5 Reasons I was inspired to study Crime & Investigative Studies

As I am part way through my placement year in Crime & Investigative Studies I begin to look back on my journey from having an interest to pursuing a career in the field. What inspired me to go down this route? Here’s my top 5 reasons:

1 My sibling in the police force

To begin with, perhaps the biggest motivation to study a course related to policing was a family sibling who had been in the police force for a very long time. I remember listening to the exciting stories and I immediately fell in love with policing. I was about 7 years old when I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in policing.

2 Inspired by the media

As I grew older, I found old crime documentaries and case studies to be very motivating. I used to spend hours watching and reading about case studies. Many of my friends found that weird, but it genuinely kept me very motivated. Unfortunately, though, as I began focusing on real case studies and police documentaries, I no longer enjoyed mainstream series such as CSI: Miami, as I found them too unrealistic.

3 An interest in international differences

Something else that I found inspiring me was YouTube. To this day, I enjoy watching videos posted by law enforcement officers all over the world. This is interesting because it allows to me explore the different police cultures, for instance the USA, Canada, UK, etc. It’s fascinating to see the similarities/differences between the police forces and how they are operating. As an international student, studying in the UK has been an amazing experience.

4 It’s not just about policing…

Growing up, it wasn’t just the policing side of things that inspired me. I really enjoyed reading about psychology and was very interested in human nature. Little did I know, this is a big part of policing and specifically investigative work. So, studying the human mind only motivated me to pursue my dreams even further – and a course like Crime & Investigative Studies brings both these elements together.

5 Finding my tribe

Finally, when it came to choosing my degree I knew I wanted to socialise and network with like-minded individuals. This is what I did prior to studying CIS at ARU and it helped me fuel my passion further. I know it sounds odd, but it helped me no longer feel like I was crazy or alone, because I got to meet so many other people who had the same interests as me in true crime, psychology, and the human mind.

What will you study and what has inspired you to choose it?