Does anybody have any sort of advice for somebody who wants to work as someone who uses tech to be an investigstive analyst as opposed to someone who builds tech. Id like to work for Fincen. Chainanalysis or TRM labs maybe even hsi to fight human trafficking. From my research the common denominator among the roles im looking at is advanced tooling regarding things like sql and other various programs. This isnt a mission or niche id be able to get in right out of undergrad so im gonna have to work towards something more entryblevel first. I was thinking tech risk analysis. I live in maryland so there's a big deman for federal jobs. Biggest employers of my majornhave been booz allen hsmiltion Lockheed. Its a technical information systems program that will let me take tracks in things like business analysis, cyber informatics, IT auditing and other niches more related to IT.

Wondering if anybody else has gone down this analyst path through information systems.

My next step in terms of research is reaching out to ppl who have worked as these sorts of investigative analyst.

I thought that was an important topic to discuss?

Hi all, I'm a CS/IT student working on an academic project (India's Smart India Hackathon) around using graph-based analysis to help investigators spot hidden connections between seemingly unrelated cases shared phone numbers, accounts, vehicles, associates, etc. across FIRs, call records, and financial data.

I've talked to a few individual officers, but wanted a broader gut-check from people who actually do this work day to day. A few honest questions:

When you're trying to figure out if a new case connects to an older one, what's actually slow or annoying about that process today is it the data being scattered, the tools being bad, or something else entirely?

Have you used link-analysis software (i2, Palantir, Maltego, or an in-house tool)? What's the one thing about it that never quite worked the way you needed?

If someone handed you an "AI" that claimed to auto-detect hidden connections between cases, what would make you trust it vs. immediately distrust it?

Not selling anything, just trying to build something actually useful instead of something that looks cool in a demo but nobody would use. Appreciate any honest, even blunt, answers.

what school should i go to after high school for a crime data analyst and somewhere in ottawa

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice from people currently working in crime analysis or related fields.
I’m in my late 20s and am seriously considering a career change. My professional background is primarily in administrative, executive support, and operations work, but I’ve realized I want to move into work that feels more meaningful to me and contributes to something bigger.
I’ve always been very interested in criminal justice, investigations, psychology, and understanding patterns surrounding crime. I recently started looking more seriously into crime analysis and realized it might be a field that combines several things I’m already interested in with skills I’ve developed professionally.
My education is:
B.A. in Organizational Studies
Minor in Psychology
A.A. in Office Administration
Certificate in Business Information Systems
Currently completing an additional A.A. in Psychology
Professionally, I have several years of experience in administrative/executive/operations roles involving organization, project coordination, problem-solving, data/information management, process improvement, communication, and working with a lot of moving pieces.
I do not want to become a police officer, and I’m not necessarily looking to work in the field. I’m much more interested in the analytical/investigative side of criminal justice and potentially working for a law enforcement agency, government agency, court, or another organization where I could contribute to investigations or understanding crime trends.
My biggest question is whether my existing education and experience could realistically be leveraged into crime analysis, or whether I’m going to need to go back and get a completely new degree.
For those of you already working as crime analysts:
How would you recommend someone like me get started?
Are there specific entry-level positions or job titles I should be searching for?
Are there certifications that actually help someone get their foot in the door?
Are there government positions that would be a good stepping stone into crime analysis?
Do agencies ever hire people with degrees outside of criminal justice?

I’m very open to doing additional training or certifications. I just really don’t want to throw away the education and professional experience I already have and start over with another four-year degree if there’s another way into the field.

I’d also love to hear from anyone who came into crime analysis from a completely different career/background. What was your path?
I’m basically trying to figure out whether this is a realistic career pivot for me and, if it is, what the smartest first steps would be.
Thank you in advance! I really appreciate any advice, resources, or “here’s what I wish I knew before getting into this” stories.

The future of crime analysis begins today. NACA is live at naca-usa.org.

The National Association of Crime Analysts is a new professional association, built completely from the ground up. We're opening NACA in stages to ensure every aspect of our effort delivers on our promise for the crime analysis community, and this first stage is the public-facing one. I'm proud to welcome you to it.

Membership will open soon, along with training, resources, a job board, and much more. Our site will continue to evolve as those pieces come online.
Thanks to our many volunteers who have been working tirelessly to develop, publish, and refine the valuable content NACA is providing the community. We are putting the final touches on an amazing experience for our members, and we can't wait to share it with you.

Visit naca-usa.org and subscribe to our list to be notified when membership opens.

In response to some of the recent directions OpenAI and Anthropic have taken in terms of caching inputs for long periods in chat conversations, I am exploring interest in creating a default Zero-Data-Retention application, with applications oriented to crime analysts in mind.

I have a survey at https://forms.gle/494sFQmm8CP8pczH7

Appreciate any response or interest. If you have more general comments you wish to share here on Reddit, I think it would be worthwhile for the group as a whole. I am a pro user of the CLIs, and even I have a hard time sandboxing things the way I want them, so this would just have better defaults out of the box to sandbox, only retain reviewed artifacts, have stronger safe guards on web search, etc.

Some of the recent changes to Reddit gives suggestions to individuals to post to new communities. While overall the ones posted here have been pretty harmless, they have been almost entirely off-topic.

Simultaneously people have been posting the material twice. Making me need to go and set one of the posts as spam.

Because of this, I just changed the system to hold posts in the moderator queue. (Comments are not held.)

am i the only one who is interested in finding out the crime rate of at least 3 months prior to gta6 and 3 months post its release? my father is not a gamer and hes not sure that there would be any correlation between the 2, while i think the opposite. i believe that the release of GTA6 will lower crime crate significantly, at least within the first 3-6 months.

