Steps to Becoming a Criminal Profiler

There are a variety of educational, experiential, and career paths to becoming a criminal profiler. Some choose to enter a criminal justice program, perhaps focusing on criminal behavior. In contrast, others join the ranks of law enforcement to cut their teeth on real-world experience in investigations.

The FBI notes there’s no consensus on how people join this exciting field. That said, ideally, a candidate in criminal profiling has a mix of formal didactic and empirical field training.

Here is one possible path to becoming a criminal profiler:

Successful candidates in this profession typically excel in secondary (or postsecondary) psychology and government courses and may even volunteer through a local law enforcement agency.

For example, Houston offers the Volunteer Initiatives Program (VIP) to qualified high school students across segments of its police department. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provides a list of police departments nationwide with similar programs. Interested students are encouraged to check with their local police department for internships and other openings to get experience in forensics, investigations, and criminal detection work.

For those aspiring to work in the upper echelons of criminal profiling, such as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at the FBI, criminal investigative analysts must have at least a bachelor’s degree before enrolling in the FBI Academy.

Furthermore, local police academies typically prefer candidates with some college experience. A wide range of programs can qualify a person to become a criminal profiler. Students are urged to concentrate their coursework and training in law, criminal justice, crime scene analysis, forensics, psychology, sociology, and philosophy.

Successful criminal profilers generally have extensive experience in investigations. Therefore, it’s crucial to get some hands-on training in the field. Qualifications for these agencies vary but generally include being a US citizen; having some college (or military) experience; being at least 18 to 21 years old; having a driver’s license; and possessing no felony (or severe misdemeanor) convictions.

Prolific author, forensic behavioral consultant, and retired FBI profiler, Mary Ellen O’Toole reports that profilers in the Behavioral Analysis Unit generally have seven to fifteen years of investigative experience before joining the unit.

In its survey of experienced criminal profilers, the FBI found that respondents recommended several types of continued training for aspiring members of their field, including areas such as forensics, forensic pathology, human behavior, crime scene analysis, risk assessment, threat assessment, legal issues, interviewing skills, and crime typologies.

Ninety-five percent of working criminal profiler respondents from the FBI survey mentioned above reported that training needs to stay in step with continuing education, whether it involves taking courses (85 percent), reading new knowledge and materials (47.5 percent), or performing additional case consultations (32.5 percent). The survey also indicates that criminal investigative analysis training must be ongoing. Several programs can provide this training at various phases of an aspiring criminal profiler’s career.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) offers a competitive 13-week criminal profiling program for senior special agents with at least eight years of work experience. Aspiring criminal profilers in this program must also complete the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) certification training. Courses include in-person and on-the-job training in psychology, behavioral science, crime scene analysis, and forensic science and pathology.

This program aims to train behavioral profilers to support mainly arson and bombing investigations, involving hands-on training in investigative strategy, interviewing techniques, crime analysis, search warrant procedures, the delivery of expert testimony in court, and more. Upon completing the intensive program, the prospective profilers become certified in criminal behavioral analysis.

Another prestigious program is the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship (ICIAF) which accepts candidates from law enforcement agencies worldwide and comprises two sections: criminal investigative analysis and geographic profiling analysis. Please note that this is very competitive and accepts few candidates, who must have at least ten years of experience annually.

Finally, for those lucky enough to be admitted to the FBI’s elite BAU and the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, initial training is 500 hours or more, in addition to the expectation that profilers will join various professional organizations and attend conferences to keep their knowledge contemporary.

The competitive FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia—offered to local leaders in law enforcement on an invitation-only basis—involves 16 weeks of advanced training in law, forensic science, communications, behavioral science, and health.

In an older survey of top-notch criminal profilers, the FBI found that 87.5 percent held graduate degrees. Therefore, it may be advisable to pursue a master’s or PhD in an area such as forensic psychology, criminal justice, or a related discipline.

Interestingly, although 45 percent of the survey respondents indicated that a degree isn’t necessary to conduct criminal investigative analysis, most (57.5 percent) stated that having investigative experience was crucial to succeed in this field. Other vital skills noted by these professionals included possessing an analytical mind (30 percent of respondents), having experience dealing with violent crime (22.5 percent), and being open-minded (10 percent).

Above all, there are varied paths to becoming a criminal profiler. Still, the consensus is that having extensive investigative experience (i.e., working in law enforcement) is one of the typical cornerstones of becoming a successful criminal investigative analyst.