How To Become A Police Lieutenant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a police lieutenant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

A police lieutenant coordinates, supervise, and plans the daily activities of police units within the department. As a police lieutenant, you are to set goals for the unit, assign tasks to officers, and also maintain communication with all other units. Police lieutenants manage a certain division of the police units like administration, crime prevention, etc. You are responsible for controlling and managing facility contraband and installing a communication command room.

As a police lieutenant, you are expected to increase the awareness of employees concerning open lines communication. Importantly, you are to orchestrate daily demands, manage the opportunity of unit operation.

The basic requirement for any police officer entry job is your high school diploma. But to be a police lieutenant, you must have a bachelor's degree in fields such as law enforcement administration or criminal justice. The highest-paid police lieutenant earns about $88,000 annually. On average, though, you should earn $69,500 in a year.

What general advice would you give to a Police Lieutenant?

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

They need to avoid being overzealous officers. They should not put their career at the center of their life. They need to spend quality time with their family. In law enforcement, good relations with the public and colleagues are essential. They need to develop good relationships with the people and their colleagues and expand their professional network. They always try to be a "problem solver officer" rather than a "problem creator officer." If someone asks for help from them, they should treat this person with dignity and respect. They should avoid being arrogant in their interaction with the public. Because arrogance is the worst plague, and Humility is the greatest virtue.

ScorePolice LieutenantUS Average

Salary

5.5

Avg. Salary $70,614

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

2.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.37%

Asian 1.77%

Black or African American 11.22%

Hispanic or Latino 15.10%

Unknown 3.92%

White 66.62%

Gender

female 9.11%

male 90.89%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress Level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.6

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a police lieutenant

Explore police lieutenant education requirements

Most common police lieutenant degrees

Bachelor's

49.9 %

Associate

22.7 %

Master's

15.2 %

Start to develop specific police lieutenant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	31.27%
Public Safety	10.27%
Law Enforcement Agencies	7.63%
Criminal Justice	5.47%
Direct Supervision	5.16%

Complete relevant police lieutenant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New police lieutenants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a police lieutenant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real police lieutenant resumes.

Research police lieutenant duties and responsibilities

Orchestrate the day to day demands, managing deficiencies/opportunities and prioritization of unit operations throughout specific target areas within NYC.
Direct members of firefighting crews in the care and maintenance of firefighting apparatus and equipment, assign and review their work.
Supervise assigned uniform personnel through coordination of roll calls, schedules and daily patrol assignments.
Supervise shift and departmental operations; monitor and evaluate subordinates work, review reports and direct patrol and investigative operations.

Get police lieutenant experience

Prepare your police lieutenant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your police lieutenant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a police lieutenant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Police Lieutenant Resume templates

Build a professional Police Lieutenant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Police Lieutenant resume.

Apply for police lieutenant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a police lieutenant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do police lieutenants rate their job?

-/5

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1 Star

Police Lieutenant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020

Cons

How political the job has become. There isn’t a correct way to do your job. Almost everyone wants to get you fired. It’s annoying.