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Officer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
Quoted Experts
Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.,
T.Christopher Bell
Officer Example Skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical officer skills. We ranked the top skills for officers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 19.4% of officer resumes contained patrol as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an officer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 officer skills for your resume and career

1. Patrol

Here's how officers use patrol:
  • Enforced traffic regulations; responsible for law enforcement investigations, performed foot and motorized patrol and applied crime prevention measures.
  • Managed Communications Centers for the street patrol officers and the Confinement Facility.

2. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how officers use customer service:
  • Improved customer service ratings through several performances which may include helping with rental and utilities assistant and emergency food distributions.
  • Perform basic and routine functions as a customer service liaison to support facility responsibilities for resolving visitor admittance issues.

3. Public Safety

Public safety can be defined as the well-being or protection of a community, citizen, or nation as a whole. There are 4 basic elements that come under public safety namely: national security, border policy, countering crime, and emergency management.

Here's how officers use public safety:
  • Contribute to public safety by providing supervision, case management and intervention services to criminal offenders released to the community.
  • Review databases to identify ineligibility for asylum due to national security, public safety, or other grounds.

4. Emergency Situations

Here's how officers use emergency situations:
  • Utilized problem-solving skills to address and remedy emergency situations expeditiously and professionally to maintain order and consistent flow of operations.
  • Coordinate the activities of all other security officers via radio, especially during emergency situations.

5. PowerPoint

Here's how officers use powerpoint:
  • Designed and delivered PowerPoint presentation, instructing police department members in use of newly-installed records system.
  • Created PowerPoint presentations for assigned subjects to teach subordinates unit policies and mandates.

6. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how officers use cpr:
  • Maintained their CPR proficiency while simultaneously informing the crew about electrical safety.
  • Completed and trained subordinates, peers and leadership in lifesaving techniques, including first aide, CPR and casualty transportation techniques.

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7. Law Enforcement Agencies

Here's how officers use law enforcement agencies:
  • Coordinated center activities that require decision-making, investigations, and/or communication with appropriate staff on center or local law enforcement agencies.
  • Make queries using computer programs and prepare reports with statistical information for presentation to other law enforcement agencies.
Select Skills To Add To Your Resume

8. Financial Statements

A financial statement is a report of an individual or a company that includes all the information about the declared assets, the use of money, income, and also the contribution of shareholders over a certain period.

Here's how officers use financial statements:
  • Collected and reviewed financial statements of clients to proactively identify issues and opportunities resulting in actionable recommendations to mitigate risk.
  • Analyzed financial statements and audited government department operations to verify adherence to Canadian GAAP and relevant laws and regulations.

9. HR

HR stands for human resources and is used to describe the set of people who work for a company or an organization. HR responsibilities revolve around updating employee records and carrying out management processes like planning, recruitment, evaluation, and selection processes. HR is a key contributor to any company or organization's growth as they are in charge of hiring the right employees, processing payrolls, conducting disciplinary actions, etc.

Here's how officers use hr:
  • Participated in the development of appropriate communication plans and literature as it relates to classification, compensation practices and HR programs.
  • Provided HR guidance to managers and communicated to associates regarding issues and concerns on specific policy and applicable regulations.

10. Incident Reports

An Incident Report, in a medical facility such as hospitals and nursing homes, is a type of paperwork filled out immediately after and in the case of an incident of some sort, with the goal of describing the incident and its consequences, as well as the measurements taken after or during the incident, as well as any other information relevant to said incident. Such an incident might be a patient acting out or a patient being injured.

Here's how officers use incident reports:
  • Guard buildings and properties of wherever we are contracted -Ensure safety of people-Irradiate security threats -Write incident reports -Communicate effectively
  • Document identified behaviors as the basis for referrals and prepares technical incident reports when law enforcement is involved.

11. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how officers use professional development:
  • Coordinated and participated in fundraisers to raise monetary donations for professional development scholarships that active SLC members can apply to receive.
  • Conducted regular evaluations of instructional staff and implemented professional development to improve instructional delivery and teacher efficacy.

12. Property Damage

Property damage is the destruction or damage of tangible personal property. Property damage can be caused by negligence, irresponsible handling of the property, willful destruction, or any other destructure act of nature.

