One Franklin Square
Philadelphia, PA 19106

215-683-2677

www.ppdonline.org

Salary: $33,861 to $47,027

Population: 1,498,971

Sworn Officers: 6,880  

Become a Philadelphia Police Officer

Thank you for considering a career as a Philadelphia Police Officer. Please review the requirements to determine your eligibility. If you think you're qualified, we encourage you to initiate the application process now so you can begin this exciting and challenging career as soon as possible.

Application Process Overview

If you've decided to attempt to gain a position with the Philadelphia Police Department, please take a moment and review this description of the process. It presents an overview of the steps you will have to go through before you can become a police officer in Philadelphia. More

Download a Preliminary Application

f you have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed, you can download a Preliminary Application for Police Officer Recruit. Submitting this application will insure that you are notified when the next police officer examination is scheduled. More

General Requirements

Residency
All civilian candidates must live with in the City Limits of Philadelphia, one year prior to being hired. There is no exception of this rule for civilian candidates. A candidate may take the examination while living outside the city limits, but will not be hired until they have one year of residency in the city.

Active duty military personnel taking the police examination must live within the city limits six (6) months after hire. If the candidate is within six (6) months of the test date and recently discharged, they can be a non resident of Philadelphia, and still qualify to become a candidate.

Licensure
All civilian candidates must possess a valid PA Driver's License, when invited to our one (1) day orientation held at the Philadelphia Police College Campus. Anyone with a suspended or revoked license will not pass the background investigation. Any applicant who possesses outstanding fees for traffic violations, must make payment arraignments with Traffic Court. Also persons with a NonDriver's ID, must have a valid driver's license.

All recently discharged military personnel must have a valid driver's license, the license may be from any state. But within six months of being excepted to the police training program the license must be a valid PA Driver's License.

Education
All candidates must have proof of their high school diploma or their final GED scores as part of their background. At this time the Philadelphia Police Department does not require a college degree. But many of our officers are either going back to finish a degree or going to college to start getting a degree. Also as part of the police training curriculum you will receive college credits upon graduation. Good reading and writing skills are essential in executing your duties as a police officer.

Age
Candidates must have reached the age of 19 but not yet 40 by the time of their appointment to the position of police officer. Candidates must be within these age limits at the time of appointment. The date of appointment is the date that the candidate actually enters the police academy for training. More