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you might want to consider that having a degree in something different will set you apart from the crowd when it is time for promotions and special assignments.
But i still say follow your passion and you will be successful.
It is a useless degree. Go to realpolice.net and ask what they think about a CJ degree. And those are all cops.
A police force like the NYPD would love someone with some computer skills, accountanting maybe a language, science etc.. A CJ degree does just about nothing. You learn everything you need to know at the academy. What if you fail the background? The Physc? How about if you injure your foot one day in training and you cant be a cop anymore. What are you going to do? Get it in something else.
I have considered three careers in my life. An honestly all three are still on the table. Law Enforcement (federal) Pilot, Lawyer (in school now for the 3rd) Every cop or pilot I have ever talked to has said get in a degree in something else than CJ/Aviation. Two jobs where one thing goes one, one injury, one health problem and its over.
I've been to similar police boards and the cops there all give similar advice against the CJ degree, for the reasons you state...it's stuff people are going to learn at the academy anyway, and if things don't work out you have nothing to fall back on.
My cousin has a bachelor's in it and had to join the military to be able to have any type of law enforcement career.
To the op, have you ever considered a bachelors in psychology? Seems to be a popular degree for LE and if things don't work out there are other things you can do such as QMRP, become a certified substance abuse counselor, HR, and many business positions.
Just a bachelors in Psych wont allow you to become a psychologist (phd) or psychological associate(MS) but it will look as good and in some cases better to LE agencies than a CJ degree while also giving you other career options if needed.
Yea, I took a psychology 101 class and hated most of it.
People keep worrying about people like me with a major in cj saying there will be nothing to fall back on if I break a foot or whatever. Well, if that happens, then I can just continue what I am doing now, which is real estate. Plus I am sure you'd be able to find some sort of non physical, analytical job having a resume of a former cop. Failing my background-not likely. Second language have been mentioned in regards to NYPD-I am fluent in Russian. There is of course a chance still that for whatever reason I might not get hired specifically by NYPD, and I def need backup options so if that happens, I got a few other alternative police agencies I am looking at.
"My cousin has a bachelor's in it and had to join the military to be able to have any type of law enforcement career."
That's pretty weird, as you don't even need any degree for most police departments. If by ANY TYPE you mean the feds, then I'd believe it.
I think the issue here is that many people majoring in cj don't know what they are doing. If you live in small town, of course they are not gon be many cj related jobs there so you might have to join the military or what not. Like I said, I am living in NYC area so I got into this field based on the huge law enforcement opportunities here cuz there is so many different departments and agencies. Budget's getting cut everywhere, but they are stil serious about protecting major hubs so there's always gon be something cj related to do around here.
Well, I am going to a normal, accredited, state school and the things we cover in our classes, which are taught by ex cops by the way, have everything to do with cop work, such as use of evidence, excessive force, different classes of crimes, police discretion, etc. I don't understand really how one can say it's worthless.
Everything you need to know about being a cop, you'll learn in the academy and during field training. People are telling you that there is little value in a CJ degree because it's the truth.
I will be a cop, hopefully in NYPD. I am currently in school getting my Bachelor's in CJ. I hear many people around forums say that CJ is a worthless, dime a dozen degree, and cops don't need it and should major in something else, and the idea is you are not stuck with cop work only. Well, I am going to a normal, accredited, state school and the things we cover in our classes, which are taught by ex cops by the way, have everything to do with cop work, such as use of evidence, excessive force, different classes of crimes, police discretion, etc. I don't understand really how one can say it's worthless. People say get a degree in Business Admin (which is very broad, the most popular degree and really dime a dozen) or Accounting, but nobody will hire you as a bookkeeper outside of a police dept after say 10 yrs of being a street cop cuz you wouldn't have any experience! Plus getting a random degree and doing cop work is basically like getting a civil engineering degree and being a car sales man. Wouldn't you eventually be a better cop if you have the theory basics other cops don't? Maybe CJ is not as rigorous as chemistry or math or whatever, but it is what it is. With that logic people majoring in urban studies or sociology are wasting time too? Maybe they wanna be a social or a case worker so it's not worthless for them. I personally am not planning to do anything else, that's why I switched from Business Management, which was not my thing, and unless you are getting a CJ degree from "University of Phoenix" type school I don't see a reason why it should be looked down upon. What's really going on here?
First of all, good luck with your career. I think in some cases it's these rink-a-dink schools that not only are not widely recognized schools (and may not even be around in a few years) and they're all handing out loans and degrees and that is probably part of the controversy.
I have an Associate's degree in Criminal Justice, and for me, this was a double-edged sword; I got a degree in a field I was only mildly interested in, right out of high school (nobody sat me down and talked to me about college), I was too young to even intern with the police department, and then my first job out of school, at a courthouse seemed to thwart my career. After three years of realizing my life was going nowhere working in a lousy file room, I finally moved on (and went after what I really love, which I should've done in the first place, but hey what do you do). A friend of mine started out going for Criminal Justice and changed her major to business (as far as I know she's doing better than me, go figure lol).
My brother also got a degree in Criminal Justice and spent months looking for a job while also trying to get on with a police department. After months he finally this summer, got a job with a correctional facility and seems happy about it (though he doesn't want to stay permanently). Nobody I went to school with was lucky with their degree and with the exception of one who went on to law school, the rest of us are pretty much where we were in the beginning. But it did help me to get a job, no matter how meager of a job it was. If I'd had any interest in staying in the field, I might've kept putting myself out there too.
Its, like others said, a useless/worthless degree since you'll learn everything you'll need to know in the academy. And don't even think about pursuing a masters in the field unless you really like racking up debt.
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