33-3051.00 · Task explorer
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers: reported tasks and exploration worksheet
Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions.
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Read the task inventory
This source lists 30 tasks, including 25 marked Core and 5 marked Supplemental. Labels and dates are retained below. Employers can combine or divide these responsibilities differently; explore the task itself before assuming it belongs in every version of the role.
Task source dates: 08/2026.
30 tasks shown
Core · Task 23052 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.
Core · Task 23051 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.
Core · Task 23062 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
Core · Task 23054 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Render aid to accident survivors and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.
Core · Task 23053 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.
Core · Task 23056 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved.
Core · Task 23055 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
Core · Task 23059 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.
Core · Task 23057 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area.
Core · Task 23067 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed.
Core · Task 23065 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody.
Core · Task 23061 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Relay complaint and emergency-request information to appropriate agency dispatchers.
Core · Task 23066 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance.
Core · Task 23060 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures.
Core · Task 23058 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Testify in court to present evidence or act as witness in traffic and criminal cases.
Core · Task 23064 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Evaluate complaint and emergency-request information to determine response requirements.
Core · Task 23079 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Place people in protective custody.
Core · Task 23072 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.
Core · Task 23073 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities.
Core · Task 23063 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Photograph or draw diagrams of crime or accident scenes and interview principals and eyewitnesses.
Core · Task 23069 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid.
Core · Task 23068 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Direct traffic flow and reroute traffic in case of emergencies.
Core · Task 23071 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary.
Core · Task 23074 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Inform citizens of community services and recommend options to facilitate longer-term problem resolution.
Core · Task 23076 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Provide road information to assist motorists.
Supplemental · Task 23078 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.
Supplemental · Task 23077 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Process prisoners, and prepare and maintain records of prisoner bookings and prisoner status during booking and pre-trial process.
Supplemental · Task 23075 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order.
Supplemental · Task 23080 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Conduct community programs for all ages concerning topics such as drugs and violence.
Supplemental · Task 23070 · 08/2026 · Incumbent
Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders.
Make the shortlist useful
- Choose one to three activities that tell you something different about the work. Avoid selecting several ways of describing the same interest.
- For each, write an example you can discuss or a question that would change your understanding of the role.
- Keep source task IDs with your notes so you can return to the same description. Do not include private employer or customer information.
The exported worksheet distinguishes the reported task from your own notes. It supports exploration, not a hiring decision or a validated assessment.
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Source and practice material
Occupational context uses the O*NET® 31.0 Database from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0. View the occupation.
Skill Workbench selected and adapted the occupational information and added its own fictional cases, calculations, guidance and worksheets. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.