Within the next year or so I plan on going to college for Criminal Justice in Nashville TN, applying to a dept. (possibly Nashville Metro PD), then ultimately becoming a Homicide Detective.
I'm excited to start this but while making my plans I keep coming up against one pretty big wall. Everyone I talk to in Law Enforcement keeps claiming that instead of studying for a degree in CJ it is better to study something geared more towards a specific activity or job I want in the future. Example: FBI agent specializing in illegal banking activities might study Computer Sci. or Accounting.
My friend wants to be a CSI and is currently studying Criminal Justice. Her classes have studied the workings of the Justice system, taken tours of the jail, gone on ride-a-longs, practiced extracting DNA, and received real finger printing kits. All things relating to her future career. So I'm just wondering what IS the CJ degree for if NOT Law Enforcement!? And is it actually looked down upon in LE.
2007-08-26 08:20:45 · 6 answers · asked by 636lover 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
As an 18 year veteran of law enforcement, I can assure you that a degree in Criminal Justice will go a lot farther in preparing you for a career in law enforcement that a degree in Computer Science.
Get your degree, get into a good law enforcement job, then if you wish to specialize in, for example, computer fraud, THEN get training in computer science. Get the job first, then decide what you wish to specialize in. You may change your mind several times before you decide on any specialty, so don't lock yourself down to a specific area with the wrong degree.
2007-08-26 08:52:08 · answer #1 · answered by stephen p 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends on where you are looking. The FBI always seems to be hot on one major or another. First it was law, then accounting, now who knows what. Everyone else just seems to care if you have a degree or not
I have a BA in criminal justice. If I had it to do over I probably would have gone for History. Most jobs out there know they are going to train you with the jobs skills they want you to have once you are hired. What they are looking for are people they can train (sounds easy, I'm a training officer, it's not). A degree like history shows that I can learn, but don't have any pre-conceived ideas of how to be a cop. It also doesn't pigeon hole me if I ever decide to leave Law Enforcement.
My Supervisors respect my degree, they don't care what it is in. More important than your degree is your GPA. A 3.40 in History looks a heck of a lot better than a 2.75 in CJ. High GPAs can also get you higher initial grades and more money in a Federal job.
2007-08-26 19:41:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Criminal Justice degree places emphasis on many disciplines within the program. It's designed to give you an overall and general understanding of criminal justice. There are many careers you can pursue with a criminal justice degree and law enforcement certainly is one of them. They offer an abundance of classes dealing with all aspects of criminal justice, just focus on the ones that you think will benefit you the most.
No, it's not looked down upon at all in LE. Hope this helps.
2007-08-26 08:34:02 · answer #3 · answered by Glen B 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a degree in anything while working in law enforcement is a plus. that said i would get a degree in something other than criminal justice because if you don't like the career or you get fired you can always get a different job. with a criminal justice degree, you can do nothing else with it other than a police related field.
2007-08-26 19:07:11 · answer #4 · answered by ROBERT G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Few jobs give you the rewards you get in a criminal justice career. Crime will always be present in society, which means job security. If you just think most jobs in the U.S are being shipped overseas, but I am sure they can't ship jobs related to keep society crime free. How are they going to ship the job of a police officer overseas??
2007-08-26 09:31:17 · answer #5 · answered by Golden Girl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, based on my personal experience, a lot of Computer Science majors who graduated with me nearly a decade ago are now unemployed or working at other jobs. That's because many of their jobs went to India and other 3rd World countries.
2007-08-26 08:30:29 · answer #6 · answered by RoVale 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