If you are interested in becoming a police officer, a probation officer or any other position that involves enforcing the law, you might want to consider pursuing an online criminal justice degree.

In the past, those who were interested in working in law enforcement didn’t necessarily need to have a college degree. Rather, they simply needed to be accepted into a police academy and to complete the program successfully. Today, things are much different. While some police academies will accept someone with just one year of college education, most require candidates to hold a minimum of an associate degree. As such, by earning a criminal justice degree online, you can meet these minimum requirements while also getting a specialized for of education that will benefit you and your future career plans.

There are a wide variety of different positions that you can pursue within the law enforcement field. Some of these include:

· Uniformed police officer – responds to calls for service, maintains regular patrols, investigates crime scenes, gives first aid to accident victims and completes paperwork.
· Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs – works at the county level to enforce laws. Generally, sheriffs are elected by the communities they serve. In most cases, sheriff’s departments are relatively small, with most having less than 50 sworn officers.
· State troopers – also referred to as highway patrol officers, these officers patrol highways and focus upon enforce motor vehicle regulations and laws while also responding to the scene of motor accidents as needed.
· Detectives – plainclothes officers who examine records, conduct interviews, participate in raids and observe the activities of suspects.
· Fish and game wardens – responsible for enforcing boating, fishing and hunting laws by patrolling fishing and hunting areas, conducting searches and investigating complaints.
· Federal Bureau of Investigation agent – works as an investigator for the Government, which involves conducting surveillance, examining records and participating in undercover assignments. Other Government law enforcement agencies include the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Border Patrol.

If you are more interested in working with those who have already been convicted of crimes, on the other hand, working as a probation officer may be just the career for you to pursue with your online criminal justice degree.