How To Become A Crime Analyst
Help The Police Department as a Crime Analyst
Not only trained law enforcement can help in preventing or solving crimes. A crime analyst is someone who assists the police force by sifting through and interpreting news and statistics to help catch criminals, and with the right background, this role doesn't have to go to a trained officer. Indeed.com even predicts that despite many fields decreasing in these tough economic times, crime is on the rise and the need for crime analysts will only increase and give way to more job growth, with an average salary starting at about $28,000 but going to well over $66,000 with extensive education and experience. If you want to get involved in criminal justice careers but don't necessarily want to train as a police officer, this opportunity could give you the advantages you want and still provide the fast paced, exciting environment you crave.
Responsibilities of the Job
Checking news reports, gathering information from different sources and analysing the data pertaining to active crimes is what a crime analyst does. They have to interpret the information they collect by using statistical analysis and mapping software, and they then transform their findings into reports, maps and charts to help display crime trends, help distribute law enforcement officers and pick up on criminal patterns. They also use their data and statistics to present to various agencies their suspect list for any open robbery, rape or murder cases. The job comes with many responsibilities and is a crucial role in finding the one lead that could help solve a case and get a criminal off the streets.
Required Training
Although you don't need to be a trained police officer to work in this job or a criminal justice degree, you do need a university bachelor's degree. Many areas of study are relevant, so you can choose from disciplines like criminal justice, psychology, statistics, public administration or information systems. You should also develop your skills with different programs like MS Access and Excel, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and statistics programs, as well as having knowledge of various methods of compiling statistics like predicting trends and analysing regression. At least a year of relevant work experience may also be required, as well as a masters degree for higher level positions. With all the academic development lately, it is also possible to take many of these subjects through an online school, such as the University of Phoenix, Liberty University Online or Virginia College, just to name a few.
A crime analyst is a very important part of the behind the scenes action in a police department or other law enforcement agency, and without this role, a lot of data couldn't be analysed and crimes couldn't be solved as efficiently. If you like working with numbers and processing information, help solve crimes by training as a crime analyst.
Criminal Justice Degree |
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