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Police captain 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 police captain skills. We ranked the top skills for police captains based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 26.9% of police captain resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a police captain needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 police captain skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how police captains use patrol:

Planned, directed, and supervised daily activities of field-operations division, including patrol, investigations, and correctional-unit activities.
Addressed continuous staffing concerns and adapted to changing demands of the community by implementing innovative patrol techniques.

2. 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 police captains use public safety:

Instructed strategic planning and incident command at Alaska Department of Public Safety Academy.
Developed plans for crime reduction and attended public safety and community concerns.

3. Law Enforcement Agencies

Here's how police captains use law enforcement agencies:

Conducted special investigations in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, including county, State and federal government.
Coordinated department activities with other city departments and law enforcement agencies to ensure a cohesive strategy.

4. Criminal Justice

Here's how police captains use criminal justice:

Hold numerous certifications of training and have attended many continuing education classes in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.
Tasked with maintaining compliance with mandated state reporting for utilization of state and federal criminal justice databases.

5. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how police captains use cpr:

Graduated from the North West Arkansas Police Academy in 2001 with certification regarding: Firearm carry, CLEET, and CPR.
Trained in CPR and first aid, radar speed enforcement, domestic violence intervention, pepper spray, and basic anti-terrorism.

6. Policy Development

A pоlісу dеvеlорmеnt is thе process оf dесіdіng what tо achieve, what tо be dоnе tо асhіеvе іt, how to асhіеvе it efficiently and economically, who should do іt, еtс It аіmѕ tо develop policies gеnеrаllу tо hеlр buѕіnеѕѕеѕ run еffісіеntlу іn achieving thеіr оbjесtіvеѕ and tо соmрlу wіth the lеgаl and social еnvіrоnmеnt in whісh they ореrаtе.

Here's how police captains use policy development:

Consult with the Police Chief on policy development and implementation.

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7. Internal Affairs

Here's how police captains use internal affairs:

Assigned to the Background Investigation Unit and Internal Affairs Division responsible for investigating citizens and officers complaints against police officers.
Experience supervision of Criminal Investigation Division, Organized Crime Unit, Internal Affairs Division and budgeting.

8. Performance Evaluations

Performance evaluation is a formal and productive process to measure an employee's work and results based on their job responsibilities over a defined period of time and to properly measure an employee's contribution to the workforce and employers and achieve a high level of quality and quantity of work produced. The evaluation also helps employees provide information about deficiencies in job performance and the company's expectations for the future.

Here's how police captains use performance evaluations:

Compile information, assess performance, and review expectations with police managers through performance evaluations.
Reviewed and approved the performance evaluations of the Regional Conservation Police Officers.

9. Disciplinary Actions

Disciplinary actions refer to a corrective measure taken against an employee for unsatisfactory behavior. Many work environments have a tiered system for disciplinary action, where the first warning is verbal and the second is written. Disciplinary action may be given after a weak performance review, a violation of company rules and policies, or a poor customer review.

Here's how police captains use disciplinary actions:

Prepared employee evaluations, analyzed performance, and provided any necessary disciplinary actions.
Assist Lieutenants with basic clerical duties, event planning and doling disciplinary actions.

10. Emergency Management

Here's how police captains use emergency management:

Participate in emergency management and studentjustice services.
Served as the Deputy Office of Emergency Management Coordinator for the Township of Parsippany.

11. Police Operations

Here's how police captains use police operations:

Shift Supervisor with responsibility for operational direction, public relations and supervision of police operations during assigned rotating shifts.
Assisted officers in police operations, monitored and evaluated officer's job performance.

12. Direct Supervision

Direct supervision is a term used to indicate that a person is supervising a certain task or a certain person while being physically present or in close proximity. It refers to the presence of a person and the availability of their supervision in something if it is needed.

Here's how police captains use direct supervision:

Provide direct supervision to command staff and line supervisors.
Documented personnel performance of subordinates and prepared annual reviews for each officer under my direct supervision.

13. Crime Prevention

Here's how police captains use crime prevention:

Directed a proactive approach to crime prevention and community policing efforts.
Addressed citizen groups regarding crime prevention strategies.

14. Criminal Investigations

Here's how police captains use criminal investigations:

Facilitated a paradigm shift in the Criminal Investigations Division from simply reactive to proactive policing.
Collaborated with state and federal authorities on coordinating several overlapping high-profile criminal investigations.

15. 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 police captains use community relations:

Developed and managed community relations.
Leveraged interpersonal communication skills and intimate knowledge of criminal laws to promote positive community relations and aid investigations and court proceedings.

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What skills help Police Captains find jobs?

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What skills stand out on police captain 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 police captain 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.

What type of skills will young police captains need?

T.Christopher Bell

Professor, La Sierra University

The skills graduates will need are much improved in VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS skills-the ability to de-escalate and resolve conflict through verbal communication. Students who are majoring in Criminal Justice must be able to understand multiculturalism. The ability to understand different and not perceive it as harmful.

Do you want to know more?

List of police captain skills to add to your resume

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

Patrol
Public Safety
Law Enforcement Agencies
Criminal Justice
CPR
Policy Development
Internal Affairs
Performance Evaluations
Disciplinary Actions
Emergency Management
Police Operations
Direct Supervision
Crime Prevention

Criminal Investigations
Community Relations
Police Services
Emergency Situations
Citizen Complaints
Police Academy
Oversight
Human Resources
Emergency Response
Background Investigations
Domestic Violence
Patrol Division
K-9

Internal Investigations
Crime Statistics
Swat
Crime Scenes
Crime Trends
Emergency Operations
DEA
Community Events
Critical Incidents
Emergency Calls
Training Programs
Administrative Functions
Computer Aided Dispatch

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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