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Criminal Investigator Job Description
It is hard to define a specific criminal investigator job description because investigators have a range of duties to tend to throughout the year. Every crime presents a new problem, and every problem requires a new type of investigation. As a whole, criminal investigators are supposed to collect and analyze evidence for crimes. They do this to ensure that criminals are put behind bars. How they go about doing this will change from case to case, so you may not know what your job description is until you start working in the field. Here is a look at some of the tasks you may come across as a criminal investigator.
Researching Crimes
Criminal investigators spend a lot of their time researching information about the crimes they are investigating. They have to learn about the suspects involved with the case, as well as the circumstances that led up to the crime. This research helps the investigators know what they are looking for when they go to investigate a crime scene. Investigators must be skilled in data analysis, and they must retain a lot of the information they read before starting their investigations. It is only then that they can piece together the facts to come to a conclusion about a crime over time.
Collecting Evidence
One of the biggest tasks that a criminal investigator has to manage is collecting evidence. Criminal investigators are responsible for looking over a crime scene to find evidence to use in a case. Those who specialize in the collection of hard-to-find and hard-to-analyze evidence are known as forensic investigators, and they are called on when a crime is hard to diagnose. Evidence collection can involve anything from taking pictures of a crime scene to picking fibers off a cadaver. All of the evidence must be carefully sorted, bagged, labeled, and taken to a lab for further analysis.
Identifying Suspects
Once all of the evidence for a crime is collected, investigators will analyze it and try to identify possible suspects for the act. This is not an easy process, so crime scene investigators will often call on a forensic psychologist to get inside the head of a possible criminal. A forensic psychologist can look over the evidence to get an idea of the type of person that would commit a certain kind of crime. Once the investigators know the type of person they are looking for, they can analyze people linked to the event to determine who they think may be guilty of the act.
After the investigators gather a list of suspects for a crime, they will interrogate them to get as much evidence as they can. They do this with victims as well to paint the best possible picture of the event. Sometimes a single suspect will have to go through multiple rounds of interrogation before criminal investigators are able to extract all the information they need. That is just a part of the criminal investigator job description you will have to deal with in the field.
Testifying in Court
Criminal investigators are often commissioned to testify in court about their opinion about a crime. The investigators may be there to explain some of the evidence for the trial, or they may be there to discuss what they believe to have occurred for a crime. Criminal investigators can work for the prosecution or defending side of a trial, depending on the proof they are trying to provide. In the end, they are all simply aiming to establish justice in a case.
Training Other Investigators
Sometimes your criminal investigator job description is going to be something as simple as training other investigators to work in the field. Once you have several years of experience in this career, you will probably be asked to teach others about your work and help them craft their skills. This may not be the most glamorous part of the job, but it is something you can look forward to in the future.
Conclusion
Criminal investigators tackle a wide range of tasks in their day to day lives. They are responsible for looking over a crime scene and picking out details that most people don’t see. To do well in this career, you need to have a keen eye for those small details, and you also need to have a general knowledge of how a criminal’s mind works. You will define your own criminal investigation job description over time, so get the education you need to start this career as soon as possible.
