Criminal Intelligence Analyst: Job Description, Education & Employment

The field of criminal justice offers aspiring candidates numerous career opportunities. One of these is becoming a criminal intelligence analyst. The main role of these professionals is to investigate crime data and provide essential crime activity information to police forces and security agencies. If you are planning to become a criminal intelligence analyst, you should know about the job responsibilities, educational qualification and training and what career prospects await you in this field. Read on to know all these about this criminal justice career and be prepared to compete.

Job Description
The main responsibility of criminal intelligence analysts is to provide critical information sources to the investigation departments, security agencies and police forces to help them identify the patterns of criminal activities. These agencies utilize the information to identify how criminal activities were conducted and locate individuals and networks that may be involved in various criminal activities. Criminals use different techniques and trends and security agencies attempt to identify these trends so that they can target involved individuals and criminal networks.

Not only, security agencies make an attempt to identify trends, but they also develop plan and take appropriate initiatives to check future offending. The typical job responsibilities of criminal analysts include the following.

Collecting essential criminal data from local, national and international computer systems
Maintaining and updating the database of intelligence records
Analyzing criminal data through special software programs
Preparing a record of crime hotspots, known as problem profiling
Observing suspect individuals and tracking their behavior
Using intelligence data to assist managers in tactical assessment
Recommending necessary changes for effective analysis of crime patterns

Depending on your job position level, you may also need to perform some additional responsibilities apart from those mentioned above. If you are employed as a senior analyst, your job description will also include counseling managers and assisting them in strategic assessment.

Educational Qualification & Training
College education is essential to get trained as a criminal intelligence analyst. A bachelor's degree in criminal intelligence or criminal analysis will enhance your career possibilities. Students can also kick start their career in this field with an associate degree or certification in criminal justice. Today, there are several professional schools and colleges across the United States offering candidates training programs and courses in criminal intelligence analysis. Through these courses, students will be trained in essential techniques used to analyze patterns of criminal activity. Training programs teach students in how to convert raw crime data into valid intelligence information. For producing reports, computer proficiency is a must for this career.

For more career information and training, candidates can also check the official website of the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA).

Job Skills
Besides having a degree in criminal justice, criminal intelligence or a relevant field, candidates also need to posses some other essential skills to have a successful career. These include strong research skills, analytical skills, an eye for detail, excellent verbal and written communication skills, planning and organizational skills, strong team playing skills, capability to understand data security and the ability to meet the deadlines among others.

Employment Opportunities
Plenty of employment opportunities await candidates in this field. Criminal intelligence analysts can find employment opportunities with security agencies, investigation agencies, police forces and government departments. Good promotion opportunities are offered to professionals. With growing experience and advanced training, professionals can get upper level job positions.

Annual Salary
Salaries of criminal intelligence analysts vary depending on the type of employer, geographical location and years of experience. The annual salary of these professionals ranges between $30,000 and $70,000. With increasing experience and promotion to an upper level job position, professionals can earn a higher annual salary of $80,000 or more.