Careers in Criminal Justice

Careers In Criminal Justice
Carman Moon
CRJ 201
Professor Barnard
March 28, 2012








    Having a degree in Criminal Justice can open many doors.   There are many fields of criminal justice in which a person could enter with a wide variety of degrees.   These degrees are any thing from an Art major to a bio science degree of some sort.   Three particular careers that I choose to discuss are AFT agent, Criminalist, and Dispatcher.   If I were to specialize in Criminal Justice these are the three areas I would be most interested in because they all have something to do with investigating or problem solving.
    I will begin with the AFT agent.   AFT stands for Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco.   A job as an ATF Agent involves investigating violations of laws governing the possession and sale of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. An ATF Agent works closely with local, state and other federal law enforcement agencies. The ATF Agent career is similar to that of a police officer in that ATF agents obtain warrants, serve warrants, conduct raids, collecting evidence, investigating crime scenes, and testifying in trials.   Applicants must be U.S. Citizens, at least 21 years of age, physical and written testing, background and drug screening and a 4-year college degree.  Once hired as a new ATF Agent there will be a significant amount of law enforcement training.  9 weeks in Glynco, GA where new agents are trained in surveillance, arrest techniques, firearms training and other skills.  New agents then spend 13 weeks at FLETC where they are trained on explosives, bomb scene investigation and other similar areas.
    I believe that the idea of connecting the gun to the person who committed the crime would be very rewarding.   I also would enjoy getting as many of these weapons off the streets.   Just knowing that many lives could be saved because you helped intercept a weapon cartel.
    Next, I will discuss a Criminologist.   A Criminalist applies...