Expert: Dick Rogers - 5/31/2007

Question
I'm 14 and i want to become an SVU detective, but I'm not sure if I need to go to a certain college to qualify. Do you have to go through college or just a certain amount of training

Answer
Vanessa, I have to level with you on the shows you see on television...SVU episodes are highly stylized and really don't have much basis in the real world.  The ways of becoming a detective of major crimes (homicide and otherwise) is by becoming a police officer and spending you time learning the ways of the streets and eventually graduating into a detective unit of some kind.  If you are interested in specific types of forensic crime fighting areas i.e. profiling, crime lab analysis, dna testing, etc. you would need to specialize in these fields in college and would then be assigned to a crime lab in some large department.  In today's world most police officers have college degrees and I would recommend that you attend college as your chances of being accepted are greatly enhanced by having the degree.  I guess the best way to give you a picture of a typical homicide scene investigation is to place the detective as the orchestra conductor and the various forensic experts as players in the orchestra.  The investigation officer usually directs the course of the investigation and the various needs of the case.  There may be blood that needs to be packaged and analyzed, dna work to be processed, bullets that need to be carefully packaged and sent to firearms experts, etc.  Hope this helps you.