What job position is it to solve cold cases or any cases?

Question

I want to be part of law enforcement when I grow up and I was very interested in being a detective who helps solve cold cases or present cases through DNA and logic/common sense. What job position would it be called?

I know a police detective would be someone who helps find missing people and other things but do they solve cold cases too?

If I wanted to be a police detective, how many years do I have to be a police officer in massachusetts to get to that position?

Please tell me all you know.

Answer 1

Detectives from the originating PD investigate cold cases. It took me four years to make Detective but I started out working property crimes. In my Dept that was where you started. Cold cases are those that have had no leads in a long time (my dept was a year, then two and doubling thereafter.) Murders are investigated in the Homicide Division; Drug cases go to Narcotics and so on.

Get your college degree in Criminal Justice or Forensic Science and join a department that you like. Often detectives are a different job than patrol and you only have to do a few years before you can apply for the open Detective position. I know 20 year Sergeants who want nothing to do with being a detective. My competition when I applied was a mix of 5-10 year veterans. I was the youngest with the least amount of experience but I had a solid degree, tested well and aced the interview. How you conduct yourself as a Patrol Officer is a major factor. I would not have made it with out my Patrol Sergeant's recommendation

Good luck.

Answer 2

You would want to join a SOCO(Scene Of Crime Officer) team (if you're in England) You would want to study Forensic Science to eventually get to be in a SOCO team. But let me tell you the job isn't anything like that, it's not as glamorous, you dint work murder's all the time most of the time you're fingerprinting thousand's of window's. Or you will be Dipping Bank Note's into a liquid to see if you can find finger prints. You could be dipping note's for a month straight.  

Answer 3

A detective is a rank within the police dept.

It is a promotion and how long it takes depends on  you, but it is several years.

Most depts. today hire civilians to do crime scene investigations, because it takes specialized training and police officers usually move around and don't stay in one position their entire career.

Answer 4

Not all agencies have formal cold case units. And there are differences in what's a "cold case." I know one city where murders not cleared within 48 hours go to cold case, because homicide will be then have more murders coming up.

And sometimes a case is brought back up just because a detective gets interested and asks to work on it some more. Some places, one or another state agency often works cold cases, because the local agency doesn't have to resources or because there are other factors that make it better for someone else to do it.

Working cold cases isn't all that different from new cases. Of course, you have the disadvantage of the scene usually being lost or corrupted. A fair number of those that are cleared as cold cases are broken simply by reading the original reports and statements again and catching the point that the first team missed. Often, it's just reinterviewing everyone you can find.

It's an okay goal to keep in the back of your mind. But you'll be doing other things before you can think about being a detective, and you may well find something you didn't even know about it more interesting. My experience, though, is that someone with the natural aptitude who's realistic about the path and who seeks out all the training they can get that applies to their goal, stands a fair chance of getting it.