Expert: Bruce - 12/28/2006

Question
I will gradaute with my BA in Criminal Justice next year. I am showing a great interest in going into ballistics and firearms however its hard finding another school for it. Can you give me any suggestions in finding the right school that has the curriculum for it? I live in the NY area.

Answer
Hi Crystal,

This is highly specialized training, such that I doubt you will find it in a collegiate setting. What I think you may want to do is to search the Web sites for the various agencies in which you may want to work; local & state police, FBI, INS, Homeland Security, Coast Guard, etc - and see which of them might offer this training to their staff.

I suspect that each of these may want to train its people itself, or that they may share some training programs.

Another possibility - check the NRA Web site to see if they offer any of the kind of training (firearms more so than ballistics in the case of the NRA) you'd like tp pursue. Maybe there's sokme kind of certificate (e.g. gun safety) that you could get that would enhance your application to an agency.

My last suggestion is that you call or e-mail a ballistics/arms person at a law enforcement agency and ask her/him what kind of training is recommended. Most people are glad to talk about what they do.

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes,

Bruce