How To Become A Detective Chief: What It Is and Career Path

What is a detective chief and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a detective chief. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.32 an hour? That's $48,505 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDetective ChiefUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,505

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.37%

Asian 1.77%

Black or African American 14.24%

Hispanic or Latino 11.91%

Unknown 3.92%

White 66.80%

Gender

female 11.27%

male 88.73%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a detective chief

Explore detective chief education requirements

Most common detective chief degrees

Bachelor's

57.1 %

Associate

26.5 %

Master's

12.2 %

Start to develop specific detective chief skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	26.61%
Law Enforcement	23.70%
Criminal Investigations	16.58%
Crime Scenes	13.88%
Criminal Cases	9.74%

Complete relevant detective chief training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New detective chiefs learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a detective chief based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real detective chief resumes.

Research detective chief duties and responsibilities

Manage and maintain equipment to include CCTV, MVS, operation security and alarm systems.
Apply proactive patrol, initiated/effect arrests, provide expert court testimonies, investigate crimes, and write detailed incident/investigative reports.
Represent squad and make presentations to NYPD executives at weekly COMPSTAT meetings.

Prepare your detective chief resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your detective chief resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a detective chief resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable detective chief resume templates

Build a professional detective chief resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your detective chief resume.