Posted: 8/5/2008 6:17:57 PM EDT
| Is it possible to enter the field of law enforcement and start out as a detective? Or have all detectives been patrol officers at the beginning of their careers? I would imagine the time on patrol would be an important foundation for detective work. If you do start out on patrol, how long would you typically stay there before being able to pursue the detective route? Thanks in advance. |
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I worked for two agencies in detective positions. One city with 500 officers, required everyone to start out in patrol. After 2+ years you could apply to various specialized units. I had been in almost 6 years when I applied to detective division. The application process was an application that your chain of command had to sign off on, up to the rank of captain. Then a panel interview. After the panel interview it still might be several months before transfers were made. I also worked at a rural agency with 35 sworn deputies, five of which were criminal investigations and three working narcotics. After a year and a half I was asked if I was interested in swapping out with a detective. At the time I was a patrol sergeant and had almost 13 years total in LE work. All the other agencies and officers I associated with on cases or at trainings. I never met someone that was hired straight out of community college LE training or academy that went straight to an investigative slot. |
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never heard of it. 3 years in uniformed patrol division here to qualify to test for detective eligibility list. it would be difficult to understand the job let alone the initial investigations done by patrol officers if a detective had never been a first responder/initial investigator. some departments will tap good patrol officers to perform investigative functions before eligibility for promotion. |
| ICE and a few other Fed LE Agencies will hire Criminal Investigators without any LE experience if they have a degree with a high GPA. Most of the ICE CIs I've talked to say that the 'street hires' are typically the 'problem children' in the office. Most of the complaints I've heard are that they lack street sense and have poor judgment because of their inexperience. Prior officers/agents are valued because they can hit the ground running with minimal OJT. |
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I can't see any advantage to the Dept. to hire anyone straight up as a Detective. Maybe expertise? They already hire non-commissioned personnel or pay consultants for that stuff. How the heck is a fast track supposed to know the town, contacts, common/special M.O.s, how to combine investigative resources, etc.????? I would hope no agency has a standard practice of allowing transfer to detective with less than two years. Only exceptions would be recent experience in patrol or as a detective at another agency, or maybe they need to fill a few positions ASAP. |
DEA is the same way. You can count on one hand the number of agents who were hired without prior police experience who are really good investigators. Most of the ones hired straight out of college are just taking up valuable space. |
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It happened at my department. A full-time fireman who was on the auxillary for a few months got hired straight in to a full-time detective slot. He got sent to polygraph school about 5 months later. He's a nice guy and has a passion for investigations, but so do alot of guys at work. He had almost NO patrol experience, but came in on his days off from the fire department to hang out with the detectives. The Sheriff noticed him and hired him in because he was looking for a "specific personality type". Now we're in a terrible financial crunch- laying off. This guy's on the chopping block soon and is applying to other departments. He'll get snatched up soon enough and then we can send another fireman to polygraph school.  |