What is a Patrol Officer?

Patrol officers maintain order and protect the community by enforcing laws. They have numerous responsibilities including protecting life and property through the enforcement of laws and regulations, proactively patrolling assigned areas, responding to calls for police service, and conducting preliminary and follow-up criminal and traffic investigations.

They conduct reviews, prepare written reports and field notes of investigations and patrol activities, arrest and process crimininals, and testify in court. They perform emergency duties during adverse weather conditions, exercise judgement in determining when to use force and to what degree, and operate a law enforcement vehicle day and night.

A patrol officer has humanity, respect for human life and displays dignity and compassion to everyone, professionalism, integrity, courage, training and certification in firearms, and knowledge of first aid and CPR. They have knowledge of defensive and arrest tactics, federal, state and city laws and ordinances, as well as modern policing principles.

A high school diploma is the basic requirement in terms of education. They earn a salary of $25,735 a year or $12.37 an hour. This career's growth is at 5% and will produce 37,500 new job opportunities by 2028.

What Does a Patrol Officer Do

There are certain skills that many patrol officers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed empathy, leadership skills and physical strength.

Learn more about what a Patrol Officer does

How To Become a Patrol Officer

If you're interested in becoming a patrol officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.9% of patrol officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.9% of patrol officers have master's degrees. Even though some patrol officers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Patrol Officer
Top Patrol Officer Jobs Near You

Patrol Officer Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a patrol officer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as security officer, progress to a title such as officer and then eventually end up with the title senior officer.

Patrol Officer

Average Salary for a Patrol Officer

Patrol Officers in America make an average salary of $35,621 per year or $17 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $46,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Patrol Officer Salary
$35,621 Yearly
$17.13 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Patrol Officer

The role of a patrol officer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general patrol officer responsibilities:

  • The patrol officer must be able to perform the following essential job duties, with or without reasonable accommodation. Effectively deal with unpleasant situations, irate or disturbed individuals or victims, or gruesome crime scenes. Ability to think quickly, maintain self-control,
  • Ability to work independently in stressful situations. Work closely with beaver creek public safety staff members. Work under direct supervision of daily shift lead. In absence of a shift lead, work under the direction of manager, assistant manager or director of beaver creek village operations. Responds to all traffic issues in beaver creek, works with appropriate agencies to resolve all problems correctly. Maintains a daily log of all activities throughout the shift
  • This information is intended to be descriptive of the principle duties

There are several types of patrol officer, including:

Security Officer

Role:

As a security officer, it is your duty to partrol and protect. Most security officers are given a certain property to protect from illegal activity. These properties can vary from public buildings to retail stores and office buildings.

However, you could get a job as a security officer in a casino, and we all know how cool these security officers are just based on movies. No matter how cool and important this role is, it's important to note that it can be taxing. Since a lot of these properties are open 24 hours a day, many security officers work long hours, if not around the clock. One thing is for sure. If you become a security officer, you'll probably become addicted to caffeine.

  • Average Salary: $31,101
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Correction Officer

Role:

While you might think that as a correction officer, a main part of your job is to correct people, it's not necessarily true. I mean you don't want the grammar police guarding the jails, do you? Instead, correction officers are there to keep an eye over those who have either been arrested and are waiting for their trial, or have already been sentenced a time to serve in jail or prison.

I'm going to give it to you straight. This position is one of the most dangerous jobs, as it has one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses out of all occupations. Sometimes you may have to deal with a confrontational inmate. Or two. On top of that, you'll probably have to work crazy hours because there "ain't no rest for the wicked."

  • Average Salary: $39,369
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Police Officer

Role:

Whoop, whoop. That's the sound of the police. Oh, wait. It's just you. Being a police officer isn't easy. You'll go through so many emotions, all in one shift. From feeling fulfilled to depressed and even satisfied, there's no telling what your day will bring you. But, there's one thing that will never change. Doughnuts will always be there for you.

That's another thing. You'll probably get sick of the doughnut jokes. But that's part of the job, so you'll have to learn to cope with it. Maybe lean into the skid. Even though sometimes you'll want to yell at the person for making such a joke because you're super tired.

Why are you super tired? Oh, that's because you'll be working some pretty crazy hours. Maybe you'll take a couple overnight shifts. Or maybe you'll have a weekend shift. Either way, criminals don't just stop because the moon comes out. So that means you don't either.

