My son is getting ready to head to college next year. He is considering a degree in criminal justice and when I asked him why that direction he said he wants to be a police officer or maybe a detective. He said he wants a job that would be outside and would involve politics or government. Fair enough.
But I’m pretty sure he would have a pretty uninformed view of what life would be like as a police officer.
Anyone want to help me out and describe to him what he might be looking at here? Generalities are fine, such as, “4 years of college, trouble finding a job, usually start with low pay, lousy shifts and high stress” or it could be, “4 years of college, will likely find a decent job anywhere you want to be, can be either low key or high octane depending on personal preference.”
Please don’t make this about your personal opinions of LEOs. I just want him to have a good idea of what kind of career he could be looking at here.
Most police departments have drive-along programs. He sits in the back of the car for several hours while they do their shift and gets a good feel for a day in the life. Unless you live in a high-crime area, he is likely to find it more boring than he expects.
Strongly encourage him to look for jobs as a security guard or seasonal cop. Lots of resort towns hire CJ majors to work as uniformed summer help doing parking enforcement and routine patrol. If he still wants to be a cop after standing in full uniform on a 90 degree day watching other people drink margaritas…
Would he consider a duel major with something broader (poli sci? public policy? pre-law?)
I don’t think going as specialized as criminal justice is going to give him much of a leg up- the thing that will put him in a good spot is getting part-time work, volunteer work and internships in the field. And having something nice and broad will give him more options later.
I don’t think going into criminal justice is necessarily a bad idea, but IMHO vocational-ish majors are not well regarded, especially if you eventually change fields. But really I don’t think they are even well regarded in most fields. For indergrad is go for a broad academic major, with lots of work experience and maybe a more focused second major.
Daughter is graduating this coming May with a degree in CJ from a Cal State University.
She’s had several offers of internships and has accepted one with the Public Defender’s office as a investigator. She’s on the dean’s list, and that’s impressed many of those interviewing her. She’s making noises about law school too, so there’s many ways for them to go with that degree.
In the 1970s, I took advantage of these programs, I can tell you, it is an eye opener! I recommend it to anyone who may want to see what the cops do daily. Teen drivers could learn a lot from a ride along with them, or with EMTs.
I rode with both the CHP and the Oregon State Police Troopers as well as with many local LEOs. They rode solo, so they had me ride in the front with them. I had to sign a release, and take a short course on what I was allowed to do, and what I was not to do, before the rides. I logged over 200 hours riding with these folks.
I quickly determined that I do not have the temperment to become a LEO. I also reaffirmed that LEOs tend to be helpful, caring people. For the most part they come across as stern, given what they see daily, I can understand this. Yet as a general rule, they really are concerned about the well being of the “Average Joe” that they are hired to protect and serve.
If he decides to go into this field, I for one want to encourage him to do many ride alongs. The rides with LEOs will give him some insight into what this job is about. Plus he can get some experiance that his classmates probably will not get.
I forgot to mention that being a “beat cop” is only one avenue that he can pursue. Many state and federal agency s have a law enforcement branch. Not just the FBI, or the Border Patrol, but the BLM, BIA, Forest Service, DEQ, and NPS all have law enforcement branches as does the BoR.
At the state level, state parks, fish and game, as well as many state forestry departments usually have a need for some kind of LEOs. Out west here, we also have water regulations that need enforcement.
The private sector also has a need for CJ majors. For example, UPRR has its own police department. These are some of the lesser known career paths open for Criminal Justice majors.
While i agree that some vocational degrees can be problematic for people looking to gain employment outside the narrow area of their vocational studies, i would be hesitant to put Criminal Justice into quite the same category as, say, nursing or kinesiology or accounting.
I teach at a CSU (the same system where Morgenstern’s daughter is graduating), and the Criminology and Justice Studies major at my university is basically a sociology major with a couple of specialized classes in statistics and a broad focus on areas of sociology related to legal and criminal justice issues.
In addition to a series of core stats, criminology,and justice courses, CJ majors select from the following as part of the requirements of this degree:
Assuming the courses are well taught and intellectually rigorous (i don’t really have much personal experience with the Sociology Department at my school), a degree like that seems to me to offer at least as much breadth as most “non-vocational” majors.
And that’s just the requirements for the major itself. The complete degree requirements at our university also include completion of courses focusing on American institutions (history, government, civics, etc.), and at least eight upper-division elective courses from outside the major.
