Detectives and Criminal Investigators
On the Job
Detectives and Criminal Investigators gather facts and collect evidence of possible crimes.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Examine crime scenes to obtain evidence.
- Examine records or other types of data to investigate criminal activities.
- Interview people to gather information about criminal activities.
- Investigate accidents to determine causes.
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
- Observe individuals' activities to gather information or compile evidence.
- Use databases to locate investigation details or other information.
- Document legal or regulatory information.
- Record crime or accident scene evidence with video or still cameras.
- Write operational reports.
Typical Working Conditions
- Having telephone conversations.
- Dealing with external customers.
- Working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions.
- Making decisions that impact co-workers or company results.
- The importance of being accurate or exact.
- Being in situations in which conflicts arise.
- Responsibility for others' health and safety.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Working in very hot or cold temperatures.
- Sitting.
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.