Police officer

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A police officer is a person who works for the police force. A police officer typically wears a police uniform. A police officer also usually wears a badge, gun, and a police radio. Police officers face many dangers in their jobs. The biggest dangers are getting shot by a gun or injured while trying to deal with criminals.

[edit] Duty of a police officer

A police officer's job is to make certain that people obey laws. This is usually done in one of two ways.

• If the law that was not obeyed was a minor law, the police officer may give the person a ticket. A ticket is a piece of paper that tells the person what law they did not follow. It also tells them when and where they must go to deal with the problem. Most often they must go to court and pay a fine. Minor laws are laws such as where to park a car or how fast a person can drive.
• If the law that was not obeyed is a major law, the police may arrest the person and take them to jail. The person will have to wait in jail until the court decides what to do with them.

[edit] Special Equipment

Police officers have special equipment that they may need to use at times. For example, a bulletproof vest is worn if the officer thinks he might get shot. The vest can protect him from a bullet. Police officers that are dealing with a riot will use a special shield to protect themselves.

Police officers use many different way of transportation. While doing their jobs, they may need different ways to move around. Many officers use police cars. These are cars that are changed in ways to help the police do their job. Police cars can have computers for getting information about a person and a place for keeping weapons. Most police cars have something between the front seat and the back seat. This keeps the driver safe from any criminals they have in the back seat. Other types of transportation used by police officers include motorcycles, Helicopters, bicycles and horses. Some police officers will just walk around. This is usually done in areas where there are a lot of people.

[edit] Slang and offensive terms for police officers

There are many slang or offensive terms for police officers exist. These including "cop", "copper" and "pig". Police officers do not like it when they are called pigs.

A well known stereotype about police officers is that they like to eat donuts. It is not often, however, that one will find a police officer eating at a donut shop.