Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Police investigator skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.,

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical police investigator skills. We ranked the top skills for police investigators based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 24.3% of police investigator resumes contained conduct interviews as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a police investigator needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 police investigator skills for your resume and career

1. Conduct Interviews

Conduct interview is the ability of an individual - the interviewer, to communicate formally or face to face with someone from whom the interviewer is gathering information. The interviewer controls the order of the questions and can ensure that all questions are answered. The purpose of conducting interview is to be able to assess the suitability of the candidate being interviewed for a specific position.

Here's how police investigators use conduct interviews:

Identify suspects, conduct interviews, interrogations, and make arrests.
Conduct interviews with complainants, respondents, and witness to obtain information relative to alleged violations by an individual or organization.

2. Patrol

Here's how police investigators use patrol:

Promoted consistently over 15 years from Uniformed Patrol Officer to CID & Administrative Investigator to Sergeant.
Patrol town, protect property and make arrest for violations of North Carolina General Statutes.

3. Law Enforcement Agencies

Here's how police investigators use law enforcement agencies:

Collaborate with other local law enforcement agencies for assignments and investigations where several subjects were convicted.
Interfaced with regulatory agencies, law enforcement agencies, committee members, and facility staff to formulate corrective actions.

4. Criminal Justice

Here's how police investigators use criminal justice:

Utilize National Crime Information Center, Nevada Criminal Justice Information System and local criminal data basis to obtain criminal history.
Analyzed reports and interviewed individuals when appropriate utilized efficient knowledge of legal, criminal justice, and medical terminology.

5. Crime Scene Processing

Here's how police investigators use crime scene processing:

Specialized in crime scene processing, interviews and interrogations and evidence management.
Managed 22 cases simultaneously and conducted all crime scene processing, search warrants, search affidavits and evidence documentation.

6. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how police investigators use subpoenas:

Drafted subpoenas, reviewed documents, interviewed witnesses for special investigation into allegations of corruption in 1996 election for Teamster president.
Prepare affidavits of information and apply for investigative or grand jury subpoenas and other legal orders necessary for a thorough investigation.

Choose from 10+ customizable police investigator resume templates

Build a professional police investigator resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your police investigator resume.

7. Criminal Investigations

Here's how police investigators use criminal investigations:

Advised top foreign police officials on methods of criminal investigation, police administration, internal organizational issues and effective problem resolutions.
Conducted criminal investigations and prepared cases for prosecution as in accordance with Arizona State law.

8. Criminal Cases

A criminal case is a court proceeding in which a person is charged with committing a crime against the state or the community. Such individuals are brought for trials, to decide they are guilty or not. There are two kinds of criminal cases misdemeanors and felonies. A misdemeanor is a crime on a lower level like traffic offenses or minor assaults. While felonies are offenses on a higher level.

Here's how police investigators use criminal cases:

Assist prosecutors in preparation for grand jury indictments, and the prosecution of felony and misdemeanor criminal cases.
Conduct investigations to prevent crime, protect property, and solve criminal cases from misdemeanors to felonies.

9. State Laws

Here's how police investigators use state laws:

Enforce local and state laws and university rules/regulations.
Prevent crime and acts of terrorism, protect life and property and ensure compliance with local regulations Federal and State laws.

10. Public Safety

Public safety can be defined as the well-being or protection of a community, citizen, or nation as a whole. There are 4 basic elements that come under public safety namely: national security, border policy, countering crime, and emergency management.

Here's how police investigators use public safety:

Planned Police Department response to numerous significant events, assuring adequate staffing to maintain public safety while remaining within budget.
Distinguished 30-plus year service career ensuring public safety and protection for Harris County residents while working with its culturally diverse population.

11. Surveillance Operations

Here's how police investigators use surveillance operations:

Organized and executed numerous undercover surveillance operations using electronic recording equipment.
Led Intelligence Unit managing personal and technical surveillance operations.

12. Incident Reports

An Incident Report, in a medical facility such as hospitals and nursing homes, is a type of paperwork filled out immediately after and in the case of an incident of some sort, with the goal of describing the incident and its consequences, as well as the measurements taken after or during the incident, as well as any other information relevant to said incident. Such an incident might be a patient acting out or a patient being injured.