  • Average Salary: $52,638
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Patrol Officer Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active patrol officer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where patrol officers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Patrol Officer Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California4,580$37,995
2Florida2,829$28,056
3Texas2,320$31,342
4New York1,869$39,140
5Virginia1,540$33,526
6Pennsylvania1,397$33,888
7Georgia1,347$27,015
8Illinois1,315$36,301
9Massachusetts1,223$42,433
10Ohio1,095$32,187
11New Jersey1,036$33,672
12Colorado997$35,911
13Washington985$46,753
14Arizona983$30,227
15North Carolina975$28,089
16Maryland951$33,643
17Minnesota876$45,580
18Michigan798$31,882
19Wisconsin731$35,506
20Indiana657$34,489
21Missouri652$28,642
22Alabama650$28,844
23Tennessee616$24,939
24South Carolina537$31,669
25Connecticut494$46,312
26Oregon477$43,210
27Iowa428$28,796
28Louisiana390$23,613
29Kentucky380$28,361
30Oklahoma367$22,327
31Nevada355$33,244
32Idaho342$31,687
33Arkansas326$33,519
34Mississippi316$38,272
35Utah300$33,269
36Kansas296$24,693
37New Mexico282$31,332
38Nebraska269$26,704
39New Hampshire229$40,965
40West Virginia190$35,424
41Maine180$41,127
42Rhode Island179$39,343
43Delaware175$33,566
44North Dakota132$50,862
45Hawaii125$29,589
46South Dakota120$33,058
47Montana116$42,384
48Vermont109$37,962
49Alaska89$40,667
50Wyoming56$35,301

Patrol Officer Education

Patrol Officer Majors

Criminal Justice
49.6 %
Law Enforcement
9.6 %
Business
8.8 %

Patrol Officer Degrees

Bachelors

42.9 %

Associate

26.0 %

High School Diploma

17.2 %

Top Colleges for Patrol Officers

1. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

2. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

3. Savannah State University

Savannah, GA • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,743

Enrollment

3,742

4. Hampton University

Hampton, VA • Private

In-State Tuition

$26,702

Enrollment

3,661

5. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

6. Florida Atlantic University

Boca Raton, FL • Private

In-State Tuition

$4,831

Enrollment

23,265

7. Lewis University

Romeoville, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$32,450

Enrollment

4,217

8. Western Illinois University

Macomb, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$12,951

Enrollment

6,754

9. Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,853

Enrollment

14,759

10. Marian University

Fond Du Lac, WI • Private

In-State Tuition

$27,400

Enrollment

1,417

Top Skills For a Patrol Officer

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 47.7% of patrol officers listed patrol on their resume, but soft skills such as empathy and leadership skills are important as well.

  • Patrol, 47.7%
  • Customer Service, 8.5%
  • Public Safety, 6.8%
  • Law Enforcement Agencies, 5.1%
  • Emergency Situations, 5.0%
  • Other Skills, 26.9%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Patrol Officer Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Patrol Officer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Patrol Officer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Patrol Officer diversity

Patrol Officer Gender Distribution

Male
Male
83%
Female
Female
17%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among patrol officers, 17.1% of them are women, while 82.9% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among patrol officers is White, which makes up 59.8% of all patrol officers.

  • The most common foreign language among patrol officers is Spanish at 70.0%.

Online Courses For Patrol Officer That You May Like

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2. Hot Topics in Criminal Justice

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Best States For a Patrol Officer

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a patrol officer. The best states for people in this position are North Dakota, Washington, Connecticut, and Minnesota. Patrol officers make the most in North Dakota with an average salary of $50,862. Whereas in Washington and Connecticut, they would average $46,753 and $46,312, respectively. While patrol officers would only make an average of $45,580 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. North Dakota

Total Patrol Officer Jobs: 132
Highest 10% Earn:
$64,000
Location Quotient:
1.07

$50,862

Avg. Salary

View 132 Patrol Officer Jobs In ND

2. Connecticut

Total Patrol Officer Jobs: 494
Highest 10% Earn:
$62,000
Location Quotient:
1.13

$46,312

Avg. Salary

View 494 Patrol Officer Jobs In CT

3. Washington

Total Patrol Officer Jobs: 985
Highest 10% Earn:
$59,000
Location Quotient:
1.02

$46,753

Avg. Salary

View 985 Patrol Officer Jobs In WA
Full List Of Best States For Patrol Officers

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Top Patrol Officer Employers

Most Common Employers For Patrol Officer

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Police Department$49,461$23.7829
2City$44,275$21.2916
3NOPD$43,342$20.8419
4Universal Protection Service$42,130$20.2563
5Atlanta Police Department$42,067$20.2220
6Memphis Police Department$41,661$20.0330
7City of New York$41,346$19.8880
8Command Security$36,107$17.3636
9G4S$35,892$17.2633
10West Coast Choppers$35,702$17.1623
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Updated April 6, 2023