By Melissa Ross


If you are looking for an interesting career, and love television crime shows, you might consider becoming a criminal investigator. You probably will not get rich, but you probably will not be bored either. You will have a job helping to put away bad guys and getting justice for victims. You could decide to work locally or do investigations on a national scale. There are any number of requirements for working in this field, but none are more important than attention to detail, the sort of detail that goes into the daily enforcement investigations reports.

It is the investigator's job to collect evidence and analyze it in order to determine what the methods and motives are behind a crime. They develop lists of likely suspects and determine what the relationships are between victims and perpetrators. Many investigators become specialists in particular crimes. They may exclusively handle homicides, narcotics, or gang related activities for example.

This is not always a nine to five job. Crimes occur at all hours of the day and night. An investigator may have to leave at a moment's notice when he gets a call to come to a crime scene. Typically investigators are assigned to one case at a time. They work the case until it is solved or dropped. While they are working a case, they are required to write a daily report outlining the activities that took place in regard to the ongoing investigation.

Investigators don't necessarily work locally. A lot of them are involved in solving cases that end up in the national missing persons database. Investigators work closely with coroners and medical examiners trying to match information that has been entered into the database.

There are investigators who work cold cases. These are cases that have never been solved because the leads went cold. Because of the technology available today, investigators are sometimes able to match new DNA evidence to old crimes in order to find perpetrators and bring them to justice.

You do not just walk into a police station and fill out an application to become an investigator. You have to be on the police force first. That involves being over twenty-one and a high school, or equivalent, graduate. If you are interested in working for the federal government, you must have a bachelor's degree.

You must take police training at a recognized academy. In order to get into an accredited academy, you have to pass a number of physical and written tests. There is a rigorous background test you must pass. You will receive extensive firearms training. After you graduate from the academy you can apply to join a police force. After several years, you will be allowed to apply for the job of investigator.

Criminal investigation is a growing field. It has increased about ten percent in the last ten years. Individuals with college degrees, military experience, and proficiency in a language in addition to English are the most sought after. Salaries are in the $63,000 to $100,000 range.




About the Author:



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Money Making

I am passionate about educating university students about money and careers, and have been doing so since 2007. I see the same confusion and mistakes being replicated every year. The way I help is through Save the Student. I'm always on the look out for new contributors, so get in touch if you're wanting to get involved! Aside from the site, my main interests are travelling, writing, photography, webdesign, sailing, football and cycling.

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