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

What is a police specialist 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 specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.13 an hour? That's $41,875 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePolice SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $41,875

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.12%

Asian 3.42%

Black or African American 10.31%

Hispanic or Latino 16.09%

Unknown 5.05%

White 64.01%

Gender

female 47.06%

male 52.94%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a police specialist

Explore police specialist education requirements

Most common police specialist degrees

Bachelor's

58.6 %

Associate

20.7 %

Master's

10.3 %

Start to develop specific police specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	72.33%
Public Safety	25.00%
RMS	1.67%
Court Proceedings	1.01%

Complete relevant police specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New police specialists 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 specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real police specialist resumes.

Research police specialist duties and responsibilities

Patrol specific area on foot, or motorize vehicle, responding promptly to calls for assistance.
Maintain documentation relevant to investigations and patrol.
Review civilian complaints; conduct comprehensive interviews and disciplinary hearings; recommend and implement disciplinary action; handle removal of firearms.
Work in life-threatening undercover operations, placing warrant information into the NCIC for want criminals.

Prepare your police specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your police specialist 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 specialist 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 specialist resume templates

Build a professional police specialist 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 specialist resume.