CCollegeMatcher

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives

US occupation · SOC 33-1012

Job titles people report: Captain, Deputy Sheriff, Detective Sergeant, Lieutenant, Patrol Sergeant, Police Captain, Police Chief, Police Lieutenant, Police Sergeant, Shift Supervisor

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$106,040
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$81,860 – $132,620
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
154,610
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+3.3%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
10,600
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
High school diploma or equivalent
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of members of police force.

Main tasks

  • Supervise and coordinate the investigation of criminal cases, offering guidance and expertise to investigators, and ensuring that procedures are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations.
  • Prepare work schedules and assign duties to subordinates.
  • Direct collection, preparation, and handling of evidence and personal property of prisoners.
  • Investigate and resolve personnel problems within organization and charges of misconduct against staff.
  • Explain police operations to subordinates to assist them in performing their job duties.
  • Maintain logs, prepare reports, and direct the preparation, handling, and maintenance of departmental records.
  • Inform personnel of changes in regulations and policies, implications of new or amended laws, and new techniques of police work.
  • Train staff in proper police work procedures.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
High school diploma or equivalent
Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years
Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training
O*NET Job Zone 1–2
Little to some preparation
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Social: helping, teaching and caring for people

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 19 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Environmental Studies

  • Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Environmental Studies at the Major step.

Where many students take environmental studies

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Criminal Justice

  • Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
  • Corrections
  • Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration
  • Criminal Justice/Safety Studies
  • Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management
  • Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations
  • Protective Services Operations
  • Maritime Law Enforcement
9 more programmes
  • Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection
  • Homeland Security
  • Crisis/Emergency/Disaster Management
  • Critical Infrastructure Protection
  • Terrorism and Counterterrorism Operations
  • Security Science and Technology, General
  • Cybersecurity Defense Strategy/Policy
  • Geospatial Intelligence
  • Security Science and Technology, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Criminal Justice at the Major step.

Where many students take criminal justice

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Military Technologies and Applied Sciences

  • Signal/Geospatial Intelligence

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk