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

What is a police investigator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Gary LaFree,

Jodi Gill

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a police investigator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.98 an hour? That's $47,796 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 investigator?

Gary LaFree

Chair and Professor, University of Maryland

Think about obtaining as much education and training as you can. Be patient. The fundamentals of the economy are relatively strong. Outlet should be much better when we get through the current crisis.

ScorePolice InvestigatorUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,796

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 2.85%

Black or African American 12.52%

Hispanic or Latino 16.77%

Unknown 5.02%

White 62.18%

Gender

female 26.53%

male 73.47%

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 police investigator

Explore police investigator education requirements

Most common police investigator degrees

Bachelor's

62.2 %

Associate

20.2 %

Master's

10.9 %

Start to develop specific police investigator skills

Skills	Percentages
Conduct Interviews	24.27%
Patrol	16.60%
Law Enforcement Agencies	14.74%
Criminal Justice	7.17%
Crime Scene Processing	5.33%

Complete relevant police investigator training and internships

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

Research police investigator duties and responsibilities

Receive multiple letters of commendation for effective investigations that lead to successful prosecutions.
Analyze high risk transaction activity and provide final approval of investigative case analyses utilize for SAR preparation and filing.
Evaluate impressions for AFIS (automate fingerprint identification system) potential.

Prepare your police investigator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your police investigator 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 investigator 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 investigator resume templates

Build a professional police investigator 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 investigator resume.