Careers in Law Enforcement
http://www.icsia.org/faq.html
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/becomeone.html
http://www.isp.state.il.us/Forensics/ISPHTML/Forensics.htm
Federal Law Enforcement
There are many and varied careers in the federal
realm. And there are more than just investigative positions. Of
course, being an investigator is the big league.
Virtually every agency of the federal government has an investigative
branch. Even the Department of Education and the
Department of Commerce have their own investigators. If you
are interested in a specific agency, simply write that
agency in
department. Most federal investigative positions
will require at least a college degree. Some will require a second
language, accounting or law degree or some other
specialization or Master's degree. Another plus would be a pilot's
license.
There are also lab positions. Mostly just the
strict investigative agencies, like the FBI, Secret Service, ATF, DEA,
INS, will have their own labs. Many of the other
agencies will farm out to them on a case by case basis. Again,
write their personnel department for information.
Aside from investigative and lab positions, there
are all kinds of support positions. Clerks, typists, auto mechanics,
evidence technicians, analysts, electronics
technicians, special surveillance operations, receptionists, computer techs,
photographers. There's all kinds of jobs out
there if you want to work in federal law enforcement but don't want to
carry a gun and a badge.
Now, the drawback is, they'll pretty much put you
where they want to put you. Most support positions will be filled
where you apply, so you're well assured of staying in
your current locality. And if you want to transfer to another
locality, those options do come up on occasion.
There is also plenty of opportunity for advancement. I know people
who have started out in the steno pool and gone on to
become administrative officers. There are plenty of
interesting jobs along the way.
There is a federal job bulletin board. This
site contains a great deal of information to help you with your search.
You can download job listings by state or geographic
area right off of this site and view them with just about any
word processor. These sites are updated
weekly. They are for all federal jobs, though; not just investigative
jobs.
You'll have to scan through a lot to pick out
the few good ones. Also, these lists are not comprehensive. There
are
plenty of other jobs out there. You'll just have
to call the agencies yourself to see what is available.
State Agencies
There are plenty of investigative jobs at the state
level. There are, of course, state troopers. Many states have their
own state bureaus of investigation and their own
investigators. Also, most states will have their own labs. Again,
you'll find the same types of support opportunities
here as at the federal level. You'll have to contact your own state
agency or check if your state has it's own online
bulletin board. The educational requirements will vary between
high school diploma and college degree.
City Agencies
Big cities have their own police forces, their own
investigators and detectives. Of course, you'll have to rise up
through the ranks from patrol. It is unlike the
federal level in that respect. In the federal level, you'll start right
out
as investigator. But there is something to be
said for learning the law enforcement process from the streets on up.
Again, as with State and Federal agencies, you will
find the same types of support positions. Most support positions
will only require a high school diploma. More
technical positions will probably require either specialized experience
or a specialized degree. Some larger cities will
have their own labs. Some will farm the work out to other labs.
Most city departments will have a ride along
program. You can ride with an officer or detective for a shift and find
out what the job is really like. Just call your local
department for more information.
Local Agencies
Every small town has a police force. They
will also have a detective or two, but those guys don't retire too often and
competition is pretty severe. There will be a
few support positions, but, obviously, the smaller the locality, the smaller
the police budget, the smaller the police force.
They will most likely farm out their lab work to the state or FBI.
Private Sector
There are plenty of private agencies out
there. Some are very good, very high profile and very well known.
Most of
these are staffed by retired federal investigators and
support personnel. They know what they are doing. The big
firms will have major corporate clients, international
scope and lots of interesting work. Then there are other private
agencies out there that are not so good. Then
there are some that are downright sleazy. Be careful. Most smaller
agencies will do divorce work, collections, workman's
comp, small potatoes. These places, good and bad, will be
listed in the yellow pages under detective or investigations.
Many big corporations will have an in-house investigative
staff. You'll just have to call them on an
individual basis. There are some private labs out there. Jobs are
very
competitive and will require some serious education
and experience.
The Application Process
Here's how is usually works. You call up an
agency's personnel department and ask for them to send you an
application. This first application is a page or
two and typically concerns your work experience and education. You
send that in and then get called for an initial
interview. This is done one on one with the applicant coordinator.
It is
an informal screening interview. Next comes the
written exam. Mulitple choice and very much like the SATs.
Basic skills: math, reading comprehension,
logical thought. If you pass the written, next comes the big-ass
background questionaire. They are about twenty
pages long and ask for all kinds of personal information on you and
your family, your work and educational history, drug
use, legal problems, finances, old roommates, anything goes.
Next comes the the panel interview. The
applicant coordinator and a few others will spend a couple of hours asking
you just about anything they want; work, education,
home life, last book read, what do you consider your strengths
and weaknesses, stuff like that. After that is
the doctor's physical, a physical fitness test and then a polygraph.
Now, this process will vary and most support
positions won't require a fitness test. This process takes months.
At
the moment, I believe the hang time for the FBI is
more than six months. For the Secret Service, it's a year and a
half.
You can buy prep books for the exams. They
are just like the books used for the GREs and SATs. In fact, they are
on the very same shelf in the book store and are
published by Barrons and Arco. Get one. Don't think you can just
float through one of these exams. They are not
nearly as easy as the GREs and SATs, they are just similarly
formatted.
Other Comments
Your best bet is to contact a personnel department
directly. They will tell you what is available and what the
requirements entail. Believe me, whatever your
interest is there will be an agency and an investigative branch to
cover it. There is a lot out there aside from
the well known FBI, DEA, ATF, etc. Just take a look some time at
a list of all of the federal agencies there are.
Most will have some type of investigative staff.
Internships, if you are in school, are a great way
to get a foot in the door and make some contacts. Support positions
are also great. I went into a federal agency
right out of college as a typist and very quickly earned a promotion to
analyst for, well, I can't really talk about it.
Needless to say, as with any job, hard work is appreciated and will be
rewarded.
Higher education and/or work experience are also
very helpful. This is why internships are so great. Sure, you
work for free. But if you are in school and can
get a job in a lab or even a summer internship as a clerk for an
investigative agency, the experience and contacts you
will make will be invaluable later on when you graduate and
are looking for work.