Expert: Jack Toomey - 3/7/2008

Question
Hello Jack Toomey,
First of all I would like to comment on your past job detail and I have to admire your desire and involvement in law enforcement. I am currently an 18 year old student in FIU, Miami. At first I decided to study marketing, however things have changed since I discovered my true passion. Maybe it is the silly TV series of homicide investigations and all the crime solving, but I have come to realize it is a true passion of mine since i was a kid. I now decided that business is not what i want to do and looked into and was interested in studying Criminal Justice and do 4 years. my question is, what does it take to be a good homicide detective? (i know probably i have to do my time as a patrol officer or some sort of officer) In miami, do you have any idea of the time i have to spend as a patrol officer?  As soon as  I leave the university with my bachelors, i am wondering if i really have to go through being a regular police officer or do I go straight into a detective in training after the academy? I am also currently trying to study the hiring process and requirements so I can be fully prepared and ready to justify crime. I really appreciate your time in answering these questions if possible. And any extra comments or tips will also be really appreciated. THANKS!  

Answer
Pedro,

   Probably the best thing that you could do is stop watching tv shows that feature the police because they are simply not realistic and give the general public a false idea of what police work is really like.  The only show that is realistic is "The First 48" which is on A&E and follows a homicide investigation from start to finish.  Nothing fake about that show.

   I don't mean to insinuate that you would never be hired but there are thousands of young men and women who assume that all they have to do is apply to a police department and in a month they are running around with the siren on.  Actually, on my department, less than 5% of those who apply are actually hired.  That is because of the strict hiring process and during the first few steps many people are weeded out as not fit for police work.

  No you cannot go straight from the classroom to the desk of a detective.  That would be like a medical student going straight from his desk to doing brain surgery the next day.  It is not going to happen and has never happened.  The street is your classroom.  That is where you learn everything that you will ever need to know in order to become a successful detective.  Street sense, how to talk to people, how to tell when someone is lying, how to tell when someone is being truthful, developing informants, building relationships, a hundred more skills that you don't have now.

  So get your degree, apply to a department, and see what happens.  And let me give you some advice.  DO NOT tell anyone in the hiring process or even your friends and family that your goal is to get into homicide because that sends the wrong message and is not something that you want your background investigator to find out.