So you want to be a police officer? 👮♀️ We're on the case! In this episode, we learn if police officers spend all of their time looking for the bad guys and if they ever get scared while on the job. Join us as our host Emily Calandrelli meets Autumn Clifford, a police officer and life coach who helps women build their confidence.
Discover fun activities and songs that will teach your child all about collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication in the Lingokids app! 💙
***** Parents, in the Lingokids app, we have plenty of interactive activities, games, songs, and more that blend educational subjects and modern life skills to help get your kids ready for today's changing world! From math to making friends, reading to resilience, collaboration, creativity, and so much more, spark curiosity, imagination, and success with Lingokids! 💙 *****
So you want to be a police officer? 👮♀️ We're on the case! In this episode, we learn if police officers spend all of their time looking for the bad guys and if they ever get scared while on the job. Join us as our host Emily Calandrelli meets Autumn Clifford, a police officer and life coach who helps women build their confidence.
Discover fun activities and songs that will teach your child all about collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication in the Lingokids app! 💙
***** Parents, in the Lingokids app, we have plenty of interactive activities, games, songs, and more that blend educational subjects and modern life skills to help get your kids ready for today's changing world! From math to making friends, reading to resilience, collaboration, creativity, and so much more, spark curiosity, imagination, and success with Lingokids! 💙 *****
Speaker: When I grow up, I want to be a police officer.
Emily: What does being a police officer mean to you?
Speaker: They catch thieves and help people. They are very brave and wear uniform.
[music]
When I grow up
Want to be a pilot with your uniform white
Always flying high up in the sky
When I grow up
Want to be a firefighter putting out flames
Or maybe a police officer keeping people safe
It's so fun to learn what you can be
Growing up
Growing up
When I grow up
Want to be an artist
That paints portraits
Want to be a scientist that does experiments
Oh, so many people you will meet
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Emily: Hi and welcome to Growing Up With Emily, a Lingokids podcast helping amazing kids to grow up and be even more amazing, and Emily, it's me [chuckles]. As a kid, I was always asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I wanted to be so many things. Does that sound familiar? Then I'm glad you are listening because you are going to find out what it takes to be anything you want. Are you ready to make public safety your superpower?
[music]
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Lingokids
Speaker: Okay, here, here ready?
Speaker: Yes, put on your-
[crosstalk]
Emily: Last episode we met Fernando, a real musician. Today is an exciting day. We're attending a parade to see how police officers help keep things safe. Do you like to help people? If you've dreamed of being a police officer, you don't want to miss this episode. Today, we're going to meet a real police officer. Right now the streets are very crowded. Let's find a spot to watch a little of the parade.
[music]
Growing up
Growing up
Emily: Did you know that police officers not only wear a uniform, they carry up to 30 pounds or 13.6 kilograms of gear on a heavy-duty belt? In the US about 12 out of every 100 police officers are women. Marie Owens was America's first female police officer. She was hired in 1890 to serve in the city of Chicago.
Police help the public and keep order. They try to prevent crimes and sometimes they have to arrest criminals. Of course, they aren't the only ones in law enforcement. You may see private security officers outside of stores or banks. Also, the military has its own police force.
Speaker: Here come the fire trucks.
Emily: Firefighters are called first responders. American firefighters are medically trained. That's why they show up to an accident even when there is no fire.
Speaker: Look, there's a guy in the middle of the parade route. He's trying to take a photo. That's not safe.
Emily: The police officer is blowing his whistle and pointing for him to move so nobody gets hurt. Hey, here's a joke. Why are traffic police the strongest people in the world?
Speaker: I don't know, why?
Emily: Because they can stop a truck by holding up a hand.
[chuckles]
Here comes an ambulance, and behind it are nurses and doctors from the local hospital.
Speaker: It's sourcing oranges to people. I caught one. We can share it.
Emily: Oh, here are two police officers on horses.
Speaker: The horses are so big.
Emily: I know. This allows the officers to see more. They can move through a crowd more easily than being in a car.
Speaker: I'd love to ride a horse. They're stopping. Let's go see if we can pet one.
Emily: Maybe we can interview a woman officer. Are you ready to meet a real police officer?
Speaker: Oh, yes, let's go.
[music]
Speaker: What about that woman? Her badge says officer Autumn Clifford.
Emily: Hi, Officer Autumn. I'm with Lingokids, and we want to find out what it takes to be a police officer. Can we ask some questions?
Officer Autumn: Absolutely. I was a full-time police officer. I am now a part-time police officer because I was injured in the line of duty. I still do some police work in a community policing capacity, and what I do now is I coach women in law enforcement to be the best officers that they can possibly be.
Emily: Oh, wow, so your second job is to help women build their confidence.
