What are the necessary steps one should take to become a police officer?

Becoming a police officer is a long and arduous process. A person must not believe what is seen in films and TV as representing real police work. It's an often unappreciated, thankless job, in which everyone thinks they know your job better than you do, and can freely criticize your actions, This includes the news media. And you can rarely defend your actions,even when they get the info wrong. When police departments advertise they are hiring, sometimes several thousands of people apply for the job. There are always considerably more applicants than positions to be filled. Most of the average size city police departments rarely hire over 40 individuals out of those thousands.  I discovered over the years working as an officer, that many individuals, who were much less qualified than myself, assumed they had the qualifications to be a police officer. Much more so than any woman or other perceived minority. I often heard it complained that a man didn't get hired "because the department had to hire a woman or minority over me." These were almost always Caucasian males. And while there definitely are highly qualified,white males that apply and are  ultimately hired, it isn't because of their skin color. More often than not, the ones not hired had a criminal record serious enough to prevent hiring or they couldn't pass the polygraph or extensive background investigation. Yet the fallacy persists that a woman or minority must be an affirmative action hire. Nothing could be further from the truth. I spent two years working as an intern in the detective bureau with my department, while also getting my degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology. When I took the tests, I had trained for both and was already familiar with how reports were to be written, etc. Police depts have specifics rules to be followed, right down to the ink color (black) of the pen that must be used on all reports. You need to be able to find your way around every place you work (and in the dark) be able to accurately relay your location and not need to use an app, or look at a map, to find where you are being dispatched or where you are. It's harder than it sounds. So while I am not trying to discourage your friend, understand that the odds of being hired are minimal at best. Being a minority won't help, nor should it. Police departments eat up a huge portion of their city's budget. And that's because they tend to be the largest group that the city pays for, right next to civilian employees. The odds are stacked against the average person who applies, so always have an alternate plan for a career in mind.

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian.  You give no details of your friend's ethnicity.  But "enlightened" departments will "help" members of ethnic minority comunities to get on the pd if that minority is also a substantial or growing part of the community AND the individual is a native speaker of the language.  They will still have to pass all other qualifications.  Normally, you will finding such hiring practices in the major metro areas, LA, NYC, Houston, Chicago.

Requirements to become a police officer vary and how you become a police  officer varies depending on the police department. Visit the websites  of the police departments that you might be interested in working for.  Police department websites often provide information about their  applicant requirements, about how to apply, and about their hiring  process. Some relatively common minimum requirements include having at  least a high school diploma or ged, being a citizen, being at least 21  years old, having a valid driver's license, and having no felony  convictions. Some relatively common steps in hiring processes include  application, written test, physical fitness test, interview, drug test,  medical examination, and background investigation. Most police departments in the United States require applicants to be citizens. Some police departments in some states will hire non-citizens if they are permanent residents that are eligible and have applied for citizenship. Source: http://www.peaceofficerjobs.com