For the love of the game
Ukiah Petersen
CJA-334
Gregory Koehle
December 22, 2013

The TV shows we grew up with that remind us of police officers of the past are what fuel the desire to be an officer today. The Andy Girffith show, CHiPs, Hawaii 5-0, Miami Vise are all shows that many of us grew up watching and thought it was the coolest thing ever to be a cop. Andy Griffith showed us the way to keep our cool all situations and how to be fair. CHiPs, Hawaii 5-0, and Miami Vise were exciting because they drove cool cars, or motorcycles, and were just studs. They caught the scum bag and looked cool doing it. Even moving into the more current shows of COPS and the Bad Boys movies being a cop is awesome. Sitting at home at night and watching COPS gets every one wanting to be a cop. You get to tase bad guys, car chases, and take the dumb criminals down. Then there is the Bad Boy movies, who would not want to be a plain clothes cop that drives a Ferrari, work in Miami with all the warm weather and pretty woman, can shoot 10 people any given day and be back to work the next day. Then can destroy thousands of dollars in property and keep their job. Who would not want to be a cop after watching that movie? This is why many of us have chose to follow a career in law enforcement. We grew up watching the good guys win and want to be one of those good guys with a badge. The desire to be a member of the team that put the bad guys behind bars and help the little guy was implanted in many of us by these shows. As kids in the neighborhood we all wanted to be the cop. For the past 12 years there have been thousands of soldiers coming home from a combat environment and are looking for careers. The same desire to be a protector of life, liberty, and justice is strong with those who choose this life style. They are a good fit for the structure of the police department. They have spent the past several years protecting their brothers in arms, defending the freedom other nations and have a deep routed desire to help others. These same soldiers are also the ones who grew up watching the cop shows of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. So what makes these people so apt to want to be police officers? For this research project I would want to find as many police officers from the largest area I could manage. I would research city police, sheriff departments, and state patrol of as many regions of the nation as possible. For each agency I would try to find what the common thread is for why these officers want to be law enforcement officers. Do those who serve the public now have a love for the job because of the TV shows they grew up watching, the desire to help others, do they like to carry a gun, drive a car with lights and sirens or is it the money? I would use the survey type of interview. Survey refers to one or a combination of questionnaires and/or interviews. Questionnaires are self-administered so that respondents can fill them out on their own time and in private. For the interview portion I would not interview all of the participants, but choose a portion to serve in the interview process. Most of the interviews I would like to do in person, but if there happened to be an anomaly in some part of the country I could not get to I would use phone, email, or even Skype if possible to get the full story. The questions I would ask would all be a basic set to get the thoughts moving on those taking the survey. When did you first want to become a law enforcement officer? Were/are any members of your family in law enforcement? What was your biggest motivator to become a law enforcement officer? What was your largest inspiration to become a law enforcement officer? Did you have a preference between city, county, or state officer? How long have you been in law enforcement? What has been your biggest hurdle in your job? Now that you have become a law enforcement officer, how has your passion changed? Whey did/do