The most rewarding part of my internship with the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office was having the opportunity to work with multiple departments. In law enforcement, there are many different career paths and specialties you can choose from, which can feel overwhelming at times. Throughout my internship, I got to work with departments like the Detective Unit, Patrol Division, K9, Office of Emergency Management, Fire Marshal, Home Detention, the 911 Call Center, and many more. Having experience with such a large variety of departments allowed me to see where my interests lie and get a better understanding of where I would want to focus my career in.
Working as a Student Police Officer with the University Police Department, I felt that I already had a strong foundation of the skills needed to thrive in a law enforcement career. However, I feel that these skills have grown exponentially over the course of my internship. I noticed my biggest improvement in my multitasking and quick-thinking skills. Many of my assignments or departments I worked with needed me to juggle multiple things at once and think quickly on my feet. These are important skills, as many situations require quick action and may need to be handled simultaneously with other work.
Two additional skills that I feel like I developed throughout this experience were my communication and critical thinking. Working with different departments required me to communicate with a variety of officers and staff members and learn how to ask questions, listen carefully, and adapt to different working environments. My critical-thinking skills also improved through assignments such as digital investigations and simulated emergency calls, where I had to analyze information, determine what was important, and make decisions based on the situation in front of me. These skills are ones that I know will continue to benefit me throughout my education and future career in law enforcement. Overall, my internship with the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office has been nothing short of valuable and has taught me lessons that I will carry with me throughout my senior year and my own career in law enforcement. Having this experience has helped to shape my future and given me the strong foundation needed to succeed in this field.
– Hannah Horn, Cybercrime & Homeland Security 2027
Hannah, I am so happy to hear that your time and effort spent at the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office impacted you greatly! It’s great to hear about your various opportunities you got to experience, in addition to helping you make your future career choice. Those communication and critical thinking skills you obtained during this internship will help you widely in your future! Best of luck.
You gained some extremely valuable skills that will serve you in your future! It sounds like you had a very well-rounded experience within the Sheriff’s Office. Great job!
Hi Hannah! I think it’s extremely valuable that you were able to work with such a wide variety of departments, from detectives and K9 to emergency management and the 911 Call Center. It’s also great that you were able to build upon the skills you already had as a Student Police Officer while improving your multitasking, communication, and critical-thinking skills. It sounds like this experience gave you a much clearer idea of what you want from your future career in law enforcement.
I really enjoyed reading about your experience with the Sheriff’s Office and how you were able to work with so many different departments. It sounds like the internship helped you figure out what areas of law enforcement interest you most while also improving your communication, multitasking, and critical-thinking skills.
It’s incredible that you were able to explore the different areas of law enforcement. Like you said, your work as a student officer with the University has prepared you to handle the work at your internship, while also allowing you to learn new skills and sharpen current ones. I especially think the practice scenarios you participated in will exceptionally help you as you return to your patrols on campus.
I hope this internship allowed you to have a clearer perspective on the different branches of law enforcement and which one most appeals to you!