Detectives and Criminal Investigators

A Day in the Life

As a criminal investigator, you will most likely find work in the public sector as part of an investigative team or law enforcement agency. Wherever you work, you will need to put your people skills to work. You are likely to encounter a great many colorful personalities during your investigations.

Whether you work in the public or the private sector, you will almost always be spending time in both the office environment and the field. You will visit crime scenes to collect clues and evidence. Trips to courthouses and police stations may also be part of your everyday working routine.

In the course of a typical day at work, your activities may include the following:

• Using a computer to perform searches on public and private databases
• Preparing background reports on financial and personal information
• Visiting police stations and court houses to obtain copies of public records
• Obtaining signed authorizations for the release of records
• Examining crime scenes and obtaining statements from witnesses
• Interviewing suspects
• Creating detailed progress reports of ongoing investigations

Depending on the working environment, you may need to carry a gun. If this is necessary, your employer will train you to use it safely and effectively.

You can also choose to specialize in a particular area of investigative work. As a forensic investigator, you may need to examine blood spatter patterns to reconstruct a crime. If you choose a career as an arson investigator, you will look for evidence of criminal activity at the scene of suspicious fires. Smaller agencies may ask you to perform all of these specialized duties and to staff the front desk, set up drunk driving checkpoints and provide moral support for victims during the course of a single day.