California Police Academy Requirements: Qualifications to Become a Cop in CA

Much like Michigan and Arizona, Law enforcement work in California can be extremely challenging. To even enter this field, you must attend a police academy that’s accredited by POST. The word POST stands for Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training. There are POST-approved academies scattered throughout Western and middle California.

At a POST police academy in California, you learn the skills you need to master in order to competently perform police work. These requirements, set by the POST commission team, make sure that you have the training and skills that you need to do a service to the public in a competent way. With fewer than 40 police academies serving the entire State of California, they can afford to be selective. The facility you attend might offer variable training depending on whether you intend to work a local beat, serve as a highway patrol officer or enter any one of a number of other specialized police services.

Police academy training in California teaches you the basics of patrolling in an effective and safe manner. You learn how to conduct an investigation and you learn traffic laws in depth. Of course, you need to master criminal laws, learn to handle your weapon with skill, and manage emotionally-charged situations in a way that diffuses, rather than escalates, conflict with the public. Expect police academy to be physically and emotionally exhausting at times.

You have to apply to go to a POST police academy in California. There is an application to fill out, and you have to pass reading and writing tests to make sure that you can read and think at a necessary level. Be ready to pass a physical skills test (Physical Agility Test) to demonstrate your fitness, and you have to also pass a medical test and a psychological test.

California law sections 1029 and 1031 govern minimum police standards in California. You must:

Be a U.S. citizen, or a permanent resident alien

Be at least 18 years old (Localities might impose a higher age)

Lack a criminal history (Be prepared to prove it with fingerprinting)

Pass a moral fitness test

Possess at least a high school diploma or GED

Demonstrate your physical and psychological fitness

It might be a good idea to clean up your social media before you ask anyone to look into your moral fitness. State Troopers have even higher requirements in California.

Once you can show that you’ve met these qualifications, you can enter a POST-approved training academy. Most of the time, when you study at a POST academy, you complete the Regular Basic Training curriculum. This program is a collection of forty-two topics, called Learning Domains, that you need to know to be a competent officer in California. You also have to pass specialized training that relates to arrests and firearm use and safety. Once you pass your POST basic training, you can’t have a lapse of more than three years of service, or you have to take a recertification course. If this happens to you, there are available options for you to again demonstrate your fitness to work in law enforcement.

If you’re contemplating a career in California law enforcement, or if you’ve already signed up, a great thing to do before your first day of class is to brush up on the things you can expect to learn while in training. There are several options for this, but one great option is the Prepare for the Police Academy Survival Guide. Created by experienced experts, this guidebook helps you prepare mentally and physically for the demands of police work. It’s a great way to learn criminal laws, because when you get to police training, you have a large number of criminal laws to learn, quickly.

With www.Prepare For The Police Academy, you learn the most common reasons that people fail police training, and how to avoid these problems. You can learn how to make your grueling time in police academy less mentally and physically stressful. Check out www.PrepareForThePoliceAcademy.com for information on how to order this valuable resource.

Congratulations on your decision to enter law enforcement. Knowing that you meet the minimum requirements can help you avoid disappointment when it’s time to apply for your attendance at the academy. Take the time to read about the experience ahead of time to make sure that your journey into the Thin Blue Line is a successful one.

County Sheriff Agencies in CA: