How To Become A Police Evidence Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a police evidence technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Jill Myers

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a police evidence technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.16 an hour? That's $44,013 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a police evidence technician?

Jill Myers

Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration

The more skill sets you have the better prepared you will be for future advancement and salary increases. Having a solid education, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a masters degree will sometimes result in increased wages. Having federal certifications and competencies will enhance your opportunities and create potential marketability for your career. It is always a great skill set to have people skills, communication in both written and oral formats. It will enhance your ability to explain yourself in court, in the warrants one prepares, and with dealing with the public in all circumstances from victims and witnesses and suspects, to legislators, the funding sources like mayors and city council and the public at large.

ScorePolice Evidence TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $44,013

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.4

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 2.84%

Black or African American 12.18%

Hispanic or Latino 16.90%

Unknown 5.00%

White 62.41%

Gender

female 65.33%

male 34.67%

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

9.4

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a police evidence technician

Explore police evidence technician education requirements

Most common police evidence technician degrees

Bachelor's

42.7 %

Associate

28.1 %

High School Diploma

14.6 %

Start to develop specific police evidence technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Computer Aided Dispatch	19.96%
Law Enforcement Agencies	11.68%
Criminal Justice	10.09%
Data Entry	8.53%
Police Reports	8.07%

Complete relevant police evidence technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New police evidence technicians 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 police evidence technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real police evidence technician resumes.

Research police evidence technician duties and responsibilities

Mediate a property dispute along with police officers as well as participated in ride-alongs.
Commend for exemplary leadership and organizational ability.

Prepare your police evidence technician resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable police evidence technician resume templates

Build a professional police evidence technician 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 police evidence technician resume.