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Police supervisor 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 supervisor skills. We ranked the top skills for police supervisors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.9% of police supervisor resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a police supervisor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 police supervisor skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how police supervisors use patrol:

Patrol Shift Supervisor: Consistently demonstrated proven ability to supervise police officers during critical incidents and routine calls for service.
Supervised and monitored security staff, including scheduling, training and supervisory patrol.

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 supervisors use public safety:

Supervised 15 persons working for the Office of Public Safety.
Performed all functions related to law enforcement and public safety.

3. Law Enforcement Agencies

Here's how police supervisors use law enforcement agencies:

Worked in an undercover capacity with members of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
Act as liaison between Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies.

4. Emergency Calls

Here's how police supervisors use emergency calls:

Approved Police reports, notarized documents, approved arrests, responded to emergency calls for service.
Provide supervision and respond to emergency and non emergency calls as needed

5. Evidence Collection

Here's how police supervisors use evidence collection:

Restructured and managed the evidence collection and Crime Scene Technician response program.
Performed intensive investigations into suspected criminal activities, including evidence collection and interviews.

6. Criminal Investigations

Here's how police supervisors use criminal investigations:

Prepare investigative reports and routinely plan and conduct criminal investigations.
Enforced District of Columbia laws and conducted criminal investigations.

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7. CAD

Here's how police supervisors use cad:

Implemented updated systems including CCTV, CAD, SIMS, CLETS and other Law Enforcement Applications.
Determined nature and priority of call, entered into CAD system.

8. Crime Prevention Programs

Here's how police supervisors use crime prevention programs:

Maintained citywide information regarding crime prevention programs and disseminated crime prevention materials to all geographic areas.
Assist in the development of policy or procedures relating to law enforcement functions and crime prevention programs.

9. NCIC

Here's how police supervisors use ncic:

Maintain all state mandated records in NCIC.
Familiarized myself with the NCIC system, CCTV monitoring system, Identipass alarm systems, and the ZAC-32 alarm systems.

10. Critical Incidents

Here's how police supervisors use critical incidents:

Researched and developed a tactical manual for operational response protocols to critical incidents including natural disasters, accidents and civil disturbances.
Led and supervised police officers, including directing and overseeing critical incidents, tactical situations, and criminal investigations.

11. 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 supervisors use performance evaluations:

Conducted periodic performance evaluations of police personnel and planning sessions to include assigning counseling and disciplinary actions if needed.
Conducted performance evaluations, assigning counseling and disciplinary actions as needed.

12. 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 supervisors use police reports:

Review police reports, categorize them, decide the fallowing steps towards prosecution.
Created new standard operating procedures that helped streamline the process of police reports.

13. Incident Reports

An Incident Report, in a medical facility such as hospitals and nursing homes, is a type of paperwork filled out immediately after and in the case of an incident of some sort, with the goal of describing the incident and its consequences, as well as the measurements taken after or during the incident, as well as any other information relevant to said incident. Such an incident might be a patient acting out or a patient being injured.

Here's how police supervisors use incident reports:

Reviewed incident reports, traffic citations, police desk journals, and other documentation.
Reviewed and approved all incident reports, shift blotters and citations for final disposition.

14. Physical Security

Physical security refers to the services of protection offered by guards, surveillance, barriers, access controls, or other specially designed security systems. All of these aforementioned security systems are an integral part of physical security and ensure the safety of not just people but also of physical property including valuable items, resources, and more. It further includes the provision of security against potential intruders, thefts, and even attacks.

Here's how police supervisors use physical security:

Supervised the or- ganizational Physical Security section responsible for the overall security and force protection of the entire community.
Developed procedures for the emergency response and crisis management, physical security, information protection, incident management and investigation units.

15. 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 supervisors use disciplinary actions:

Issued disciplinary actions to subordinate personnel.
Conducted internal investigations and administered disciplinary actions.

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What skills help Police Supervisors find jobs?

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What skills stand out on police supervisor 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 supervisor 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 supervisors 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 supervisor skills to add to your resume

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

Patrol
Public Safety
Law Enforcement Agencies
Emergency Calls
Evidence Collection
Criminal Investigations
CAD
Crime Prevention Programs
NCIC
Critical Incidents
Performance Evaluations

Police Reports
Incident Reports
Physical Security
Disciplinary Actions
Traffic Control
Crime Scenes
Emergency Situations
Police Operations
Performance Standards
Veterans
Criminal Cases

Local Laws
Community Relations
Federal Laws
Law Enforcement
Security Measures
Safety Hazards
Criminal Law
Patrol Division
State Laws
Traffic Accidents

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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