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Patrol police sergeant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.,

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical patrol police sergeant skills. We ranked the top skills for patrol police sergeants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 64.3% of patrol police sergeant resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a patrol police sergeant needs to be successful in the workplace.

12 patrol police sergeant skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how patrol police sergeants use patrol:

Developed standardized training for Mounted Patrol officers in accordance with Ohio Police Officer Training Academy guidelines.
Investigated allegations of Police Misconduct involving patrol officers

2. Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is the task of certain members of the community who work together to uphold the law by identifying, preventing, rehabilitating, or prosecuting others who break society's laws and norms. The phrase refers to the police, the judiciary, and the correctional system.

Here's how patrol police sergeants use law enforcement:

Managed daily activities of assigned police personnel in the provision of professional law enforcement services.
Assisted campus police on weekends, escorted students to dormitories, gave a student perspective to law enforcement.

3. Field Training

Here's how patrol police sergeants use field training:

Field Training Officer Supervisor & Field Training Officer Certified.
Team, Bomb Squad, K-9 Program, Field Training Officer (F.T.O.)

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 patrol police sergeants use public safety:

Led platoon of 12 police officers responsible for the public safety of more than 70,000 citizens.
Maintain appropriate police response to a variety of public safety problems, including critical incidences requiring emergency management skills.

5. Emergency Situations

Here's how patrol police sergeants use emergency situations:

Respond to all emergency situations maintain, coordinate scene make executive notifications, order any specialized units or personal as needed.
Supervised daily operations of officers and monitored police operations during the shift to include emergency situations and city needs.

6. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how patrol police sergeants use subpoenas:

Served subpoenas at direction of prosecutors.
Enforce Texas laws, served subpoenas, obtained / served warrants, any and all duties as required.

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7. Federal Laws

The laws formed and upheld by the federal administrating body of a country are known as federal laws. A federal administrating body or government is formed by a political party after being elected by the general public.

Here's how patrol police sergeants use federal laws:

Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, State, or Federal laws and ordinances.
Have a working knowledge of all city, county, state, and federal laws.

8. Citizen Complaints

Here's how patrol police sergeants use citizen complaints:

Investigate citizen complaints on Officers, as well as police vehicle accidents.
Review reports Address any citizen complaints as they arise.

9. Traffic Control

Traffic control helps in the supervision of the movement of vehicles, goods, and people for safety and efficiency.

Here's how patrol police sergeants use traffic control:

Planned and executed security and traffic control for large events.
Developed security requirements, traffic control, asset vulnerability and base access requirements for events while synchronizing multiple agencies state wide.

10. Patrol Division

Here's how patrol police sergeants use patrol division:

Supervised subordinates in Patrol Division.
Served as Sergeant in Patrol Division supervising 10 deputies in the patrol and transportation divisions.

11. Police Reports

Police reports, also known as "incident reports," are recorded by members of the police department and detail a (potentially) illegal incident or confrontation. The following information is usually found on a police report: the date and time of the incident, which officers were involved, the address of the incident, what kind of incident (theft, assault, etc.), and how the officers were alerted to the incident.

Here's how patrol police sergeants use police reports:

Review and approve police reports to ensure necessary details are within for future court proceedings.
Performed administrative duties such as reviewing correspondence and police reports.

12. Conduct Investigations

Here's how patrol police sergeants use conduct investigations:

Evaluate officers assigned to my shift, conduct investigations on alleged behavior and make appropriate recommendations to Command Staff.

What skills help Patrol Police Sergeants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on patrol police sergeant 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 patrol police sergeant 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 patrol police sergeant skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a patrol police sergeant resume and required skills for a patrol police sergeant to have include:

Patrol
Law Enforcement
Field Training
Public Safety

Emergency Situations
Subpoenas
Federal Laws
Citizen Complaints

Traffic Control
Patrol Division
Police Reports
Conduct Investigations

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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