Expert: Dick Rogers - 1/16/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I found your profile to be the most interesting because you were a homicide detective and that really interests me. I will be going to college soon and I want to go into crime investigation or homicide. I love watching anything that has to do with homicide. It so interesting and so I was wondering how was it like for you? How many years does it take to become a homicide detective? Was it hard?

ANSWER: Charlena, the best advice I can give you is what I have been giving to many others who have an interest in working homicide cases.  The basic route to get into this work takes some time.  First off, you must become a cop...preferably on a large department.  You must get a good number of years as a patrol officer...for many reasons...i,e., to acquaint yourself with the criminal justice process, to learn evidence rules...rules of involving search and seizure...and most important, to develop a number of good informants.  After doing exemplary field work, you should seek a position in one of the detective units...i.e., sex crimes or some other major crime category (you will not be going into homicide to start).  Once you have established a great reputation as a hard working detective, you should indicate an interest in getting into homicide...if those who supervise you are good people, they will help you in this regard.  One thing I would suggest as I have seen so many men in particular, macho guys, fall flat when what I now suggest takes place.  You should find someone in homicide to take you to a few autopsies to see if you are going to be able to handle seeing a body examined for cause and effect.  Many guys who thought they wanted to work homicide decided not to do so after attending two or three autopsies.  So, that is the basic route.  If you do not want to become a cop, there is always the crime lab work which is also quite challenging but is usually indoors unless you respond to the scene of a crime as a crime scene investigator.  Remember this little analogy.  The homicide detective is basically the orchestra conductor and all the people working the case with him are parts of the orchestra.  It is always the homicide detective who presents the case to the district attorney for prosecution. I hope this gives you some insight...good luck

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QUESTION:  Thank you, that really help me out a lot. How do i go about autopsies? how can I do that?

Answer
Autopsies are generally restricted to those involved in the homicide, but there are many instances where other law enforcement personnel can observe...so, in order to get to see autopsies, you would already have to be a law enforcement officer.  I used that reference to show that even though a person has a solid background in police work, they may not be able to handle the graphic and sometimes gruesome aspect of determining how a person died.   I had no trouble taking other officers with me when I had to attend an autopsy.