Let me put it this way. Of my classmates in MSCJ, one became a major metro police chief, one is a metro police chief, one is the #2 or 3 in his department, one was a Fed type that got called out of the semester to work in the Beltway Sniper.................and there are probably others.
It would seem that if one gets the right department, gets the right profs, that they have a lot going for them. Now, it probably helps if one has an established career when they are doing so.......but even so, I don't think people threw aside my MSCJ when I was applying for jobs, including one in a Secretary's office.
IMHO, what does the degree need to deliver? One has to be able to identify a problem in their department, figure out an acceptable way to research it, do the research, and produce an answer that can sway budgets....the cheaper it is done, the better. Secondly, one has to be able to research and understand the laws, statute and case, so they can plan the policy of their departments while reducing hurdles and doing it without the use of a lawyer.
Now, mind you, that's just my opinion, looking at the classes I took, the classes I took with them................but we all come from different walks of life and odds are, we are headed in different directions. Ie, one of my profs said that with the type of research I did, I was the kind of person to work for a Foundation producing a project to solve some country's problem. Not quite like ex-SAS on counter poaching in Africa, but heading in that direction.
Something else to consider. What are you, a specialist or a generalist? I'm a generalist, I know a lot about a lot. With what I know, with the degrees that I have, I can usually find the answer to a problem somehow. I may sit on this or that committee as the law enforcement/security representative, but what I bring to the table is a wide range of knowledge....if LE oriented. But often in this world, one finds specialists, not generalists (or if they do, it is knowing a little about a lot).
Basically, it might be like forensic psychology; one markets it as they need to. That is, with forensic psychology, there are at least 4 or 5 different uses: can he stand trial, what kind of person did this crime, what made this person a victim, was this person's death a suicide or an accident, or what move will the general of the opposing army do next? One finds the program that enables them to do what they want to do.
IMHO.
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("I'm basically a teacher, Captain Solo, but I have degrees that I could run this base if I wanted to."––Contact Agent, (w,stte), Book: "Han Solo at Star's End")