Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Title says it all. I am taking Criminal Investigation and other LE classes, as well as majoring is Psychology. What other steps do I take to become a Criminal Profiler?

Guy I know from the Rangers was trained to profile. He went through a two year process to complete the program. I have no idea where to start however, he retired so I can not ask him.

The information may be dated since I have not kept up with my CP contact.
From what I recall you have to work for a state or federal law enforcement agency. The job duty of the agency has to have a correlation with violent crimes. Forget TV, there is no recruiting for a CP when you are hired. You have to apply for the program when a position is opened like any other position. Candidates for Criminal profilers go through extensive training at the FBI Academy. They then have to do an "internship" at a different law enforcement agency in a different country. I once worked with criminal profiler from New South Wales (Australia) who was in the US for training.

I am not a fan of criminal profiling. Hollywood has glamourized the position way beyond the realm of reality. Normally a profiler was used when requested by a law enforcement agency. Most of the cases that I saw the CP handle was evaluation of "workplace violence" or on Cold Case Squads.

Also, a CP will not deal with the investigation or interview suspects, witnesses. Their job really is to look over crime scene photos, read the police report, and give their interpretation of the psyche and possible physical characteristics of the perpetrator.

So in other words, if you enjoy straddling a desk and criticizing the work of a homicide investigation, the the CP position is for you.

We have some criminal profilers with my agency. They are not agents, but rather are psychologists (with PhD and PsyD doctoral degrees) who work in our Behavioral Science Unit.

For us, it's not something a student graduating with a CJ degree would qualify for.

Thank you for the warnings, I am well aware that CPs do not go out on the field or do much interacting other than to give psyche evaluations on the crime scene photos.

I am also aware the a CJ student fresh out of college is not what they are looking for when spotting for open positions, but what I DON"T Know is what I need to do to make myself someone that they WOULD look for when they have an open position. What are the requirements?

An advanced degree in psychology would be a start. I would think a master's would be the minimum and a doctorate would be preferred. It all would depend on the agency though. In an agency like ROS's where they're all civilian employees, a doctorate is probably mandatory. If the agency fills these positions from their sworn ranks, a master's will probably suffice in most cases.

If your desire is to work as a sworn profiler, that means that in addition to the psychology degrees you're going to need to prove yourself both as a street officer and most likely as a detective as well. Nobody's going to give someone such a position if they have lukewarm evaluations and don't have a track record of excelling on the job.