Police Officer Resume Example and Writing Guide

Below is a full police officer resume for Luis Romero, a fictional patrol Officer and Field Training Officer in Marlow Falls, OH. Keep the section order, then replace each line with your own work and results.

3 police officer summaries, one each for academy graduate, experienced patrol officer and detective or promotion. Pick the closest and rewrite it with your own title, years and one real result.

Use an objective instead of a summary for entry level and military to law enforcement situations: one or two sentences on what you bring and the police officer job you want.

Bullets grouped by patrol and calls for service, investigations, reports and court and training, leadership and community. The numbers are illustrations; put in your own.

17 skills employers list in police officer postings. Include the ones the posting asks for and that your bullets prove.

Put your state certification near the top, in a Certifications and Training section right under the summary: the state, the certifying body (often called POST, for Peace Officer Standards and Training) and that it is active. Agencies verify certification themselves, so you do not need the certificate number.

List the academy as its own entry with the academy name, completion date and anything that sets you apart, such as class leader or top firearms score. The BLS notes that most police and detectives must graduate from their agency's training academy before completing on-the-job training. Experienced officers should add in-service training that matches the job: field training officer, crisis intervention, impaired driving, crash reconstruction, firearms or defensive tactics instructor.

Hiring boards look for scope and judgment. Name the agency type and size, the area you patrol, your shift pattern and your call volume, then show work that took judgment: de-escalations, investigations you carried from report to court, arrests that held up, officers you trained.

Leave out anything that should stay inside the department: victim and suspect names, juvenile cases, informant details, tactics and open investigations.

• Agency and beat: "140-officer municipal department, city of 85,000" or "400 square miles of rural county"
• Volume: calls for service per shift or per year, reports written, traffic stops
• Specialized assignments: field training officer, K-9, SWAT, detective, school resource officer, DRE
• Court: how often you testified and in what kinds of cases
• Recognition: commendations, lifesaving awards, letters from the public

Many agencies hire recruits before the academy, so the resume has to show you can pass the background investigation and learn the job. The BLS notes that candidates usually must be at least 21 years old and have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, may have to pass physical and written exams, and that a felony conviction or drug use may disqualify a candidate.

Lead with education, then any work in security, loss prevention, corrections, dispatch, the military, EMS or lifeguarding. Add volunteer work such as police explorers or a community emergency response team, and list any second language; the BLS calls knowledge of a foreign language an asset in many agencies and regions.

For a lateral move, lead with your certification status in the new state, because many states require a waiver, equivalency course or new exam for officers certified elsewhere. Stress years of solo patrol, specialized training and a clean disciplinary record.

For promotion to detective, sergeant or a specialty unit, shift the bullets from activity to leadership and results: cases cleared, officers trained, projects led, policies written, complaints reduced on your shift. Federal agencies ask for a federal-style resume with more detail on hours and duties, so build a separate version for those.

Use a reverse-chronological resume: one page for recruits and most patrol officers, two pages for supervisors with long specialized careers. Plain headings work best: Summary, Certifications and Training, Experience, Education, Skills.

Most agencies also require an application and a detailed personal history statement. Background investigators compare these documents, so make sure dates, employers and addresses match exactly across all of them.

Terms that show up in police officer job postings. Mirror the exact wording of the posting you apply to, but only for work you have done.

• Police Officer
• law enforcement
• patrol
• POST certified
• calls for service
• report writing
• arrests
• traffic enforcement
• de-escalation
• crisis intervention
• evidence collection
• community policing
• field training officer
• use of force
• firearms qualification
• courtroom testimony
• NCIC
• body-worn camera

• Confidential details. Names, case numbers, informant information and tactics do not belong on a resume, even with good intentions.
• Ten-codes and department shorthand. Codes differ by agency. Write "responded to domestic violence calls," not the code your dispatch uses.
• Dates that do not match your background packet. Investigators compare them line by line, and a mismatch looks like dishonesty even when it is a typo.
• Duties every officer has. "Patrolled assigned area" appears on every police resume. Show volume, judgment and results.
• Leading with force. Put judgment, communication and community work up front; agencies screen for those traits as closely as tactical skills.

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We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.

1. O*NET OnLine: 33-3051.00: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers (median wages, employment, projected growth, core tasks and records software)
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Police and Detectives (median pay for police and detectives, academy training, age, education and hiring requirements)