Career Explorer Protective services
Grows with AI
Police and sheriff's patrol officers
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.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 62% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +3.5% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $76,210
- Job growth to 2035
- +3.5%
- Openings a year
- 51,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 693,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain safety or security
- Investigate criminal or legal matters
- Explain regulations, policies, or procedures
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties
- Interview people to obtain information
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
What the work looks like
- 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.
- Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.
- Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
- Render aid to accident survivors and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.
- Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Transit and railroad policeHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +3.2%
- First-line supervisors of security workersHuman edge, growing, Index 80, +3.7%
- Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialistsHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +13.1%
- Animal control workersHuman edge, growing, Index 75, +4.0%
Also known as: Deputy Sheriff, Patrol Officer, Police Officer, State Trooper, Customs Inspector, Customs Officer, Special Agent, US Customs and Border Protection Officer (US CBPO).
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.