Public Safety

What Is Public Safety?

The field of Public Safety includes people, usually employed by the government, who work to keep citizens safe and out of danger.  They might be involved in one of two ways:  protecting the public from criminals and crimes, like police and other law enforcement people, or protecting the public from disasters and personal crises, like firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT).  An agency of the government makes the laws and regulations, and Police enforce them.  When a disaster hits, the Firefighters and EMTs swing into action, assisted by Police. By the way, if you’ve wondered:  EMT is the designation for the entry-level emergency medical training.  The Paramedic designation requires more training and is thought of as a mid- or upper-level EMT position.  Paramedics tend to make more money than EMTs, and to be trained as a Paramedic, you’ll probably need to be an EMT first.

Some of the Police and Fire entry-level jobs require a high school diploma and some training offered by the department itself or a local community college.  Some will require a two-year college degree, which can be waived by some departments with either military service or significant experience in a related job.  Some positions require a Bachelor’s degree.  Anyone in the field will tell you that, if you want to move up in the ranks in most Public Safety jobs, you need to have a college degree.  So, if you have your eye on one of these jobs, check into jobs like Police Officer, Firefighter, Industrial Firefighter, Fire Prevention Inspector, Firefighter/Paramedic, Firefighter/EMT, Armed Public Safety Officer, Dispatcher-Public Safety Department, and Public Safety Telecommunicator.