There are a lot of reasons people major in Criminal Justice. I think most people who major in Criminal Justice however are actually interested in working in some type of law enforcement or corrections role. While these jobs are frequently portrayed on television in sitcoms, movies and reality shows the professions in criminal justice are seldom truly understood by people until they've been there and done it themselves.

I have a little brother who has worked in the Florida prison system for years who is now trying to get on with a police department in Texas. My father was a police officer (besides being a preacher) then later a probations and parole officer so I guess you can say I have lived in a "cop family" most of my life. Yet when I entered the profession I was still shocked at how different the profession was from my expectations of what the job would be. Now I'll be the first to admit that my law enforcement experience is atypical of your average patrol officer, that being said however I have more in common with the average patrol officer than not.

So if you are majoring in criminal justice maybe I can shed a little light on what to expect should you ever enter the profession. These are my observations and probably not universally shared by all, but then again, this is my blog isn't it? Now that we've gotten that settled let's get to the list.

Cajun's list of surprises:

1. Contrary to popular belief, police work is not terribly exciting overall. There may be moments of excitement at times but after a while things get routine.
2. At some point it becomes a "job" you do but make no mistake it is not a "job." For example at a "job" if you get fired for misconduct you are not going to see your picture on the 8 o'clock news while some talking head with too much hairspray drags your personal and professional reputation through the mud in front of everyone for 30 seconds before the weather comes on but if you're a cop…
   
   Next, if you screw up on a "job" you are not likely to face civil and possible criminal charges nor are you likely to be investigated by some of the very people you have called friends and comrades for years, but if you are a cop… Lastly if you work a "job" you are not likely to be fired for receiving a speeding ticket or other conduct outside of work. You are expected to be "professional" even when not actually on duty. So if you enter law enforcement, be prepared for a lifestyle change.
3. Eventually you may come to the realization that the police, courts, corrections department, etc. really are as likely to make a situation worse off than they are to actually make a difference for the better. For example, responding to a domestic disturbance call can be a 50/50 toss-up as to whether the service call will make a positive difference or not.
   
   For example let's take the scenario of a domestic violence call. You, the officer show up to a house with an un-employed mother who is drunk and probably on some kind of drugs, who has a couple of kids running around in what you would swear are 2 day old diapers. She says her husband/boyfriend/whatever hit her. He's drunk and swears up and down he didn't but the situation is out of control and you work in a state that requires an arrest in the case of a domestic violence complaint, even if it does not result in charges being filed/upheld/whatever. So off he goes to the can, you can't take her because of the kids and he never complained of her hitting him, so it's a little one sided.
   
   As you leave the kids are crying and the woman is yelling at the guy for getting arrested. You know he doesn't have money for bail, etc. but nonetheless the decision has been made for you. A week later you show up to the same house only to find the same exact situation only this time the only gainfully employed person, the husband/boyfriend/whatever has lost his job because he spent the last several days in jail and cannot work. Now she's upset because there's no money, no lights, no food and no paycheck on the way and the man's upset because he blames her for all of this.
   
   You are there again, playing at being the world's worst marriage counselor, trying to figure out who goes to jail again and just dreading life in general at the moment. Eventually you come to the realization that the cops do not always make things better. After a while you realize the cops only sometimes make things better. After a few years you wonder if the cops make anything better. It's the evolution of a police officer's attitude.
4. Nothing will work like you see on CSI. You will discover that forensic work is very slow, methodical, detailed and exacting. There is no little bottle of magic chemicals that when you shake it up it will turn blue indicating a murder suspect or something. You will also not see CSI people interrogating anyone, they simply document and collect evidence and often do not even process it themselves.
   
   Nobody wears $400 leather jackets and looks like a Calvin Klein model, nobody drives a Hummer and you're office looks more like a Dilbert Comic strip from hell than it does a sexy, dimly lit office that looks more like a night club than it does an office. In all likelihood you may not even have the luxury of a cubicle or even your own desk.
5. Guns are not fashion accessories designed to make you look cool. They are instead two pounds of undesirable weight attached to your hip that make you wear highly unfashionably thick belts exceptionally tight around your waist causing you a backache after a nice long twelve hour shift. Guns also require lots of training, even more discipline and even though you have to carry the stupid thing everywhere, all the time, of all the tools you will be issued this is the one you are least likely to ever use.
6. All cops do not get along. Oh sure there is a "brotherhood" or "family" but just like in a real family, the cop family has its fair share of first class buttheads. Chances are if you meet a jerk on the street he's a jerk in the locker room too. So expect some personality conflicts and try not to get your feelings hurt too easily because…
7. Cops need thick skin. If you show weakness criminals will exploit it and your fellow officers are likely to have fun with it. It's a sad and unfortunate truth that cops "shoot their wounded" when it comes to certain kinds of stress related or emotional disorders. A lot of cops deal with stress with cynical and even hurtful humor directed at one another at times in the worst of possible situations.
   
   Case in point, there was a police officer who was involved in a shooting where he shot a teenage gangster who would have shot him. The teen died and the officer was left to deal with the trauma of the shooting alone. One of his superiors gave him a box of bullets with one missing out of the fifty and said "one down, forty nine to go." This of course was meant as a congratulatory type of humor, but how do you think that officer felt so soon after the shooting?
8. Being in law enforcement will change your personality either for the better or for the worse. If you have a strong set of values, good moral character, live according to your faith and can deal with adversity you will likely become a better person for being in law enforcement. The job can be like fire separating the impurities from gold, but it can also consume you if you do not maintain your perspective and stick to your core beliefs. Never compromise yourself, not once, not for anyone or any reason. Never take a bribe, never allow negativity to rub off on you, never exact "street justice" because of your frustrations with the system, etc.
9. Being in law enforcement will challenge your beliefs. Make no mistake about it, you may not believe in God, but if you work in law enforcement long enough you will believe in the devil. Criminal Justice is man's feeble attempt at dealing with the physical manifestations of spiritual warfare.
10. Don't expect closure. You'll rarely get it. Don't expect to respond to a crime, arrest the guy, go to court and testify against him (sometimes her) and then see justice served. Sure you'll see it sometimes but don't come to expect it or you will be driven mad. Just do the best you can, all the time and never compromise your ethics and values, not once, not ever.

I hope this helps. Also any criminal justice degree worth its salt will have a lot of ethics training involved. Of all the courses you may take in my opinion these are the most critical. So pay attention as you will be called on to make hard choices that will permanently change the people's lives that you deal with daily.

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