Detective or Private Investigator
Detectives are plainclothes investigators who gather facts and evidence for use in criminal cases. If assigned to an interagency task force, a detective will investigate and combat a specific type of crime, such as homicide or fraud. Detectives conduct interviews, examine police records, track suspects, and participate in raids and arrests. Cases are assigned on a rotating basis, and most detectives will work on a case until an arrest and a conviction are made or the case is dropped.Professionals with experience, training, and proven performance records often go on to do specialized investigative work. Government jobs are difficult to qualify for, but they are also some of the most prestigious positions to hold. Examples of government investigators include FBI agents, DEA agents, U.S. marshals and deputy marshals, immigration inspectors, customs agents, border patrol agents, federal air marshals, and secret service agents.
Similar to police officers, detectives and agents are scheduled to work 40 hours a week, but most pick up overtime when they are assigned to time-sensitive cases. Federal agents are usually required to travel extensively and relocate on short notice. The organizations that will employ you and the working conditions that you'll experience depend largely on the type of detective work that you'd like to go into.
Private investigation is another popular area in the detective industry. Most professionals in this field have experience in law enforcement, the military, private security, government intelligence, or in other related professions. Depending on the type of job that they are hired for, private detectives may conduct physical surveillance, computer database searches, interviews, and fact checking.
Private investigators often specialize in a certain area, such as computer crime, missing person cases, background checks, insurance fraud, executive or celebrity protection, or child custody cases. Detectives work irregular hours when performing surveillance, and some states now require private investigators to be trained and licensed in their field. After they've retired and started to collect their pensions, many law enforcement officials work private investigation jobs part time.
In 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that average earnings of detectives and criminal investigators in the U.S. reached $58,260 a year. The middle 50 percent of these professionals earned between $43,920 and $76,350 annually. That same year, federal government positions paid an average of $69,510 a year, and the median annual earnings of private investigators reached $33,750. [Figures including job projections, reported median incomes, and salary estimates were revised to reflect data from 2006 on 2/20/08.]