Becoming a detective?

[terrymcginnis]

Do any of you cops out there have any advice for someone who wants to become a homicide detective? It's always been a dream of mine to be one, but I have no clue where to begin. Without any college education, what is the best way to become one? How difficult is it to become a detective? How long would it take? Thank you for looking over my questions.

 

[Plus]

I am also curious to this question. Or any form of undercover work. When I was 17 I had been emailing back and forth with my state's liquor commission to see if I could work as in some sort of underage sting operation but eventually their replies stopped and left me wondering.

I had an officer who always came to my store after he had gotten off work at my last job and we would talk for a bit as I was interested in becoming an officer when I was old enough, he gave me some solid advice. He said that they look for people with drive, and military experience is a huge bonus.

 

[missbishi]

It's more of a case of starting at the bottom of the police department and working your way up to the position. This Wiki-How article is quite informative...

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Homicide-Detective

 

[JoanMcWench]

You also need a certain education level as well. It's not like a McDonald's management position where they'll hire you off the streets without experience. If you're going to be a detective you have to be well versed in the law & police procedure.

 

[Lizel]

"Without any college education, what is the best way to become one?"
You will have to go to college without education you won't be able to be a real detective.
-Go to college. Many police forces require detectives to have either a couple of years of college or a bachelor's degree prior to promoting them."

 

[Gabe]

It's a good idea to build up skills like languages and the most important thing is to keep a clean record with any traffic violations. Good detectives get to know areas and the history of them and are good at building up networks and relationships. Doing some course like forensics or criminal psychology will also help as it will give you practical knowledge. I've done a few online free courses on criminal psychology and they are really interesting to see how a line up works and how the police decide who goes in a line up.

 

[Gelsemium]

To become a detective you need to prove yourself first as an office I think, but I don't think I would have the stomach for it, it's a really demanding life in which there's little room for family life.

 

[bala]

I don't know much,but with the little info i have,you can possibly work for a private detective and then on step up to becoming one again.
You need to learn the knack and the art of being a detective.
Good luck,hope i helped.