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

What is a master police detective 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 master police detective. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.99 an hour? That's $56,139 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMaster Police DetectiveUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,139

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.69%

Asian 2.98%

Black or African American 12.72%

Hispanic or Latino 16.16%

Unknown 5.12%

White 62.33%

Gender

female 32.21%

male 67.79%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.1

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.4

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a master police detective

Explore master police detective education requirements

Most common master police detective degrees

Bachelor's

50.5 %

Associate

31.2 %

Master's

6.5 %

Start to develop specific master police detective skills

Skills	Percentages
Incident Reports	27.19%
Behavior Detection	16.07%
BDO	7.69%
Emergency Situations	7.19%
Assess Individuals	6.19%

Complete relevant master police detective training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New master police detectives 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 master police detective based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real master police detective resumes.

Research master police detective duties and responsibilities

Enforce TSA policies, directives and regulations in TSA airports and/or FAMS operations.
Carry out morning briefings and delegate notebook and phone assignments to the perspective BDO teams.
Assist BDO management with time sensitive inquiries regarding information or investigations initiate against a regulate party or individual.
Maintain and repair department issue firearms.

Prepare your master police detective resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your master police detective 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 master police detective resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable master police detective resume templates

Build a professional master police detective 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 master police detective resume.