Overview
1. Automation Risk
2. User Poll
3. Growth
4. Wages
5. Volume
Decription
Resources
Comments

Detectives and Criminal Investigators

AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
13%
risk level
POLLING
29%
Based on 330 votes
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
-0.7 %
by year 2032
WAGES
$86,280
or $41.48 per hour
Volume
107,400
as of 2022
SUMMARY
JOB SCORE
6.4/10

Want this summary on your site? Embed code:

Vote
Comments (19)

Automation risk

13% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): Occupations in this category have a low probability of being automated, as they typically demand complex problem-solving, creativity, strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of manual dexterity. These jobs often involve intricate hand movements and precise coordination, making it difficult for machines to replicate the required tasks.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Social Perceptiveness

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

  • Originality

  • Persuasion

  • Negotiation

User poll

29% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 13% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Detectives and Criminal Investigators will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?






Sentiment

The following graph(s) are included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Detectives and Criminal Investigators' job openings is expected to decline 0.7% by 2032

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031
Updated projections are due 09-2023.

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2022, the median annual wage for 'Detectives and Criminal Investigators' was $86,280, or $41 per hour

'Detectives and Criminal Investigators' were paid 86.3% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $46,310

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2022 there were 107,400 people employed as 'Detectives and Criminal Investigators' within the United States.

This represents around 0.07% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Detectives and Criminal Investigators'.

Job description

Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve crimes.

SOC Code: 33-3021.00

Resources

If you're thinking of starting a new career, or looking to change jobs, we've created a handy job search tool which might just help you land that perfect new role.

Search jobs in your local area

Comments

Leave a comment

Concerned says
MY Father Works as a FBI agent and much if the work is criminal investigation which can involve needing to talk to suspects and witnesses and also visit crime scenes. An AI could never replace a human investigator
Feb 27, 2024 at 06:50 PM
Izzy says
Highly unlikely. Detectives are required to process physical evidence and witness testimony and then use critical thinking skills and analytical skills to identify a suspect. Many times, with lack of evidence, a detective will have to be creative and use human insight into who could have been involved, and then use “outside the box” strategies to find the evidence needed to identify the suspect. Then there is the human insight, empathy, psychology, and emotional cues needed during a dynamic interrogation that is required to get someone to admit or confess to their actions. Detectives often have to use these interpersonal skills to persuade uncooperative witnesses to provide information. You need a human that understands humanity to deal with other humans.
May 07, 2023 at 07:46 AM
Val says
AI can't replace this job, but they can assist. You need to know that humans can be very unpredictable. Sometimes, they think or act out of the box or the system.

An AI is programmed and can't process something out of its system. This is when a detective or CSI comes in. Basically, a human can understand another human being the most.
Feb 08, 2022 at 02:06 PM
Chuck E Cheese (Low) says
AI can't replace homicide detectives, they may replace parts of the CSI, but not the actual detectives. They are unable to feel compassion. Imagine a grieving family, human detectives show compassion to make them feel better. Robots are unable. I do believe that they will assist the detectives, though.
Sep 03, 2021 at 04:34 PM
Theo (No chance) says
Investigators and detectives will not be taken over by AI. As long there is judges and lawyers to help solve what is going on. There will be no reason to stop them. Besides they already use some AI like wire tapping , hidden video cameras devices and sound devices. So AI can not replace this job. Tech ceo's use detectives and investigators. If there is no investigators people will have kids, divorce and never to pay the price. Rapest will cause std and aids. What a world we will be living in if this job will be taken over by AI.

Nov 01, 2020 at 10:45 PM
Hunter Danuk (Highly likely) says
I Believe AIs should replace Human Detectives; AIs have less flaws then humans, when the humans write the code, and there is a flaw, the AIs will patch said flaw, making itself for efficient and less likely to fail. If the failure rate was so little with AIs, they would be more likely to catch the right criminal.

