College Student Looking into Law Enforcement

[whyhatchu]

Okay, so my main question is how important is a bachelors in criminal justice in regards to getting hired and promotions?

I'm currently 19 years old and currently finishing up my first year at Cal State Fullerton and will have 56 units at the end of this semester. I am currently a Biochemistry major with a 3.68. I can keep up my grades fine so I'm not looking at switching towards an easier major if it is even easier.

My plan is to enlist in the Navy after college and become a FMF Corpsman for 1 active duty term and finishing the remaining years in the reserve until I hit that 20 year mark. During my time in the reserves i would like to start a career in law enforcement. I was told by a local LEO that officers in the reserves get to keep their jobs if they get deployed and can come back with their job waiting for them after they're done. Is this the same for all agencies?

So what I'm really asking is whether I should continue finishing my courses to get a degree in Biochemistry or change my major to Criminal justice. Thanks!

[RedVines]

DO NOT switch majors. Definitely finish you degree in biochemistry. A criminal justice degree does very little to help with a career in law enforcement and can even hinder learning in the future. You will be taught everything you need to know about police work in the academy and, more importantly in FTO. No CJ degree can substitute real world experience. Learn something practical while you're in college, especially since you're doing so well. You plan seems like a good one. Stick to it and good luck.

[Eikbyrnir]

DO NOT switch majors. Definitely finish you degree in biochemistry. A criminal justice degree does very little to help with a career in law enforcement and can even hinder learning in the future. You will be taught everything you need to know about police work in the academy and, more importantly in FTO. No CJ degree can substitute real world experience. Learn something practical while you're in college, especially since you're doing so well. You plan seems like a good one. Stick to it and good luck.

Like Red said, stick with Biochem, as it is a great degree. LEA don't look at degrees really, unless you are going to be promoting past Sgt or Lt. They actually like business degrees and political science then, but it's not that important.

As for deployments every agency will honor your position and hold it for you. I never did reserves, only active so I never had to deal with it. I BELIEVE it's state law that your employer has to hold your position for you, but I could be wrong. Maybe if a Fellow LEO/reservist can chime in there.

[ak_in_ca]

a degree in CJ is basically worthless other than the fact that you have a 4 year degree for POST intermediate and Advanced certifications. Get a degree in something you have an interest in should the LE thing not work out for you

[NineteenElev3n]

Great advice from the previous three responses. Ditto! Finish your degree in what holds your interests. In the end, it does not matter what your degree is in for the most part. The important part is that you HAVE a bachelor's degree and if you choose to, a master's degree. With both of those and with peace officer experience, you can get your advanced POST certificate within four years of being hired and your intermediate POST certificate within two years of being hired.

Most importantly, keep a CLEAN record and background! Good luck to your endeavors!

[Ron-Solo]

Agree with the above 100%.

If you can, go OCS in the military.

[rolncode3]

...a master's degree....

Ack! Still fighting that part.

I have a CJ degree and agree with everyone else that it's not worth much. I switched from engineering to CJ after my first year, when I realized I probably couldn't keep the momentum for 3 more years. Otherwise I would never have switched. I've been at my agency about 10 years and they couldn't care less what my degree is in.

[whyhatchu]

Wow, I thought some officers would be for the degree but I guess it's unanimous haha. Thanks for the advice everybody.

[Armed24-7]

Lots of good advice above....I have no disagreeement.

One thing I would add is getting a degree in anything would benefit you in getting hired siimply because it shows maturity and responsibility. Stick with biochem. A degree in criminal justice is not much more benefit than a degree in basket weaving.

You will learn more in the academy than you would in your criminal justice major.

[retired]

I have seen only one poster recommend the CJ degree (tho there may have been others) and he was a federal leo. IIRC, he stated the degree would be beneficial at the federal level.

Since I worked for a county Sheriff's dept., I would agree with the others, but if you were thinking of obtaining a federal leo position, you might want to do some research on it.

[Tincon]

As others have said, the CJ degree is worthless. Biochem is great, but if you have to change choose bus admin or something similar. It will help you in your LE career, and if that does not work out (many reasons why this might happen) you can still use it to remain employed.

Also:

I was told by a local LEO that officers in the reserves get to keep their jobs if they get deployed and can come back with their job waiting for them after they're done. Is this the same for all agencies?

This is true for any job, under federal law (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)).

[tahoetarga]

I have a BS and an MS in CJ...while the major is not necessarily important, the completion of the degrees is where the value is. My BS helped in the getting hired phase (I started just after Prop 13 passed, so anything that gave an advantage was huge), while the MS was key in mid management promotions...

[The Bacon Eater]

The degree will help you get hired, but a BS in CJ is worthless. One benefit of any degree is the pay bonus, if your dept offers that.

[whyhatchu]

Thanks for the responses. So no on criminal justice but does what degree I hold matter? Say for health science? Business? Engineering? Psychology? Will having a certain degree make me a less desirable candidate than somebody with another degree?

[RedVines]

Short answer, and this is my opinion, no. A degree is a degree, not too many LE agencies care about what it's in. Like ask_in_ca said, get a degree in something you are interested in and can make a living with in case LE doesn't work out for you. Getting into LE is a difficult process and nothing is guaranteed. It's always good to have a plan B.

If i may go off on a slight tangent, a bachelor's degree isn't what it used to be, especially in the private sector. The "generalist" degrees like English, political science, economics etc that used to be valuable 50 years ago just aren't marketable in the job market these days without complimenting work experience. So i personally recommend a technical degree that you can make a living with. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would have studied some sort of engineering, even though i knew back then that i wanted to go into LE. Go talk to your career counselor and explore different career options outside of LE. Just remember to get the most bang for your buck out of your bachelor's degree.

Also, something that could help you in LE in the future is getting EMT training and taking some Spanish classes. These are specific skills that are marketable to LE agencies. Hope this helps.