Crime Scene Investigator Job Overview

When I was younger I wanted to be lawyer but doing my high school year I got to go to a law and forensic science convention in DC. There I realized that law was not for me and the forensic science was what ended up catching my eye. During the convention I realized being lawyer was a dull and that most of the time lawyers who are not prosecutors have to work for the worse of the worse to get a good wager. I found out that there are many options in forensics. I looked at some of the choices and the crime scene investigator ended up being the one I had more interest in. I have studied up on the requirements that I would need to become one. I got my facts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On their website they have the data under Forensic Science Technicians. A crime scene investigator’s job is to analyze crime scenes to determine what evidence should be collected and how they are collected. The work schedule for a crime scene investigator is long. They may work day, evening, or night shifts and maybe overtime because they must always be available to collect or analyze evidence wherever the crime is at. There are two types of criminal investigators. There are the civilian criminal investigators and then there are the rest of the criminal investigators.

For the civilian criminal investigator, the education needed is a high school diploma, an associate’s degree and then a bachelor’s degree preferably in forensic science or criminal justice. Though a strong basic science background, or the natural sciences is required. The rest of the criminal investigator’s work for police departments, they are sworn police officers, who have met the educational requirements necessary for admittance into a police academy. There is training that usually happens before working on cases independently. They might work under an experienced crime scene investigator to study proper procedures and methods for collecting and documenting evidence. There are some important qualities needed such as communication skills, critical-thinking skills, detail oriented, math and science skills, and problem-solving skills. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the national estimate for mean annual wage is $61, 220. The states with the highest employment level are California (2050), Florida (1420), Texas (1100), New York (720 and Arizona (720). For South Carolina the employment level 110 and the annual mean wage is $47, 450.

In this paragraph I will explain my steps of becoming a crime scene investigator. Firstly, I will finish my associate’s degree in science, though that might be longer than expected because I want to take as many classes I can take at Tri-County Technical College since it costs less than going to a four year school. Once I finish with all the classes at Tri-County Technical College, I plan to go to Southern Wesleyan University for a bachelor’s degree in forensic science. Since I want to be a normal crime scene investigator that means I’ll have to go to the police academy. At the moment I know I would do very poorly at the police academy, so while getting my college life completed, I’ll have to start getting into shape for the police academy. One other thing I will have to work on is my communication skills. I know I have health issue but I will not let it get in the away in me accomplishing my goal. After college, I’ll try to get a job in the state before trying to go to a different state or in a larger area. It will let me be able test the water out and see if being in the state is what I want or moving out of the state is what I want to do.

Finally to wraps things up I know it will not be an easy road to becoming a crime scene investigator. My only hope is that there are not too many road blocks. I know that in the future I might have to change some steps in my plan to becoming a criminal investigator. During writing this paper I learned some new things that I wasn’t too familiar with. I vaguely knew about the stage of the criminal system now I know more about it.