Chicagoland Sergeant Believes Communication Is Key In Law Enforcement
In Illinois, there are four major places of employment for those interested in working in law enforcement: the federal penitentiary in Marion, two federal institutions in Greenville and Pekin, and a federal prison right in the city.
Law enforcement jobs that are most commonly pursued include security guards, police and sheriff's patrol officers, fire fighters and correctional officers, according to PoliceEmployment.com. And while a criminal justice degree may help in a number of employment opportunities, Sergeant Alfredo Dean from the Aurora Police Department believes there's more to being a cop than just passing a test or passing criminal justice courses; one of which may be communication courses.
"When I first got into law enforcement in 1995 I already started seeing the shift of having a criminal justice degree," said Sergeant Dean. "We have officers who have a whole variety of different educational backgrounds. The biggest thing that I see that's worked well for me is getting into a field where you have a lot of interaction with people."
He did just that by earning a bachelor's degree in business administration from Illinois Benedictine, during an opportunity for free education through the First Responder program.
"The best part of that program was you were going to class with students that work in all sorts of different agencies, and they're currently working," said Sergeant Dean. "Your professors can only give you so much unless the professor is still working in that field. He's going to be a little bit out of touch with what's actually going on, on a daily basis because the work continuously changes on how we do things every day."
But Dean feels that communication professors may be of the greatest help to those interested in the law.
"In law enforcement, you're interacting with people constantly. I definitely think students should focus on getting some type of communication-based classes, something in which you're going to get a lot of interaction within that class."
And as with any career, on-the-job training still wins as the best teacher. Dean will celebrate his 20th anniversary on the force in June 2015.
Shamontiel L. Vaughn is a professional journalist who has work featured in AXS, Yahoo!, Chicago Defender and Chicago Tribune. She's been an Examiner since 2009 and currently writes about 10 categories on Examiner.com.