Officer Autumn: It is actually my fulltime business that I'm a life coach for female first responders, and the reason I've done that is because it can be very scary to go out and do this job. We have to learn how to defend ourselves. We have to learn how to use a firearm to protect others and protect the good people of our communities, and we have to learn how to stay calm at all times.
Speaker: Who are the first responders?
Officer Autumn: A first responder is somebody who's on the front line. What that means is like front lines in our community. If something goes wrong, they're there. Let's say you get into a crash, right? The first responders that are going to be there, it's going to be the police are coming, then you're going to have a fire truck is going to come and then you're going to have the medical technicians that'll come, and if you're hurt, they're going to take you into the ambulance and they're going to take you to the hospital and make sure that you get better and get the help that you need.
Emily: Autumn, what would you say are three things all police officers need?
Officer Autumn: Well, the first thing is, is a police officer must be able to speak and write clearly. We talk to a lot of different people. Communication is a really big deal. We always are writing reports. Everything that we do, we record and we write down. Being able to write clearly is very important. The second thing is we are trained problem solvers. As police officers, we're always trying to solve problems. It's important that a police officer is good at solving problems. The third thing is that a police officer always wants to remain calm.
Emily: Really interesting. We also received some excellent questions from our Lingokids listeners.
[music]
Speaker: How fast can a police car go?
Officer Autumn: Well, the answer to this question is all different speeds. All police cars can go different speeds, but the answer would be over 100 miles an hour.
Emily: That's 160 kilometers per hour.
Speaker: Officer Autumn, how do you find the bad guys?
Officer Autumn: Well, we look for them. [laughter] There's all different ways that we look for the bad guys. We use dogs, which is really fun. That's a really useful tool. They'll track them by smelling their scent, and we talk to a lot of people and we ask them a lot of questions and that right there primarily is how we find a lot of the bad guys.
Speaker: Are you ever afraid?
Officer Autumn: I think every police officer is always afraid. It's just we have to be courageous, which is we feel that fear, but we continue to do our jobs anyway.
Speaker: I sometimes feel afraid, but I'm embarrassed to say it. What can I do?
Officer Autumn: Well, I think that we should never be embarrassed to say how we feel. I think it's very important to always name how we are feeling. You see when we don't talk about our feelings, we shove them down and that causes us to feel really bad. We want to always be able to say, "Okay, I'm feeling a certain way," but don't let it stop us.
Speaker: Did you ever get a chance to ride a horse?
Officer Autumn: I did not, and where I live, which is in Maine, we don't have that. We don't have horses. It's called the mounted unit and we don't have that. Unfortunately, I never have, but that would've been a really cool job.
Speaker: Officer autumn, what did you like best about being a police officer?
Officer Autumn: I became a police officer to help people. I always wanted to help other people and be a shoulder for other people to lean on, and so I would say that that is my favorite part of the job still to this day.
Speaker: How old were you when you decided to become a police officer?
Officer Autumn: Well, I don't remember the age that I decided I wanted to be a police officer. I'm also a second-degree black belt in karate, and my instructor, my sensei, he was a police officer. I always thought that I might want to be just like him.
Emily: Wow. If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose to be in law enforcement?
Officer Autumn: Absolutely. Yes. It is one of the most rewarding careers and it is definitely, for somebody who likes to have a lot of fun and is very busy.
[music]
Emily: Autumn, what can kids do now while they're still growing up to become a police officer?
Officer Autumn: Try to get involved in as many community activities as possible. Being a police officer is all about helping people. I used to volunteer at a nursing home when I was 12 years old, and I would volunteer at the local humane society and walk the dogs. It really is all about getting into the community when you were young because that's what you're going to be doing as a police officer.
Speaker: I actually already started volunteering with my dad. What else can I do?
Officer Autumn: The next time that you see someone get hurt or have an argument, pay attention to all of the details. Tell your parents or your teacher, exactly what happened, see if you can answer the who, what, where, when, and why.
Emily: Thank you, Officer Autumn.
Speaker: Thank you, Autumn. Next time Emily, get ready. We will start with who, what, and where?
Speaker: I'll ask you when and why. [chuckles].
Emily: I am sure you will. [music] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Growing Up podcast. Practice being calm and confident while helping others get along. Remember, there are many amazing jobs in public safety. Tune in next time when we meet a firefighter who will spark your interest.
Speaker: To live a full interactive learning adventure, check out our Lingokids app with tons of games and activities for endless fun.
[music]
It's so fun to learn what you can be
Growing up
Growing up
So come and join us
Growing up
Growing up
Come everyone
So we can learn while having lot's of fun
Because it's so fun to learn what you can be.
Yes, it's so fun to learn what you can be
Growing up
Growing up
Growing up
Lingokids
[00:12:41] [END OF AUDIO]