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The differences between detectives and community services officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a detective has an average salary of $57,984, which is higher than the $38,039 average annual salary of a community services officer.
The top three skills for a detective include physical evidence, patrol and law enforcement agencies. The most important skills for a community services officer are patrol, public safety, and traffic control.
| Detective | Community Services Officer | |
| Yearly salary | $57,984 | $38,039 |
| Hourly rate | $27.88 | $18.29 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 56,521 | 181,257 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 44 | 40 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A detective is responsible for conducting in-depth investigations for criminal activities, potential threats, and other law-violating incidents, coordinating closely with law-enforcement agencies and crime intelligence analysts. Detectives often work on the field, gathering data and related evidence to support claims and connect the timeline of events. They keep an organized record of their findings for further validation before reporting it to the authority. A detective must have excellent investigative and critical-thinking skills, especially on solving puzzles and security solutions.
Community service offers or CSO support in crime response, investigation, and prevention where police powers are not necessary. The community service officers assist the police officers in terms of upholding order and law in the community. They provide citizens with customer service, community outreach, and patrol. It is their job to implement city codes and other non-criminal police associated duties. They provide non-EMS in-home and on-site assistance to the citizens. Also, they respond to non-criminal complaints, building checks, and more.
Detectives and community services officers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Detective | Community Services Officer | |
| Average salary | $57,984 | $38,039 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $95,000 | Between $27,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | City of Los Angeles |
| Best paying industry | - | Education |
There are a few differences between a detective and a community services officer in terms of educational background:
| Detective | Community Services Officer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Criminal Justice |
| Most common college | University of Arizona | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Here are the differences between detectives' and community services officers' demographics:
| Detective | Community Services Officer | |
| Average age | 44 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 82.7% Female, 17.3% | Male, 56.1% Female, 43.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 2.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 22.4% Asian, 2.9% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 7% |