Civilian vs Sworn
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Liberty University *
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360
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
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3
Uploaded by rewills98
You will watch a presentation about a sworn CSI (Lynchburg Crime Scene Investigator and
graduate of Liberty University) and the many aspects of the job. Drawing from the items in the
Learn section and outside scholarly articles (researched on the Internet or otherwise), you will
participate in the discussion by comparing and contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of
Civilian vs. Sworn CSI.
Understand that a Civilian CSI is not the same as a sworn police officer CSI.
Brief Biblical Application:
At the end of your main thread, be sure to briefly answer the
following Biblical application question: “What passage(s) in scripture might suggest that a
scientific approach to any topic (field of science) is merely looking closer at what God has
designed?”
The main differences when it comes to understanding what a Civilian CSI and a Sworn
CSI is economics and arrest powers. “Police Officers are generally paid at a higher level then the
civilian counter parts, they usually have better benefits and have an available career ladder.
Civilian CSI's have little career opportunities, less benefits and work in the same dangerous
environment as their sworn counterpart.”[ CITATION How \l 1033 ] Essentially, a civilian can
apply to become a CSI at any point in time, there are some law enforcement agencies who will
provide the education you need for the position. However, a police officer can apply to become a
sworn CSI position after a few years. “There are very few police agencies that have full time
civilian CSI's working for them, most are sworn officers that do multiple jobs. Those few police
agencies that do hire civilian CSI's usually require a college degree and some knowledge of
processing crime scenes, but not all agencies have that requirement.”[ CITATION How \l 1033 ]
Whether you are civilian CSI or a sworn CSI, both jobs are exposed to stressful situations within
their line of work. While being a police officer may be more stressful when having to deal with
all the calls they receive, both encounter physical and psychological stress as well as traumatic
experiences. “Results indicated Sworn Police Officers and Forensic Technicians have different
on-duty stress levels, but similar off-duty stress levels. Nearly two-thirds of 54 job-related
stressors were not significantly different between the two occupations.” [ CITATION McK20 \l
1033 ]
There are some who believe that all CSIs should only be sworn police officers, while
others should only be civilian CSIs with a more scientific background. The reason agencies are
hiring more civilian CSIs with a scientific background is because some offices who choose the
CSI route only choose it for the pay. While researching this topic, I found that one of the few
agencies that do hire civilian CSIs is the Greensboro Police Department, which happens to be
where I’m from. “The Greensboro PD handles things a bit differently. This agency has 18
civilian CSIs, and four civilian CSI supervisors. The field CSIs provide 24/7 service and go to
calls on their own, or when an officer takes a report and realizes he needs a CSI at the scene.”
[ CITATION Gar17 \l 1033 ] This quote shows that not all officers take the CSI route and
sometimes need extra hands-on deck when handling an investigation. Another difference that
comes from being a civilian CSI to a sworn CSI is how many hours they’re allowed to work.
According to the Raleigh-Wake County City-County Bureau of Identification, the director of the
bureau actually changed the number of hours that police officers and civilian CSIs can work so
that it is fair for everyone. “Pennica explains that a sworn officer can work 160 hours in a 28-day
cycle. They only receive overtime after they exceed 160 hours. Thus, a department can have
them work 80 hours one week, 80 hours the next week, and give them the next two weeks off to
avoid paying overtime. However, with civilians, they are tied to a 40-hour work week and when
they exceed that they receive overtime pay.” [ CITATION Gar17 \l 1033 ] The reason Pennica
did this was so the civilian CSI who is working a crime scene may have their hours flexed and
not receive over time while the sworn CSI could potentially be getting overtime for working the
same scene.
The scripture I believe that suggests a scientific approach would be Ecclesiastes 1:13-18.
“I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done
under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. I
observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the
wind. What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. I said to
myself, ‘Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater
wisdom and knowledge than any of them.’ So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to
madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. The
greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:13-18, NLT)
Bibliography
Garrett, R. (2017, September 5).
Police Mag
. Retrieved from Civilian CSIs:
https://www.policemag.com/training/article/15346454/civilian-csis
How to become a CSI
. (n.d.). Retrieved from ICSIA: https://icsia.org/how-to-become-a-csi/
McKay-Davis, S., Robinson, T., Sebetan, I. M., & Stein, P. (2020, November ). Civilian Forensic
Technician and Sworn Police Officer Job-Related Stress.
Journal of Forensic Sciences
.
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