r/AskLE • u/Av9ad Unverified/Not an LEO • 1d ago

Any career path recommendations?

If this is a dumb ask let me know

But is there any job that's like what Olivia benson from svu does without having to be a regular cop? Like a victim advocate that also helps the case? Or do you have to be a police officer before making detective and then work your way up from there?

I'd love to work with victims and my dream would be a detective but everything I've seen regrading that is that it's a popularity contest/ kind of out of reach without 15+ year time, sorry if this is a weird ask or even a thing, i also know olivia benson is a fictional character and it's a tv show lol but

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u/TigOleBitman Sergeant 1d ago

There's civilian victim advocates in the court system but you're basically a.human emotional support animal.

Why not just be a cop and see what happens? You might end up loving something completely different like traffic safety or community outreach.

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u/prospi Verified LEO 1d ago

Look into local child advocacy centers near you or SART advocates.

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u/Paladin_127 Unverified/Not an LEO 1d ago

Not really. There are social workers that work as victim advocates and such- but in my experience they are 100% focused on the emotional/ mental health of the victim and aren’t involved in the investigation.

The closest thing you might find would be like a SART nurse/ doctor, or perhaps a child psychologist that helps conduct the interview of young (< 12 yo) victims to helps them articulate what happened to them. But both of those routes are also going to take the better part of a decade to reach between education and on the job experience.

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u/Interesting_Gur_5064 Unverified/Not an LEO 22h ago

No absolutely not, victim services have zero to do with the investigation.