A police officer (also known as a policeman or policewoman) is a warranted employee of a police force. Police officers are generally responsible for apprehending criminals, prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of public order along with community interaction. Police officers are generally "Sworn" to an oath, along with being granted the power to arrest and imprison suspects, among other procedures. Some police officers may also be trained in special duties such as counter-terrorism; surveillance; child protection; royalty or diplomatic protection; and investigating major crime such as fraud, rape, murder or drug trafficking.

Work as a police officer

The responsibilities of a police officer are often extremely broad. Although their main responsibilities are usually keeping the peace, enforcing the law, protecting the public and property, and the prevention and detection of crimes, officers are usually expected to be able to respond in some fashion to a wide variety of situations that may arise while they are on duty. Also officers must act as government officials in the cases of an investigation. In some communities, rules and procedures governing conduct and duties of police officers requires that they act if needed even when they are off duty, such as the United Kingdom, along with many other countries, where police officers retain full powers of arrest while not on duty.Fact: date=July 2008

Function in the community

Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, and search and rescue situations, Road Traffic Collisions. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In some countries, individuals serve jointly as police officers as well as firefighters (creating the role of Fire Police) or paramedics. In many countries there is a common emergency service number that allows the police, firefighters, or medical services to be summoned to an emergency. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom have outlined command procedures, for the use in major emergencies or disorder. The Gold Silver Bronze command structure is a system set up to improve communications between ground based officers and the control room, typically, Bronze Commander would be a senior officer on the ground, coordinating the efforts in the center of the emergency, Silver Commanders woul be positioned in an 'Incident Control Room' erected to improve better communications at the scene, and a Gold Commander who would be in the Control Room.

In addition, some park rangers are commissioned as law enforcement officers and carry out a law-enforcement role within national parks and other back-country wilderness and recreational areas. Whereas Military police perform law enforcement functions within the military.