Here's how police investigators use incident reports:

Reviewed incident reports, required forms, and related documents prepared by subordinates to ensure accuracy and timely completion.
Reviewed and approved criminal incident reports ensuring clarity and proper police response.

13. Police Reports

Police reports, also known as "incident reports," are recorded by members of the police department and detail a (potentially) illegal incident or confrontation. The following information is usually found on a police report: the date and time of the incident, which officers were involved, the address of the incident, what kind of incident (theft, assault, etc.), and how the officers were alerted to the incident.

Here's how police investigators use police reports:

Prepared daily police reports of all security incidents and submitted to senior leadership.
Reviewed police reports for clarity and accuracy.

14. Identity Theft

Here's how police investigators use identity theft:

Affected investigative related arrests to include: sexual battery, aggravated battery, robbery, forgery/uttering, identity theft.
Experience investigating mortgage fraud, securities fraud, identity theft and other complaints to determine whether statutes were violated.

15. Background Checks

Here's how police investigators use background checks:

Conducted background checks on potential Police Department employees.
Conduct in-depth investigations involving sources, social media, criminal background checks and financial and restitution evidence; professional license verification.

5 Police Investigator resume examples

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 5+ resume templates to create your police investigator resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Police Investigators find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on police investigator resumes?

Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg

Police officers need many skills to be successful on the job. The most important are written and oral communication skills and the ability to make ethical decisions with limited information quickly. Written communications skills are crucial. If a police report is poorly worded or incomplete, it can derail a criminal case. Police officers also need to talk to people of all ages from all walks of life in any circumstance. Often, police meet people on what may be the worst day of their lives when emotions are running high. Police need to be able to help calm a person while gathering information. Police need to be able to use their words and body language to empathize with someone who has been victimized, and they need to project authority, so people making poor decisions obey their commands.
This may be common sense, but research has demonstrated that communication and ethical decision-making skills are important for police officers. (See the research article published in 2017 in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, entitled "An assessment of the relative importance of criminal justice learning objectives," by Baker and colleagues.) Baker and colleagues asked students, professionals, and college professors to rate the skills of hypothetical job applicants. These participants rated the following as the most important characteristics for criminal justice applicants (including law enforcement officers):

Ethics
Oral communication
Critical thinking
Sensitivity to diversity
Written communication skills

What police investigator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic apparently has brought uncertainty to the job market, and job opportunities, especially in some of the social sciences, are reduced. There is an old Turkish saying, "bread is in the mouth of the lion" (ekmek aslanın ağzında) that sums it up nicely. It implies that it is a struggle to make a living. Life after college is not easy. There is too much competition in the job market. Suppose graduates need to take a gap year. In that case, they need to continue to learn after graduation—an extra set of skills that can put them ahead of other applicants—learning another language can put the graduates on the top of other candidates since there are plenty of applicants just like them. Becoming fluent in a second language can bring graduates several advantages.

They can also apply for internship programs of local and federal criminal justice agencies during a gap year. The graduates can observe a criminal justice agency's working environment and the culture of a specific community. They can decide if they want to serve in the organization and the community. They should also consider international organizations' internship programs, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) or Office of Counter-Terrorism internship programs. The UNODC has an office in New York. This internship program provides a framework for students (enrolled in, or have completed, the final academic year of a bachelor's level or equivalent degree programs) to develop their professional skills and gain practical work experience in an international environment. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, applicants may be requested to undertake the internship online.

What type of skills will young police investigators need?

Daryl Clemens

President & Chairman of the Board, International Crime Scene Investigators Association

Primary skills for Crime Scene Investigation are: Photography, Fingerprint Processing, and the ability to sketch and measure a scene - think a floorplan or landscape diagram, not an artistic sketch. DNA is important, but DNA collection is dead simple.

Do you want to know more?

List of police investigator skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a police investigator resume and required skills for a police investigator to have include:

Conduct Interviews
Patrol
Law Enforcement Agencies
Criminal Justice
Crime Scene Processing
Subpoenas
Criminal Investigations
Criminal Cases

State Laws
Public Safety
Surveillance Operations
Incident Reports
Police Reports
Identity Theft
Background Checks
Domestic Violence

Child Abuse
DEA
Court Testimony
Comprehensive Reports
Traffic Control
Physical Evidence
Law Violations

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse protective service jobs