Volunteering In Similar Field Is Helpful When Pursuing A Career
Mike Austin is a decorated retired police officer. Austin is the founder of Never Surrender Self Defense, which teaches safety and emergency planning to companies and individuals. Austin is on the Board of the Directors for American Women's Self-Defense Association. He was involved in the creation of the national rape prevention certification program. He is a graduate of Montgomery County Police Academy and certified by NJ College and University Public Safety Association.
What kind of degree is needed to secure a job in your field?
"Each municipality has its own requirements as to whether or not a degree in criminal justice is required, but graduating from an accredited police training academy is required in order to become a police officer."
What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
"I found one of the most difficult aspects of the job was the range of calls you would handle from one moment to another. It is not uncommon to go from some type of horrible tragedy, where someone may have just lost their life, and then the very next call you go on is a very insignificant event, but the person who is making the complaint about it is disproportionately reacting to it as though it were truly a tragedy. It is sometimes difficult to have empathy for a person who is reacting that way over a minor incident after you just witnessed a true tragedy."
After graduation, how hard was it to transition into the working world?
"I was very fortunate because I was hired immediately after graduating with my Act 120 Police Training certification. I contribute this to not just graduating from the academy, but also to the years of groundwork building my resume with doing volunteer work with the local emergency services in my area and by working in a similar field as a security officer as I worked my way through school."
What would advice would you give someone who is pursuing a career in criminal justice?
"There are a lot of different criminal justice career options and a person should keep an open mind and not just want to focus on one specific aspect when they are first starting out. Any job in criminal justice will complement their final career objective."
Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. She reports on various topics such as: Social Media, Local Events, Entertainment, Food and Drink and more. Her work can be found at http://firstsendmedia.com/
