It has been exactly 24 years since I first started working as a crime analyst; since then, opportunities for law enforcement analysts have changed significantly. Many more educational programs teach people the fundamentals of being an analyst in law enforcement. Many more places are hiring analysts. There are many more analysts than ever before.
There is a problem in this scenario, though - everyone is doing it differently, and the profession suffers from that. A crime analyst becomes a chameleon, adapting to whatever organization he or she find themselves in. The professional associations try to guide the profession, but they cannot change the actual law enforcement agencies that hire analysts - agencies vary widely in their understanding of what a robust analytical capacity looks like in law enforcement. The chameleon analysts survive the best they can in such an environment.
Yet, as a lonely one person analyst in my county back then, it IS rather amazing to me there are currently eleven crime analysis centers in New York State. The video below explains some of the ways they help out now, very different to the way I worked as an analyst back then... Different from many states who address the role of the analyst. It is interesting.
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