Here's how officers use property damage:
  • Foot and mobile patrols, writing shift reports such as equipment or property damage, theft, presence of unauthorized persons.
  • Maintain daily logs of irregularities such as property damage, presence of unauthorized persons, or unusual occurrences.

13. Hazardous Materials

Any substance or good that is harmful to human health as well as the environment are called hazardous materials. Such materials must be handled carefully to avoid any mishaps. Harmful gases. chemicals, strong medicines or drugs, radioactive elements required for radiation purposes, a human blood sample that carries germs, all of these are considered hazardous materials.

Here's how officers use hazardous materials:
  • Trained new Federal Officers in botanical, biological, entomological identification techniques and appropriate handling of chemical fumigants and hazardous materials.
  • Developed and implemented processes for collecting, characterization, labeling and proper disposition of hazardous materials or hazardous waste.

14. Logistics

Logistics is a complete organization and implementation of a problem. Logistics are often considered in a complex business operation, as some works need detailed plannings. Logistics are also used in military action.

Here's how officers use logistics:
  • Key accomplishments: Hand selected to participate in flagship Installation Deployment Officer Course, improving standardization Air Force-wide for Logistics Officers.
  • Administered over 1,300 annual Navy-wide examinations to 24 customer commands, coordinating logistics with both operational submarines and shore components.

15. DOD

Definition of Done (DoD) is a set of deliverables that are needed to devise software. These deliverables are valuable to the system and can be exemplified by writing code, coding comments, unit testing, integration testing, design documents, release notes, and so on.

Here's how officers use dod:
  • Identify potentially malicious activity; coordinate with DoD Components for Counter Network Defense actions; present consolidated information for leadership awareness.
  • Coordinated service school requirements and leveraged DoD Schoolhouse capabilities to produce annual plan that meet USMC wide education requirements.
top-skills

What skills help Officers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on Officer resumes?

J

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg

Police officers need many skills to be successful on the job. The most important are written and oral communication skills and the ability to make ethical decisions with limited information quickly. Written communications skills are crucial. If a police report is poorly worded or incomplete, it can derail a criminal case. Police officers also need to talk to people of all ages from all walks of life in any circumstance. Often, police meet people on what may be the worst day of their lives when emotions are running high. Police need to be able to help calm a person while gathering information. Police need to be able to use their words and body language to empathize with someone who has been victimized, and they need to project authority, so people making poor decisions obey their commands.
This may be common sense, but research has demonstrated that communication and ethical decision-making skills are important for police officers. (See the research article published in 2017 in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, entitled "An assessment of the relative importance of criminal justice learning objectives," by Baker and colleagues.) Baker and colleagues asked students, professionals, and college professors to rate the skills of hypothetical job applicants. These participants rated the following as the most important characteristics for criminal justice applicants (including law enforcement officers):

Ethics
Oral communication
Critical thinking
Sensitivity to diversity
Written communication skills

What type of skills will young Officers need?

T

T.Christopher Bell

Professor, La Sierra University

The skills graduates will need are much improved in VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS skills-the ability to de-escalate and resolve conflict through verbal communication. Students who are majoring in Criminal Justice must be able to understand multiculturalism. The ability to understand different and not perceive it as harmful.

List of officer skills to add to your resume

Officer Skills

The most important skills for an officer resume and required skills for an officer to have include:

  • Patrol
  • Customer Service
  • Public Safety
  • Emergency Situations
  • PowerPoint
  • CPR
  • Law Enforcement Agencies
  • Financial Statements
  • HR
  • Incident Reports
  • Professional Development
  • Property Damage
  • Hazardous Materials
  • Logistics
  • DOD
  • CCTV
  • HIPAA
  • Government Agencies
  • Emergency Calls
  • Combat
  • Traffic Control
  • Safety Hazards
  • EMS
  • Security Industry
  • Medical Emergencies
  • Computer Aided Dispatch
  • NCIC
  • Facebook
  • Security Checks
  • TSA
  • Press Releases
  • Physical Security
  • Leg Irons
  • Anti-Money Laundering
  • Telephone Calls
  • Alertness
  • Bank Secrecy Act
  • Commercial Property
  • Ministry
  • Key Management
  • Security Violations
  • Commercial Banking
  • Platoon
  • Resuscitation
  • US Army

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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