routine patrols as assigned * Provide traffic control and security at community events * Respond to emergency and non-emergency calls

9. Firearms

A firearm is a type of weapon or device used by police, uniformed personnel or other related professional for security and protection purposes. This lethal and destructive weapon can often shoot bullet or missiles. A firearm usually consists of a chamber or barrel, frame body, breech bolt, and a magazine.

Here's how k9 police officers use firearms:

Conducted searches of vehicles, buildings, and property for evidence of explosives and firearms.
Handle security patrols, civil disturbance, criminal investigation, accident investigation and firearms certification training to local officers.

10. Dual Purpose

Here's how k9 police officers use dual purpose:

Handled a dual purpose K-9 for four years resulting in multiple narcotics seizures and felony apprehensions.
Handled a dual purpose German Shepherd K9.

11. Crowd Control

Crowd control refers to a safety procedure where guards, police officers, and barrier maintain a crowd's position and attitude. This measure is often seen in riots, concerts, and anywhere large crowds may result in fights, disorderly conduct, and even "crowd crushes" where a member of the crowd is trampled.

Here's how k9 police officers use crowd control:

Crowd control and criminal deterrence as a security presence on the CTA train rail.
Restored order, provided security and crowd control while maintaining self-discipline and objectivity under stressful situations and building evacuations.

12. Motor Vehicle

A motor vehicle is a mode of transportation such as a car, truck or bus.

Here's how k9 police officers use motor vehicle:

Conducted criminal, motor vehicle, and other investigations by preserving evidence, interviewing complainants, victims, witnesses and suspects.
Conducted traffic enforcement operations and motor vehicle stops.

13. Community Relations

Community Relations refers to the relationship-building strategies companies use with surrounding communities. These relationships are often mutually-beneficial, where a company will support local organizations and communities and receive a stronger customer basis. This differs from public relations, as the focus of community relations is building relationships and goodwill within a community rather than presenting a company's work to the public.

Here's how k9 police officers use community relations:

Maintained positive community relationships with citizens/businesses.
Leveraged interpersonal communication skills and intimate knowledge of criminal laws to promote positive community relations and aid investigations and court proceedings.

14. State Laws

Here's how k9 police officers use state laws:

Patrolled City limits, up held City, County, and State laws within the state of Idaho.
Enforced all state laws and local ordinances.

15. Traffic Laws

Traffic laws are laws that contain a wide range of legal regulations that govern traffic and regulate vehicles. Laws are passed to keep the roads safe and regulate the flow of traffic in good time. Traffic laws include, but are not limited to, speed limit laws, impaired driving laws, insurance laws, and parking laws.

Here's how k9 police officers use traffic laws:

Worked within the city limits enforcing traffic laws, Texas Penal Code and city ordinance laws.
Enforced all traffic laws and ordinances and radar speed checks.

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What skills help K9 Police Officers find jobs?

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What skills stand out on k9 police officer resumes?

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg

Police officers need many skills to be successful on the job. The most important are written and oral communication skills and the ability to make ethical decisions with limited information quickly. Written communications skills are crucial. If a police report is poorly worded or incomplete, it can derail a criminal case. Police officers also need to talk to people of all ages from all walks of life in any circumstance. Often, police meet people on what may be the worst day of their lives when emotions are running high. Police need to be able to help calm a person while gathering information. Police need to be able to use their words and body language to empathize with someone who has been victimized, and they need to project authority, so people making poor decisions obey their commands.
This may be common sense, but research has demonstrated that communication and ethical decision-making skills are important for police officers. (See the research article published in 2017 in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, entitled "An assessment of the relative importance of criminal justice learning objectives," by Baker and colleagues.) Baker and colleagues asked students, professionals, and college professors to rate the skills of hypothetical job applicants. These participants rated the following as the most important characteristics for criminal justice applicants (including law enforcement officers):

Ethics
Oral communication
Critical thinking
Sensitivity to diversity
Written communication skills

What k9 police officer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic apparently has brought uncertainty to the job market, and job opportunities, especially in some of the social sciences, are reduced. There is an old Turkish saying, "bread is in the mouth of the lion" (ekmek aslanın ağzında) that sums it up nicely. It implies that it is a struggle to make a living. Life after college is not easy. There is too much competition in the job market. Suppose graduates need to take a gap year. In that case, they need to continue to learn after graduation—an extra set of skills that can put them ahead of other applicants—learning another language can put the graduates on the top of other candidates since there are plenty of applicants just like them. Becoming fluent in a second language can bring graduates several advantages.

They can also apply for internship programs of local and federal criminal justice agencies during a gap year. The graduates can observe a criminal justice agency's working environment and the culture of a specific community. They can decide if they want to serve in the organization and the community. They should also consider international organizations' internship programs, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) or Office of Counter-Terrorism internship programs. The UNODC has an office in New York. This internship program provides a framework for students (enrolled in, or have completed, the final academic year of a bachelor's level or equivalent degree programs) to develop their professional skills and gain practical work experience in an international environment. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, applicants may be requested to undertake the internship online.

Do you want to know more?

List of k9 police officer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a k9 police officer resume and required skills for a k9 police officer to have include:

Patrol
Team Training
Law Enforcement Agencies
Public Safety
Crime Scenes
Incident Reports
Criminal Investigations
Non-Emergency Calls
Firearms
Dual Purpose

Crowd Control
Motor Vehicle
Community Relations
State Laws
Traffic Laws
ATF
Subpoenas
DEA
Federal Laws
Crime Prevention Programs

Local Laws
Emergency Situations
Traffic Accidents
CPR
Criminal Law
Traffic Stops
Bomb Threats
Swat
Local Agencies

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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