Interested in Federal Law Enforcement? Here are some tips straight from the Expert!

As a student majoring in Criminology/ Criminal Justice, I've had countless conversations with fellow classmates about career plans after college. The most trending career I've noticed is that many students in the Criminal Justice field aspire to become federal agents. I recently had the honor to interview the former Deputy Assistant Director of the United States Secret Service, Mr. Anthony Triplett, who has over 23 years of experience working in the federal government. I took the opportunity to ask him about what these federal law enforcement agencies are looking for when hiring?

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Not only should you have a clean record, but you must have obtained a four year degree or have previous criminal investigative experience. Like any job, there are always pros and cons. Mr. Triplett mentioned that with these type of jobs, they require sacrifice that other occupations do not. Depending on what agency you go into, some require more of your time than other and travel is a big part so you have to take into consideration that it may possibly affect your spouse, family, etc. "Mobility clause" is also very important to understand, it means it is a clause in a contract which provides that an employee should move location of employment when requested.

The Secret Service is mostly noted as the Presidents protection team but actually the Secret Service was founded to suppress counterfeit money which now has extended to investigating credit card and different types of fraud. An interesting fact Mr. Triplett shared with me was that back then when the Secret Service was starting, 1/3 of all bills were found to be counterfeit.

While serving with the Secret Service, Mr. Anthony Triplett worked ten years at the White House and five years on the Presidents Detail. He worked under George H.W. Bush for one year and both presidential terms with Bill Clinton. Mr. Triplett had over 23 years worth of stories to share but shared one particular story about a President in danger.

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Oh and when he retired from USSS, the president threw him his farewell party on Air Force 1!!!!

So stay out of trouble and get good grades and hopefully you'll get to have a party on Air Force 1 one day too!