How To Become A Protective Services Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a protective services 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 protective services officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.39 an hour? That's $48,651 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 38,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreProtective Services OfficerUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,651

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.60%

Asian 5.89%

Black or African American 15.99%

Hispanic or Latino 17.16%

Unknown 5.34%

White 54.02%

Gender

female 16.56%

male 83.44%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a protective services officer

Explore protective services officer education requirements

Most common protective services officer degrees

Bachelor's

35.3 %

Associate

25.8 %

High School Diploma

23.4 %

Start to develop specific protective services officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	15.55%
Patients	12.73%
CPR	9.73%
Protective Services	7.21%
Emergency Situations	6.87%

Complete relevant protective services officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New protective services 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 protective services officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real protective services officer resumes.

Research protective services officer duties and responsibilities

Operate emergency equipment, perform first aid including CPR, take accurate notes of the scene, and write detail reports.
Coordinate with outside agencies regarding effective patrol responses.
Provide external and interior CCTV monitoring for any suspicious activities.
Conduct aggressive CCTV monitoring to deter terrorist surveillance and attacks.

Prepare your protective services officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your protective services 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 protective services 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 protective services officer resume templates

Build a professional protective services 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 protective services officer resume.