Skills
Police Officer Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in police officers, and how to build and show them.
Police Officers need technical skills such as criminal law and procedure, report writing, and defensive tactics and use-of-force policy, plus people skills like communication and de-escalation and judgment under pressure. They also use tools such as Patrol vehicles and radios and Body-worn cameras.
Technical (hard) skills
- Criminal law and procedure
- Report writing
- Defensive tactics and use-of-force policy
- Emergency vehicle operation
- Evidence collection
- Firearms proficiency
People (soft) skills
- Communication and de-escalation
- Judgment under pressure
- Integrity
- Empathy
Tools, equipment and technology
- Patrol vehicles and radios
- Body-worn cameras
- Mobile data terminals and records systems
- Evidence collection kits
- Duty equipment
- Computer-aided dispatch (CAD)
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how police officers put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Criminal law and procedure” and “Report writing.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “communication and de-escalation,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as State POST certification near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our police officer glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Police Officer training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.