Expert: Dick Rogers - 7/11/2007

Question
QUESTION: I am going to be a senior in high school and, after alot of pressure, finally decided i want investigate homicides. And i know Special Victims Unit is on TV so it might not be real, but is there a department in any law enforcement where you investigate rapes and murder of Elderly, women, and children or is it all one big unit. Also i was wondering what law enforcement jobs look for when promoting uniformed officers to homicide detectives.

ANSWER: Chelsey, you are right about the tv shows...very little which applies to the real world.  Basically, homicides are handled by a specific unit where detectives have a long and varied experience at handling such cases.  If there is a case involving rapes and murders of specific categories of people...i.e., elderly, children, etc., there may be a multi-unit task force assembled but generally the cases are handled to conclusion by the specific team assigned to it.  As far as who gets promoted to homicide, it is a case of experience and a good job history that wins the day.  Usually, people are not considered for the job unless they have many years of experience.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Okay i have another question, in addition to years or expierences what class or courses in high school and college could help?

Answer
I guess you could say that I am of the basic "street sense" school of thought...by this I mean that the best education for a cop is to know people and their many ways of acting out.  When I am asked which police department is very effective, I usually say Boston P.D. mainly because they are raised in the community, they know the street scene well...basically blue collar workers and not the usual run of "golden boys' looking for nothing more than promotion to get out of the street work.  So....saying that, I would suggest getting a college degree in either Criminal Justice which will give you a good basic understanding of the system and how it works..or if you seek management level promotions, Administration of Justice courses.  But remember, common sense makes for good cops.