What is being a detective all about?
You MUST spend many years as a beat officer and work very hard and make very good arrests. A detective is generally not considered as dangerous as a beat officers job – you spend much less time responding to in progress calls. The income can be very good – it depends on where you are employed – geographic in the US play a major role in salary. You must go to the police academy – up to 4 months and then spend about 15-21 weeks with a training officer before being released on your own. This is your proving grounds – if you work very hard and make great arrests you MAY be appointed/promoted to the detective division. Detectives follow up on cases that beat officers report on (usually). There is a lot of phone work, interviewing and intuitive skills needed. Be prepared to be called in at every ungodly hour known and on days when you absolutely have to be with your family – like graduations/Christmas/etc. Evidence is mostly processed by evidence technicians not detectives – however you will
