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Police internship 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 internship skills. We ranked the top skills for police interns based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 27.2% of police internship resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a police internship needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 police internship skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how police interns use patrol:

Gained valuable experience working first-hand with Police Officers from patrol to incident reports; observed interrogations & arraignment; assisted with documentation/certification
Worked closely with Patrol Officers during daily operational activities.

2. Data Entry

Data entry means entering data into a company's system with the help of a keyboard. A person responsible for entering data may also be asked to verify the authenticity of the data being entered. A person doing data entry must pay great attention to tiny details.

Here's how police interns use data entry:

Facilitated in monitoring data entry in all computers for data storage.
Assisted in electronic data entry from written files * Assisted in dorm room search * Conducted interrogations for two dorm burglaries

3. 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 interns use public safety:

Assisted with public safety data collection and/or implementation of policies for police safety.
Observed officers investigate and apprehend violators of laws and public safety.

4. Criminal Justice

Here's how police interns use criminal justice:

Gain experience in the criminal justice field to assist in handling high pressure situations and deal with complex public relation issues
Used knowledge gained within the Criminal Justice system to fully understand and relate to activities observed.

5. Internship Program

An internship program is a work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time that helps the internee learn about their field of choice. Typically, undergraduate students undertake internship programs to gain experience and learn relevant skills from an experienced person in the field.

Here's how police interns use internship program:

Ride along Intern I was involved in an internship program through the Granville Police Department in Granville, West Virginia.

6. Ride-Alongs

Here's how police interns use ride-alongs:

Participated in officer ride-alongs * Gained procedural knowledge * Assisted in investigations/background checks * Observed daily functions of police officers
Accompanied officers on ride-alongs to observe the early detection and apprehension of criminal violators.

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7. Crime Scenes

Crime scenes refer to places or locations of an offence where forensic evidence may get gathered.

Here's how police interns use crime scenes:

Assist crime lab with processing crime scenes and evidence related to criminal investigations, maintaining appropriate chain of custody.
Observed police functions during crime scenes investigations and during interviews.

8. Emergency Calls

Here's how police interns use emergency calls:

Engaged in medical emergency calls that included cooperation with the Norman PoliceDepartment, Norman EMSSTAT, and the Norman Fire Department.
Responded to emergency calls, and community involvement with officers I was shadowing.

9. 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 police interns use police reports:

Reviewed video surveillance footage and past police reports for relevant evidence during robbery investigations.
Documented incidents in police reports and collected evidence for proper disposition.

10. Police Procedures

Here's how police interns use police procedures:

Observed police procedures, techniques, and policies.
Observed police procedures and activities Kept accurate daily Logs for Internship Adviser with Ferris State University.

11. Police Academy

Here's how police interns use police academy:

Participated with SWAT team training at the Police Academy shooting range.
Served as a guide for the Junior Police Academy Week.

12. Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pattern of violent, intimidating, or abusive behavior in any relationship committed by someone within the victim's circle - partner, ex-partner, parents, family, and friends, to gain or maintain power and control over the victim. This can be emotional, sexual, social, financial, economic, psychological, spiritual, and/or physical abuse.

Here's how police interns use domestic violence:

Experienced firsthand how to handle situations ranging from auto accidents, domestic violence disputes, traffic infractions and drug violations.
Participated in ride-along with sworn officers responding to domestic violence calls, vandalism, and enforcing traffic violations.

13. NCIC

Here's how police interns use ncic:

Trained data officer inputting/removing information into National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
Worked in life-threatening undercover operations, placing warrant information into the NCIC for wanted criminals.

14. Traffic Control

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

Here's how police interns use traffic control:

Performed traffic control operations: directed traffic, assisted motorists, issued citations, and investigated accidents involving motor vehicles.
Participated in regular Patrol Officer duties, special events, traffic control and maintained training jacket to ensure reserve police eligibility

15. Firearms Training

Here's how police interns use firearms training:

Obtained firearms training and defensive usage.

5 Police Internship resume examples

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What skills help Police Interns find jobs?

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What skills stand out on police internship 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 internship 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 internships 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 internship skills to add to your resume

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

Patrol
Data Entry
Public Safety
Criminal Justice
Internship Program
Ride-Alongs
Crime Scenes
Emergency Calls
Police Reports
Police Procedures
Police Academy
Domestic Violence
NCIC
Traffic Control
Firearms Training

Traffic Stops
Incident Reports
Traffic Violations
DUI
Computer Aided Dispatch
Crime Prevention
Background Checks
Community Events
Front Desk
Community Services
PowerPoint
Law Enforcement Agencies
Computer System
CCTV
Crowd Control

Emergency Situations
CPR
Criminal Cases
K-9
License Plates
Routine Patrol
Traffic Laws
Court Proceedings
Crime Reports
Domestic Disputes
Police Station
Court Cases
District Court
Court Hearings
Crime Lab

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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