How To Become A Police Commanding Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a police commanding officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a police commanding officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $38.37 an hour? That's $79,819 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePolice Commanding OfficerUS Average

Salary

6.2

Avg. Salary $79,819

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.38%

Asian 1.80%

Black or African American 9.72%

Hispanic or Latino 16.32%

Unknown 3.94%

White 66.84%

Gender

female 7.02%

male 92.98%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a police commanding officer

Explore police commanding officer education requirements

Most common police commanding officer degrees

Bachelor's

47.3 %

Associate

23.0 %

Master's

17.6 %

Start to develop specific police commanding officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	40.40%
Internal Investigations	14.71%
Emergency Response	14.31%
Disciplinary Actions	7.17%
Police Reports	6.20%

Complete relevant police commanding officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New police commanding officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a police commanding officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real police commanding officer resumes.

Research police commanding officer duties and responsibilities

Coordinate and manage logistical combat support services, engineering support, and security escorts to bases/units locate within the region.
Provide operational and administrative oversight of staff responsible for executing law enforcement services for Missouri's state parks and historic sites.
Arrange quarterly Compstat, take complaint reports (CRs), handle special attentions and conduct roll call training.

Prepare your police commanding officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your police commanding officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a police commanding officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable police commanding officer resume templates

Build a professional police commanding officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your police commanding officer resume.