Expert: Jack Toomey - 12/28/2006

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hello, I am a 12 year old girl and I know I'm only 12 but I would like to start planning ahead. I would like to become a special victims detective mostly. What could I do now to start preparing for the future? What subjects should I focus the most on? Should I go to my local department and ask about it there to? Any advice you could give me to becoming a detective? Thank You
-----Answer-----
Jenna,

   The most important thing that you could do now is to concentrate on school, prepare for high school by developing good study habits and note taking skills, keep out of trouble, avoid those who get in trouble, and generally be a good person.  You are still at least nine years away from being eligible for the poisition of police officer.  Visiting a police station is ok but I don't think that it is going to do you much good because in high school and college you are going to be exposed to other opportunities that might seem interesting.

    By the way.  Don't form your opinion of police work from television.  I get tons of questions from young people who think that there are really units like "CSI" and "SVU" as they appear on tv.  Kids are shocked to hear that in real life things are different and to be considered for the position of detective you must first be a uniformed officer and spend years and years on the street developing the skills necessary for those positions.

Hello,
   Thank you for answering my questions. I have another one for you. When you said that I shouldn't get my opinion from TV can I ask you some similarities and differences on Law and Order SVU and real life? I new that it wasn't all true but it seems so real. Can you help me with this?
         Thanks again!


Answer
Jenna,

   I've never watched Law and Order but I did see a portion of one show on CSI and I can tell you that nothing on that show is realistic.  In real life the people who collect evidence and then analyze it in a lab are civilians and they never come in contact with suspects, go out in the field by themselves, and don't arrest people.  Their main job is to collect evidence and then report to the detectives.
  
  Maybe you should visit your local police department and meet with an officer and find out if they even have such a unit in their department.