Individual country’s public safety sectors are an expansive, fascinating, and altogether complex area. Seeking a progressive and fast-paced job in public safety affords you the opportunity to specialize or branch out into a variety of vastly different sub-sectors, so you can always find new challenges in your job, and no two days will ever be the same.
A public safety sector is an independent sector formed in conjunction with the corresponding country’s governing body. It is dedicated to strengthening and expanding the resources and intelligence centered around matters of national security and protecting the safety of the general public. Here, for your information, is a comprehensive guide to a career in the public safety sector.
Public Safety Defined
Professional and qualified professionals working in the public safety sector’s primary objective, regardless of the specific division, is to help to ensure the overall safety and security of the general public.
More often than not, a person working within the public safety sector will sometimes be exposed to varying levels of risk and dangers and, as a result, will find such a career exceedingly personally rewarding. Public safety roles are often involved with first responders such as the fire, police, and paramedic services, matters of computer security, the drug enforcement agency, and immigration and customs.
Further Education in The Field
One-of-a-kind, specific and practical master of science degrees such as an online master of public safety will arm you with a supreme level of knowledge and practical experience that is quite frankly entirely unobtainable anywhere else.
As with any degree at master level, embarking on such a challenging and complicated qualification is only advisable if you are committed to this career and are not just applying for ‘something to do’ in the interim while you discover whereabouts it is your passions lie.
Specialized Careers Within The Public Safety Sector
There is a plethora of incredibly rewarding, equally as challenging, and altogether life-consuming careers within the public safety sector, none of which are suited to a person who is not entirely and wholly dedicated to protecting their fellow citizens.
Crime Analysis
Crime analysis is a major specialized role within public safety and, if you do decide this is the avenue that you would most like to pursue, one of the best ways to gain as much realistic and practical experience and academic knowledge on the subject is to undertake a postgraduate degree as a crime analyst at a reputable and notorious university.
Essentially, the significant role of crime analysis within the public safety sector is not only fundamentally vital to the protection of the country and its citizens but also one that is becomingly increasingly important in the modern world, especially with the unprecedented rise in cybercrime and its associated risks to not only the individuals but businesses and co-corporations both nationally and internationally.
Occupational Health and Public Safety
Not only does working in the public safety world encompass serious crime, organized crime groups, terrorist threats, and crucial and exceedingly important matters of national security, but public safety also encompasses the control, regulation, and improvement of every single thing that ordinary members of the public are exposed to on a day-to-day basis.
Even more relevant currently, with the worldwide coronavirus pandemic having devastated and deconstructed normal life and living habits of American citizens and people across the world, occupational health and safety is a hugely significant and incredibly important element in the public safety sector.
Important Qualities and Experience Required For Public Safety Careers
When pursuing a career working to improve and strengthen public safety in your country and local area, it is important to be aware of the extremely demanding sense of moral, ethical, and legal responsibilities that one must possess to be successful. That being said, there are more than a few key and recognizable attributes that current professionals working within the public safety sector tend to possess:
- More than a fundamental knowledge of the four basic elements that sit under the umbrella term of public safety: border control, counteracting crime, management of national emergencies, and national security.
- Experience in handling emergencies, involvement with the emergency response services, initiative in running operations, dealing with preventing emergencies, and training qualifications such as EMT or MSEO certifications.
- Proven experience in the organization of and the active provision of customer service on a large level, particularly involved with public events, security protocols, and the provision of outstanding, empathic, and practical customer service delivery during a national emergency or certainly in a highly emotive and stressful incident.
- Adequate and, as extensive as possible, First Aid training, specifically fully competent in CPR.
- Experience in conflict management and, even more impressively, extensive work with the application of restraints and calming antagonistic, confrontational individuals.
- Covid-19 training and, ideally, the successful acquisition of the Covid-19 Safety Officer qualification.
- A clean driving licenses
Career Progression Within the Public Safety Sector
One of the most impressive and important high-ranking roles within the public safety sector is that of a chief security officer and, if you are resourceful enough and apply yourself to your career completely and passionately, the title of a chief security officer on your resume will allow you to transfer to any number of different divisions within the public safety sector.
Chief security officers are the uppermost member of the managerial level of a company that is directly accountable for an institution’s complete security operations and is therefore responsible for the safety of every member of staff and public involved in that organization. Other high-ranking roles within public safety include senior law enforcement officers, emergency medical responders and technicians, correctional officers in prisons, and occupational health and safety executives.
Public safety is constantly increasing in terms of importance and relevance in the modern world. A career in public safety essentially means a dedication to the safety and security of every citizen, regardless of age, occupation, and economic and social status.
