Detectives and Criminal Investigator Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve crimes.
Detectives and Criminal Investigator is Also Know as
In different settings, Detectives and Criminal Investigator is titled as
- Crime Scene Investigator (CSI)
- Criminal Investigator
- Detective
- Fugitive Detective
- Fugitive Investigator
- Investigator
- Narcotics Detective
- Narcotics Investigator
- Police Detective
- Special Agent
Education and Training of Detectives and Criminal Investigator
Detectives and Criminal Investigator is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Detectives and Criminal Investigator
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Detectives and Criminal Investigator
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Detectives and Criminal Investigator
- Bachelor in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Associate Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Masters Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Bachelor in Signal/Geospatial Intelligence
- Associate Degree Courses in Signal/Geospatial Intelligence
- Masters Degree Courses in Signal/Geospatial Intelligence
- Bachelor in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Bachelor in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Bachelor in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Associate Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Masters Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Bachelor in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
- Associate Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
- Masters Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
Training Required for Detectives and Criminal Investigator
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Detectives and Criminal Investigator in different industries are
- Private Detectives and Investigators
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
- Intelligence Analysts
- Police Identification and Records Officers
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
- Fraud Examiners, Investigators and Analysts
- Coroners
- Forensic Science Technicians
- Transit and Railroad Police
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
- Correctional Officers and Jailers
- Bailiffs
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers
- Lawyers
- Customs and Border Protection Officers
- Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers
- Compliance Officers
- Security Guards
- Retail Loss Prevention Specialists
- Judicial Law Clerks
What Do Detectives and Criminal Investigator do?
- Check victims for signs of life, such as breathing and pulse.
- Obtain facts or statements from complainants, witnesses, and accused persons and record interviews, using recording device.
- Secure deceased body and obtain evidence from it, preventing bystanders from tampering with it prior to medical examiner's arrival.
- Record progress of investigation, maintain informational files on suspects, and submit reports to commanding officer or magistrate to authorize warrants.
- Prepare charges or responses to charges, or information for court cases, according to formalized procedures.
- Preserve, process, and analyze items of evidence obtained from crime scenes and suspects, placing them in proper containers and destroying evidence no longer needed.
- Obtain summary of incident from officer in charge at crime scene, taking care to avoid disturbing evidence.
- Note, mark, and photograph location of objects found, such as footprints, tire tracks, bullets and bloodstains, and take measurements of the scene.
- Prepare reports that detail investigation findings.
- Examine records and governmental agency files to find identifying data about suspects.
- Secure persons at scene, keeping witnesses from conversing or leaving the scene before investigators arrive.
- Provide information to lab personnel concerning the source of an item of evidence and tests to be performed.
- Analyze completed police reports to determine what additional information and investigative work is needed.
- Obtain and verify evidence by interviewing and observing suspects and witnesses or by analyzing records.
- Prepare and serve search and arrest warrants.
- Question individuals or observe persons and establishments to confirm information given to patrol officers.
- Identify case issues and evidence needed, based on analysis of charges, complaints, or allegations of law violations.
- Participate or assist in raids and arrests.
- Organize scene search, assigning specific tasks and areas of search to individual officers and obtaining adequate lighting as necessary.
- Summon medical help for injured individuals and alert medical personnel to take statements from them.
- Notify command of situation and request assistance.
- Testify before grand juries concerning criminal activity investigations.
- Block or rope off scene and check perimeter to ensure that entire scene is secured.
- Notify, or request notification of, medical examiner or district attorney representative.
- Search for and collect evidence, such as fingerprints, using investigative equipment.
- Determine scope, timing, and direction of investigations.
- Maintain surveillance of establishments to obtain identifying information on suspects.
- Collaborate with other offices and agencies to exchange information and coordinate activities.
- Perform undercover assignments and maintain surveillance, including monitoring authorized wiretaps.
- Examine records to locate links in chains of evidence or information.
Qualities of Good Detectives and Criminal Investigator
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Detectives and Criminal Investigator
- 35 millimeter cameras
- Audio recording equipment
- Automated external defibrillators AED
- Biohazard suits
- Blood collection kits
- Body armor
- Breathalyzers
- Bulletproof vests
- Compound light microscopes
- Crime scene rulers
- Crime scene tape measures
- Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA collection kits
- Desktop computers
- Digital cameras
- Digital tape recorders
- Digital video cameras
- Digital voice recorders
- Distance measuring wheels
- Drug testing kits
- Electrostatic dust lifters
- Explosive detectors
- Filter masks
- Fingerprint evidence kits
- First aid kits
- Footwear protectors
- Impression casting kits
- Infrared light sources
- Instant print cameras
- Laptop computers
- Laser light sources
- Metal detectors
- Metal handcuffs
- Mobile data computers
- Nightsticks
- Pepper spray
- Personal computers
- Plastic handcuffs
- Police patrol cars
- Police rifles
- Police shotguns
- Polygraphs
- Power generators
- Protective gloves
- Radar speed readers
- Riot helmets
- Riot shields
- Road flares
- Safety goggles
- Semiautomatic pistols
- Service revolvers
- Side-handle batons
- Suspect fingerprinting equipment
- Two way radios
- Ultraviolet UV lights
- Voice dictation equipment
- Voice stress analyzers
- Wiretap equipment
Technology Skills required for Detectives and Criminal Investigator
- AccessData FTK
- Adobe Photoshop
- Case management software
- Computer aided composite drawing software
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Crime mapping software
- DataWorks Plus Digital CrimeScene
- DeChant Consulting Services iWitness
- DesignWare 3D EyeWitness
- Digital Image Management Solutions Crime Scene
- Email software
- Eos Systems PhotoModeler
- ESRI ArcView
- Geographic information system GIS software
- Graphics software
- Guidance Software EnCase Enterprise
- Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS
- Law enforcement information databases
- Linux
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Publisher
- Microsoft Visio
- Microsoft Word
- National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
- National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN
- Operating system software
- SAS
- SmartDraw Legal
- Spreadsheet software
- Structured query language SQL
- The CAD Zone The Crime Zone
- Trancite Logic Systems ScenePD
- Visual Statement Vista FX3 CSI
- Web browser software