Wisconsin Police Academy Requirements and Qualifications

Residents of Wisconsin are proud to call the Badger State home. Wisconsin is famous for so many things, including hard working businesses and industry leaders worldwide in manufacturing and other industries. Wisconsin is also famous for dairy farming and for milk and cheese production. The University of Wisconsin is a popular university located in Madison.

With its home in the Midwest, law enforcement work in Wisconsin can pose some interesting challenges. Weather events and the occasional stray cattle are some of the lighter moments, but law enforcement also has to handle traffic enforcement, assaults, robberies, drugs and domestic violence. Crimes rates can be a challenge in cities including Milwaukee and Green Bay. Law enforcement must constantly change and adapt when circumstances change.

The State of Wisconsin requires the best from the chosen few who decide to enter careers in law enforcement. There are strict requirements for people interested in law enforcement careers in the Badger State. While different locations might require or prefer different things in their law enforcement officers, the basic statewide requirements are generally the same across Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has a governing board that’s responsible for making rules about selecting and training law enforcement officers in the state. They decide what minimum standards should be and they provide information to would-be applicants about what they need to do to meet these qualifications. These standards are designed to ensure that applicants are qualified and likely to succeed in training.

To start, you need to be at least eighteen years old to pursue a career in law enforcement in Wisconsin. You must prove that you have either a GED or a high school diploma. You need an operator’s license from the State of Wisconsin. You can’t become a Wisconsin law enforcement officer if you have any felony convictions. It’s also unique to the State of Wisconsin that you can’t have any misdemeanor convictions, either. While some states allow potential law-enforcement officers to have minor criminal offenses, in Wisconsin you can’t have any at all.

While a high school diploma is the minimum, you still have to be a strong enough candidate to beat out other applicants for the job. More and more, these jurisdictions require or prefer candidates to have at least some higher education. An associate degree makes you a stronger candidate, and technical education or even training in criminal justice or law enforcement in a college setting are things that can help you succeed in law enforcement as you try to stand out from other candidates. In addition to age and education requirements, you have to pass a few tests. One is a physical fitness and agility test and another is a psychological exam.

The State of Wisconsin has some different standards for state trooper candidates, as opposed to generic law enforcement officers. To become a trooper, you must be twenty-one years old instead of eighteen. You don’t have to be a U.S. citizen if you can show that you are legal to work in the United States. You have to submit the Department of Homeland Security’s Form I-9 if you’re not a U.S. citizen.

The State of Wisconsin puts potential law enforcement officers through some pretty rigorous background testing. Expect them to look into your criminal history, financial records and employment history. They might even look into your housing history and what kind of tenant you’ve been. They might even ask you to take a polygraph test to see if you have moral fitness.

If you jump through all of these hurdles and make it into a Wisconsin police training academy, you want to make the most of the experience. That means you have to prepare before you start. There is a lot to learn and you don’t want others to get ahead.

Fortunately, there’s Prepare for the Police Academy. Expert law enforcement officers and trainers came together to prepare this guide for people wanting to know what to expect and how to succeed in police training. The book teaches you the basics, so you know the terms you need to know for the first day. It covers topics that you study in police academy from the first day to the last day.

It also teaches you what to do and what not to do while you’re in training, so that you can succeed and one day call yourself a law-enforcement officer. You can find the book at www.PrepareForThePoliceAcademy.com. With this knowledge, you can enter your first day of police training with confidence and with the edge over other candidates. Your hard work only grows into a sense of pride as you confidently learn to protect and serve the citizens of Wisconsin.

County Sheriff Agencies in Wisconsin