AIs have more ability for thoughts, meaning they can run multiple outcomes at once to decide the best way to arrest the convict, in the least amount of time. Since AIs are supercomputers, they can expand their think far beyond the human mind, allowing for more correct convictions.

If AIs replaced detectives, we wouldn’t have to worry about paying the detectives, we already pay an IT guy so it would be easier and more affordable to call in an AI IT guy to do work, then to pay someone daily 9-5 even when they have no work to do.

AIs can render thoughts and ideas quicker than humans can think them, so if you need a crime report the AI has one completed before a human can even think of where to start, and AIs go more inadept then human, because they can store more knowledge, and retain it longer without losing fragments.

Sep 23, 2020 at 01:27 PM
... says
People can hack robots so what would happen then?
Feb 23, 2022 at 02:30 PM
Concerned says
There are cases of AI having racially motivation biases due to biased data sets
Feb 27, 2024 at 06:52 PM
kaito says
I believe that robots wont take over all jobs because robots can't do tactile perception. Another reason is that human reasoning. And the last one is control of manipulation.
Sep 09, 2020 at 11:37 PM
Walker says
No they may be good at analysing but what happens when faced in an impulse situation???

They do not have common sense and may not ever
Aug 03, 2020 at 03:35 AM
Jitespol (Highly likely) says
Artificial Intelligence is more analytical and intelligent than a human ever could be.
May 18, 2020 at 11:13 AM
RV (Low) says
There is very very little chance detectives can be replaced by AI. We don't know how exactly technology will advance but true detectives (in my personal opinion) are humans. But data detectives will still be created due to AI. I, as a 13 year old girl, want to be a data detective in the future and this is my dream job ever since I have read Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. So, no AI can stop me.
Apr 02, 2020 at 06:01 AM
Rachel Probert (Low) says
Detectives with human characteristics are always going to be needed in the workforce, as they will be working with victims of crimes, friends and family members who need human beings to walk them through certain procedures and be sensitive to their feelings, something robots cannot do.
Mar 16, 2020 at 02:04 AM
Elijah (No chance) says
Well AI will most likely assist detectives and replace some types of criminal investigators but not all of us, that can't be done because if you are a homicide detective, for example, as a homicide detective you will have to analyze the scene of the case you are working on, analyze it psychologically in order to see how you should investigate, figure out who you need to talk to, decide who are suspicious, interrogate the suspects which isn't as easy as it looks in the movies ( I've been studying criminal psychology for some time ).

The only occupations in this field that AI can replace in the future ( if the robots look human and can blend in ). The detectives who investigate cheating spouses and similar detectives are the ones who will most likely lose their jobs, homicide and organized crime detectives will never be replaced.
Feb 16, 2020 at 01:17 PM
Fred says
I do not think that cops should get replaced because what if the robots malfunction also hackers will be able to get into their programming systems.
Nov 20, 2019 at 03:07 PM
Ace (Low) says
I believe being a detective and criminal investigator won't be taken over by AI because I think humans are able to understand humans better and we share the same emotions, such as some people kill because of the feeling, AI wouldn't be able to feel this. But there is a chance that they will with such high tech these days it wouldn't surprise me if robots had sensors for lying, feelings, mental health, etc...
Oct 18, 2019 at 02:48 AM
Rita (Low) says
I think tecnology will help us, not replace us.
Jul 26, 2019 at 02:21 AM
God says
It can help us I agree but i know for a fact one day technology will go too far like starting with putting chip implants in our brain at first then trying more ways but before u know we will turn ourselfs into some robot shit
Dec 22, 2019 at 05:17 PM
God says
In Time technology will have gone too far, this will be the beginning of the end and all will be judged
Dec 22, 2019 at 05:21 PM

Leave a reply about this occupation

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

People also viewed

Lawyers
Computer Programmers
Actors
Preschool, Elementary, Middle, Secondary, and Special Education Teachers
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers