Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
Occupation · SOC 33-3051.00
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.
Also called: Deputy · Deputy Sheriff · Patrol Officer · Police Officer · Law Enforcement Officer · Patrol Deputy · Peace Officer · Police Patrol Officer · Public Safety Officer · State Trooper · Accident Prevention Squad Police Officer · Alcohol Law Enforcement Agent (ALE Agent)
Job family: Protective Service Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-33-3051-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+3.1% by 2034)
- 53,700 openings/yr
- Moderate AI exposure
- Median pay $76,290/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
37th-percentile task overlap — yet about 53,700 openings a year (+3.1% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Low | 30th | -0.7 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate | 40th | 0.4 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate | 47th | 0.1 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.3), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.4). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.1 · 28th percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Provide road information to assist motorists. | 4.1% | |
| Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities. | 1.9% | |
| Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved. | 0.2% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +3.1% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 53,700 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 698,800 → 720,800 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international 2 occupations below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers sits at the 48th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
26% mean task exposure (2025)
48th percentile of 427 placed occupations
−1 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Customs and Border Inspectors · 3351 | 32% | Minimal |
| Police Officers · 5412 | 14% | Not exposed |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 30 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts. Core · importance 4.7
- 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 · importance 4.7
- Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities. Core · importance 4.5
- Render aid to accident victims and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries. Core · importance 4.5
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities. Core · importance 4.4
- Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved. Core · importance 4.4
- Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area. Core · importance 4.4
- Process prisoners, and prepare and maintain records of prisoner bookings and prisoner status during booking and pre-trial process. Supplemental · importance 4.4
- Testify in court to present evidence or act as witness in traffic and criminal cases. Core · importance 4.4
- Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures. Core · importance 4.3
- Relay complaint and emergency-request information to appropriate agency dispatchers. Core · importance 4.3
- Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests. Core · importance 4.3
- Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody. Core · importance 4.3
- Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators. Core · importance 4.3
- Photograph or draw diagrams of crime or accident scenes and interview principals and eyewitnesses. Core · importance 4.2
- Evaluate complaint and emergency-request information to determine response requirements. Core · importance 4.2
- Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance. Core · importance 4.2
- Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed. Core · importance 4.2
- Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders. Core · importance 4.2
- Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs. Supplemental · importance 4.2
- Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities. Core · importance 4.1
- Direct traffic flow and reroute traffic in case of emergencies. Core · importance 4.1
- Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary. Core · importance 3.9
- Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid. Core · importance 3.7
- Place people in protective custody. Core · importance 3.6
- Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders. Core · importance 3.6
- Inform citizens of community services and recommend options to facilitate longer-term problem resolution. Core · importance 3.6
- Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order. Core · importance 3.4
- Provide road information to assist motorists. Core · importance 3.4
- Conduct community programs for all ages concerning topics such as drugs and violence. Core · importance 3.3
Work activities
- Apprehend criminal suspects.
- Maintain public order or security.
- Respond to emergencies to provide assistance.
- Prepare investigation or incident reports.
- Administer first aid.
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
- Investigate accidents to determine causes.
- Maintain surveillance of individuals or establishments.
- Communicate situation details to appropriate personnel.
- Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
- Patrol properties to maintain safety.
- Monitor access or flow of people to prevent problems.
- Relay information about incidents or emergencies to personnel using phones or two-way radios.
- Investigate legal issues.
- Interview people to gather information about criminal activities.
- Record crime or accident scene evidence with video or still cameras.
- Determine operational procedures.
- Direct vehicle traffic.
- Serve court ordered documents.
- Interview people to obtain information about actions or status of individuals.
- Guard facilities.
- Escort prisoners to courtrooms, prisons, or other facilities.
- Inform the public about policies, services or procedures.
- Recommend improvements to increase safety or reduce risks.
- Locate suspicious objects or vehicles.
- Confiscate prohibited or dangerous items.
- Assist motorists or pedestrians.
- Record information about suspects or criminals.
- Maintain operational records.
- Direct law enforcement activities.
- Detain suspects or witnesses.
- Communicate health and wellness information to the public.
- Present social services program information to the public.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Abilities
| Oral Comprehension | 4.5 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.5 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.3 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.3 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.1 | |
| Written Comprehension | 3.9 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.9 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.8 | |
| Near Vision | 3.8 | |
| Far Vision | 3.6 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.6 | |
| Written Expression | 3.5 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.5 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.4 | |
| Trunk Strength | 3.4 |
Essential skills
| Active Listening | 3.9 | |
| Speaking | 3.9 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.8 | |
| Active Learning | 3.8 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.6 | |
| Monitoring | 3.5 | |
| Writing | 3.3 |
Transferable skills
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.9 | |
| Coordination | 3.6 | |
| Persuasion | 3.6 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.6 | |
| Service Orientation | 3.5 | |
| Negotiation | 3.4 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.3 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 42.
Tools & technology
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
- Typical entry-level education
- High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
- Preparation level
- SVP (6.0 to < 7.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services , Natural Resources and Conservation . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| High School Diploma | 40.4% | |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 21.3% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 17.1% | |
| Some College Courses | 14.7% | |
| Bachelor's Degree | 6.6% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Dependability | 9.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 8.0 | |
| Integrity | 7.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 6.0 | |
| Self-Control | 5.0 | |
| Stress Tolerance | 4.0 | |
| Perseverance | 3.0 |
Interest areas
| Protective Service | 6.9 | |
| Law | 4.5 | |
| Transportation/Machine Operation | 4.2 | |
| Physical/Manual Labor | 3.1 | |
| Public Speaking | 2.9 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Realistic | 5.4 | |
| Conventional | 4.3 | |
| Enterprising | 4.1 | |
| Social | 3.5 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $47,640 |
| 25th percentile | $58,980 |
| Median (50th) | $76,290 |
| 75th percentile | $97,190 |
| 90th percentile | $115,280 |
| People employed | 666,990 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Services · Sector | 25,630 | $64,310 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 2,450 | $65,410 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 450 | $81,200 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | — | $86,720 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Services · Sector | 0.43× | 25,630 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 0.02× | 2,450 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 0.01× | 450 |
Related occupations
Part of the Public Service & Safety career cluster.
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators · 33-3021.00 Compare →
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives · 33-1012.00 Compare →
- Transit and Railroad Police · 33-3052.00 Compare →
- Bailiffs · 33-3011.00 Compare →
- Private Detectives and Investigators · 33-9021.00 Compare →
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists · 21-1092.00 Compare →
- Correctional Officers and Jailers · 33-3012.00 Compare →
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers · 33-1011.00 Compare →
- Security Guards · 33-9032.00 Compare →
- Customs and Border Protection Officers · 33-3051.04 Compare →
- First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers · 33-1091.00 Compare →
- Public Safety Telecommunicators · 43-5031.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- High school diploma or equivalent · typical entry level
- Job zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services · field of study
- Natural Resources and Conservation · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 48th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers show 37th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 53,700 annual U.S. openings
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers rank in the 37th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 53,700 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+3.1%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $76,290, across about 666,990 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers show 37th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 53,700 annual U.S. openings • Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers rank in the 37th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 53,700 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+3.1%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $76,290, across about 666,990 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-3051-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-3051-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-3051-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-33-3051-00,
title = {Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-3051-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.