I think that a smart CJ student should emerge from his or her studies as well-rounded as anyone else at the university.
Is he prepared to wear body armor all day and every day while not in the office? If he cannot make that commitment, then law enforcement is not for him. Does he remain patient when dealing with intoxicated idiots (that is a person who even sober would be an idiot, but is intoxicated on top of it). Because that is a daily occurrence.
There is a need for smart, honest, patient and well-trained police officers.
Anyone know if a degree in CJ helps with getting a law enforcement job? In my experience outside of law enforcement, CJ students have a similar reputation to education majors.
Agreed. I volunteered as an auxiliary police officer for a couple of years in a university town in Idaho. Wore the uniform, carried a gun, rode with regulars, usually at night and usually on weekends, when it was busier. Most shifts were just plain boring, with maybe a DUI or two, perhaps a public bar fight or a domestic dispute call, but quite often nothing really happened. This was a town surrounded by farmland and with no “bad” section. Most of the problems were with college students. I’m sure larger cities would be more hectic, depending on the precinct. I enjoyed doing it, for the most part, as I was able to see firsthand how a police department operated and how much abuse they often take.
I think it’s one of those professions that has to be a calling, but people get romantic notions about it from TV and movies that doesn’t translate to reality. And the reality is often 99% boredom and 1% “holy shit!”
Is he prepared for a job where almost every interaction he has with the public will be under unpleasant circumstances? How is he on having a significant number of co-workers who were attracted to the job because they wanted power over others? Is he okay with shift work? Depending on the department he lands in, how is he with low pay and senior personnel hogging up all the overtime? Does he tolerate long periods of boredom well? How well does he stand up topeer pressure? Is he aware that virtually everything presented by the entertainment media about cops is not the reality of what they do?
I should clarify- I am sure the courses are fine. Undergrad degrees by nature have plenty of depth. I’d just think about what happens if you want to do a career change to a (…foreign service officer, salesperson,. IT guru, whatever) and you want your undergrad degree to look coherent with the rest of what you’ve done.
I say this as a film major with a career international relations. It’s not a huge deal, but it is something I have to explain at every job interview and now and then it does raise an eyebrow. I’m sure that some people look at it and say “Oh, a failed filmmaker.” I’d have been better off doing a double major (which usually just involves a couple extra classes) or choosing something a bit broader.
Was he a bully in school? According to my brother in law, who is a big city cop, police work tends to be one of the attractive careers for grown up bullies. If he wasn’t a bully himself, he might not enjoy the daily socialization with colleagues who were.
Pretty much all young people have an uninformed view of every potential career, even the one they end up choosing. More research, such as suggested by **jtur88 ** in this specific case, is certainly helpful. But the reality of a career in almost any field is very different from a day in the life of the job.
Ultimately career selection amounts to a leap of faith that sorta works for most of us some of the time and some of us most of the time.
Good thing kids are so optimistic or they’d become paralysed by their own cluelessness.
I talked to him last night about ride alongs as well as joining the cadet program the local police have. He said he would look into it. He already knew about both of them and was planning on doing a ride along, which is encouraging because it means he actually has done some research into this career choice.
I don’t have anything against LEOs in general. I just don’t necessarily see it as a good fit for him and I’d like him to explore it because he seems to have latched onto to things and thinks this would fit.
He is not a bully by any means. Very passive. The other stuff he can deal with for the most part. I’m a bit worried a CJ degree is too focused and will limit career opportunities in the future, but it is his choice and I’m just trying to support it as best I can and help him know what it is he is going into.
Passivity and police work are not compatible. A person who can’t make snap decisions isn’t going to fare well, either. A cop has to be able to insert himself into any situation and take command of it (if possible). The cops I worked with had, for the most part, the biggest egos of anybody I ever worked with (other than fighter jockeys). I wouldn’t say they were bullies, but certainly had aggressive personalities. There was one guy who was a passive sort; he didn’t do very well, and often had to be bailed out by the others.
Most cops and firemen I know have family connections. More so for the firemen, but there still is a lot of family influence. The exceptions would be someplace like Detroit, where it is pretty dangerous, and doesn’t pay very well. I saw a local article that claimed a starting salary of 24K. I think some mall cops get more, and they don’t to deal with the lame, lazy and crazy. And crackheads.