Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between police academy instructors and program instructors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a police academy instructor and a program instructor. Additionally, a police academy instructor has an average salary of $52,586, which is higher than the $42,380 average annual salary of a program instructor.
The top three skills for a police academy instructor include CPR, children ages and training programs. The most important skills for a program instructor are patients, K-12, and math.
| Police Academy Instructor | Program Instructor | |
| Yearly salary | $52,586 | $42,380 |
| Hourly rate | $25.28 | $20.38 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 37,144 | 92,369 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Police academy instructors must have a healthy educational background consisting of an associate degree and six years' experience or a bachelor's degree and two years' experience. Paid around $58K per year, this position requires skills in firearms training, arrest control, defensive tactics, physical training, law enforcement, vehicle operation, emergency management, and others. Those who choose this career will be expected to provide lesson plans for the police training curriculum and to instruct students in basic police training topics and skills.
A program instructor is responsible for facilitating indoor and outdoor programs with various goals and objectives catering to different participants. Program instructors must have excellent communication skills, especially on gaining the participants' attention and engaging them to join the activities prepared for the day. They also maintain a safe and creative learning environment for everyone, observing each participant's behavior and interests, developing group cooperation, and fostering personal development. A program instructor reiterates safety procedures and regulations during the program for everyone's strict compliance and immediately addresses conflicts soon as they arise.
Police academy instructors and program instructors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Police Academy Instructor | Program Instructor | |
| Average salary | $52,586 | $42,380 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $83,000 | Between $29,000 And $60,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Urban Honolulu, HI |
| Highest paying state | - | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | - | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | - | Education |
There are a few differences between a police academy instructor and a program instructor in terms of educational background:
| Police Academy Instructor | Program Instructor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Psychology |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between police academy instructors' and program instructors' demographics:
| Police Academy Instructor | Program Instructor | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 73.2% Female, 26.8% | Male, 39.7% Female, 60.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 11.3% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 7.3% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 11.2% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 16% |