Officers from the Milpitas Police Department arrived at the high school on Feb. 26th to introduce police work as a possible career option for students. The officers showed their equipment and explained what police officers do.
One of the biggest skills you learn while being a police officer is learning to be empathetic, Officer Loren Wutzke said.
“It’s a skill that I think I had before coming into this job, but I think I experienced it even more working with different people, with dealing with emergencies.,” Wutzke said. “People call 911; they call us during the worst times. So trying to help people in those times of need, and really be understanding of what they’re going through and trying to help them out, I think it is a good skill.”
When you become a police officer, the leadership skills you learn could be applicable in the private sector, Wutzke said. When you show up on scene, people will expect you to know what to do; the ability to communicate with others and keep everyone on the same page would be useful in the private sector, Wutzke said.
“If you’re running a business or in charge of that department, you have to be able to work well with others, communicate, and definitely, even if you don’t know the answer, you want to still be confident, right? And not cocky, but confident enough to, if you don’t know the answer, find the answer, or be willing to be open to working with others to find a solution,” Wutzke said.
There are different fields of practice for police officers and Wutzke is on the SWAT team and the Bike Patrol team, Wutzke said.
“The bike is nice because it’s different from the car,” Wutzke said.” “In the car sometimes the windows are rolled up, and you can’t really stop and interact with people, but on the bike, you’re going slower. You can talk to people you know, fall over, and make eye contact with people. Even those little things matter – make people feel like you care, versus you’re just a cop driving in the car, driving right by them.”
To become a police officer, you need a high school diploma, 60 units for a college degree, and you must be 21 years old before Police Academy starts, Sergeant Peter Tachis said to students.
“And then you apply with us, go through an oral board interview, fill out a whole personal history packet with everything going back to jobs, neighborhoods you live in – all that kind of stuff. After that, you do a polygraph examination. And then if you get through all that, you’re headed to police academy, and then field training after that, and then by about a year or so in you’re a solo officer,” Tachis said.
The police department offers an all-year-long program called Explorer for students who are interested in going into police work, Officer Michelle Sanchez said.
“You can gain community service; it gives you an opportunity to meet all the police officers if you want to be a police officer,” Sanchez said. “Many of our police officers and sergeants have been explorers in the past. It really makes you stand out when you’re applying, regardless of which agency. Let’s say you become an explorer with Milpitas, but you want to be a police officer in LA. It looks really good (…) So if you do want to be involved in it, I do suggest you turn in an application.”