h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm thinking about going to graduate school with a possible eye towards a career change.

The big thing that I've been looking at is going to law school. I think I'd be a good lawyer. The lawyers that I've spoken with about it seem to agree. I have a knack for the law and my experience in law enforcement as an investigator would be a big help. It would take three or four years to complete, and it would be a hell of a burden though. In the end, it probably has the highest earning potential, but I'll also have a ton of college debt.

One thing I've been looking at for a while is a Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology. It's the subject that interests me the most. This would be a masters in a field related to CJ, so it would check that block if I were to look at chief of police jobs or to teach college. There are a lot of people out there with masters in criminal justice, and this would be something a little different. I suspect that this would be the easiest one to go for.

One other option kind of plays into my desire to live abroad. I have a degree in criminal justice. I could get a Master of Arts in Teaching which would lead to social science teaching certificate. With that certificate, I could apply to teach in Department of Defense schools. A friend of my wife's is teaching in Germany now. Just teaching for a while could be nice. I like working in schools.

Think think think. Which would be best?

As someone who's spent their life so far in education I'd always say go with what you find most interesting. If it's useful careerwise too then wow, outstanding.

I know one or two lawyers over here in the UK and I must say, you're the first policeman I've come across (or at least heard of) that doesn't despise the entire profession. I'm impressed.

Good luck with whatever your choice and hey, nice to see you back around here.

There's some back and forth between the different elements of the criminal justice system. We work with lawyers a fair amount, and we don't despise them. We might think our prosecutors are sometimes too soft, and that many defense attorneys are often dishonest of clueless. Lawyers probably think we're overbearing and too aggressive.

We all have our own viewpoints. A cop's job is to keep the peace, and the law is one of the tools that we use to do that.

A prosecutor's job is to prosecute cases and do justice. So they might be unhappy when we have a crap case. Sometimes, the facts just aren't that great, but the officer has to do something so someone will be arrested that could never be prosecuted. A lot of domestics were like that when I was a road officer.

Anyway, I'm in law school now, so I'm locked in.

Twooooooooooooooo BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've MISSED you!

Well, law school won. I'm a third of the way through.