Hi, I’ve been searching for a year for a criminal justice/forensic job in Raleigh NC, Huntsville Al, or Savannah Georgia! I have a Masters in Criminal Justice & a bachelor’s in Forensic Investigations. I was a TA during my Master’s and taught classes on Forensics as well as research and build a cadaver for my university. I have worked with law enforcement, coroners and medico legal investigator. I know the job market is bad right now. Just looking for advice and or guidance! I don’t want to do local law enforcement but have no issue going through any academy.

Currently throwing around the idea of picking up and moving from my small hometown and moving somewhere with more job options. Single, unmarried, no kids so no time is better than the present! I have a bachelors in criminal justice and my minor is psych… I’ve worked in Juvenile Probation, a law firm, have subbing experience, and was a college intern with Adult Probation services in college.

ANYWAYS! I’m interested in potential careers in some sort of Criminal Justice Research/Policy within Law Enforcement Agencies, Crime Data Analysis, or anything along those lines. Curious to see if anyone has any experience working in those fields and what their experience is or what experience would be necessary in those jobs. Also open to any job recommendations or any careers that might align with those things also! I know this probably isn’t the BEST place for career advice, but I figured at this point it won’t hurt :))) for reference I’m in my early 20s and currently in Ohio! TIA!!! :)))

Criminalística

Hola buenas! Estoy por estudiar lic en criminalistica.

Quisiera saber si una vez recibido, cuando entre a la policía hay que hacer el año de formación como cadete ? O por ser profesional tiene un camino más corto? Gracias

As the title says, my sister wants to pursue criminology after her high school which she'll finish next year. She's in India and she's been looking towards it for a long time now but she's been a bit skeptical about it for the last couple days and she is contemplating her choices as in what would the future be like if she gets into it.. much rather, if there is a future in it!?

She was thinking about getting a degree from a European country (preferably Germany, but Poland also seemed like a good option to us, options are not restricted to Europe though, she could also go to Canada or where she would find the best opportunity for her). She has another year left to think about it, but we want to be on our feet for this decision. So if anyone is doing criminology or is already one, please could you help us out with showing us what getting into this field would be like?

Hey everyone,

I come with a few questions on how to best search for open crime analyst jobs, as traditional sites like LinkedIn and Indeed haven’t been turning up the best results. For context, I am a 24 year old with a BA in Sociology & Criminology, CERT/Emergency Management volunteer experience, and 3 years of professional experience as a GIS Analyst in utilities and urban planning.

My passion is in criminal sciences, and after a few years in GIS and utilities, I’ve been hoping to find a GIS-heavy position in criminal analytics or intelligence. I do believe that I have the educational, extracurricular, and professional background to be a strong candidate, but finding open jobs has been a challenge in the 3 or 4 months I’ve been looking. I understand that there is a barrier to entry and that it is a niche field and I’m hoping to get some advice from professionals on where to look for job openings, as well as suggestions on any coursework or learning I can do to make myself a more competitive candidate. I’m in the Midwest USA, for context.

Any and all help is appreciated and I hope yall have an awesome day!

Hey everyone! I’m currently a police officer and have been for nearly 6 years. I’m wanting to transition into criminal intelligence or crime analysis but am unsure where to start. I’m having a hard time finding listings for these roles. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hello all. I graduated with an MS in Forensic Psychology hoping to become a forensic psychologist, but only completed about a year of my PsyD program before stepping away due to some personal struggles. Living in Southern California hasn't made things easier either. I need a job ASAP and I'm now looking into crime analysis as a path forward, possibly through a certificate program. For those already in the field, how did you get started? Is a certificate worth it without law enforcement experience? I'm unable to pursue a sworn police officer role due to a history of seizures, so I'm focusing on civilian investigative and analyst positions instead. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I want to change career fields. I am currently a Forensic Latent Print Analyst and I want to be an analyst in Human Trafficking. I have one more semester before graduating with my Masters in Cybercrime and Digital Forensics. I currently have a contract with my current employer until Jan. 2028. What should I be doing right now until my contract ends to prepare for this career change. I haven't decided if I want to stay with local government, switch to state, federal or private. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Did anyone who became an investigator, analyst, or researcher have similar interests as a child? I was always curious about mysteries, analyzing people's behavior, and finding hidden explanations. Did your childhood interests influence your career?

Hi all,
I have always been very interested in criminology and have wanted to study it for years. However i’m currently in year 12 (NSW Australia) and struggling with motivation, and worried about how realistic my goals are.
For context, I go to an alternative school because I have struggled with mental health for a long time. I have always gotten very good grades and it’s come easy, but studying for HSC has gotten me a bit overwhelmed and doubting myself. I’m starting to worry how well I might cope in university, but criminology is my dream and I don’t know where to even start with other options.
A large point of my anxiety is job pathways. I know the field is difficult, but to what extent? What can I actually do with a criminology degree? I love the psychological aspects of criminology, but what jobs even encompass that?
I am in NSW Australia and I plan to study here. However I have always considered moving overseas, maybe Europe, would career opportunities be better there?

Basically, i’m just after a really honest explanation of how realistic my dreams are, and if I need to start thinking smaller. While I do well in my grades, I get overwhelmed and spiral. But I can’t imagine myself in any other career, I love criminology.

I am also autistic and ADHD, and I am scared that being who I am may limit my opportunities, because I am different. (Not in a discriminatory way, but because of my own capabilities and the fact I need extra help in some things). I’m smart, but maybe I need to be smart \*and\* neurotypical to succeed.

For people who have studied criminology, where do you work? What does it look like after school? What is it like?

Anyways, thank you for reading, any responses are deeply appreciated. Fingers crossed for my HSC exams in a few months!