Pursuing A Career In Forensics

The demand for detectives or criminal investigators is on the raise, it is expected to raise for next couple decades. There will always be crime in the world, which means there will always be a need for people to investigate and look into the crime. The demand for law enforcement in bigger cities is always greater due to the fact that there are more crime in bigger cities like Chicago or

New York City. A study into the statistics of people working in the criminal justice system highlights,“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that employment of detectives and criminal investigators nationwide will grow in coming years. Job growth will occur as the population expands and the demand for trained law enforcement specialists increases”

When working in the criminal justice field, which can be working as a detective or forensic investigator, the retirement is the same for both careers. After working twenty to twenty five years in the same state in law enforcement you are eligible for retirement (Nicole Long Interview). The retirement of a police detective it on average is 50% of the yearly salary (United States Department of Labor). Fifty percent of detective or forensic investigator yearly salary is a great retirement plan for only having to work for twenty years. Most people working in law enforcement retire before someone in a different career. The Department of Labor website describes how law enforcement retirement works: “Many agencies provide officers with an allowance for uniforms, as well as extensive benefits and the option to retire at an age that is younger than the typical retirement age” (United States Department of Labor). An early retirement is important to me because after I retire I

Even though police officers and investigators do not get paid much throughout their career their retirement makes up for it.

I have described how being a detective and being a forensic investigator are similar and different, the training of both careers is completely different. To become a police detective you either go to college and get your bachelors in criminal justice then go through the police academy. After working as a police officer for a couple of years you can take the detective test to get a promotion to detective (United States Department of Labor: Police and Detective). Most of the training a detective receives is on the field:

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a high profile issue for both governmental policy and policing in the United Kingdom, yet policing such behaviour can be difficult. Contributing factors include lack of experience, mismatches of perceived ASB between police officers and members of the public, and the risks involved in training inexperienced officers in the field, which is time-consuming and often dangerous (Smith &