Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis

Available on campus and online, the Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis at Boston University’s Metropolitan College provides students with a set of courses that develops their ability to use and analyze a variety of data sources to inform the investigations, strategies, and policy decisions of criminal justice organizations. This set of skills is crucial to a growing field within law enforcement and related domains in criminal justice. Data-driven and intelligence-led approaches to crime have become the standard among contemporary criminal justice organizations. The certificate prepares students to fill in-house crime analyst or similar positions, and strengthens the skills of students working in investigations, management, and operations to utilize analysis more effectively.

This program requires an average of 8–12 months to complete. Students may begin the program in the fall, spring, or summer term.

Learning Outcomes

• Prepare different sources of data for analysis (e.g., data reorganization, matching) and carry out analysis using a variety of different techniques, including mapping and spatial analysis and other advanced techniques.
• Incorporate analyses into effective analysis products (e.g., written reports, presentations, interactive dashboards) that are useful to investigation, strategy, and policy decisions within law enforcement organizations.
• Comprehend the ethical and legal rules and values that govern crime analysis within law enforcement organizations operating in democratic society.
• Inform and critically evaluate data-driven or intelligence-led investigations, strategies, and policies based on awareness of the contemporary law enforcement and security approaches.

Admissions Information

For current admissions information, please visit the Metropolitan College website.

Certificate Requirements

A total of four courses (16 units) is required, as follows:

• MET CJ 591 Applied Analytical Methods
• MET CJ 612 Crime and Intelligence Analysis
• MET UA 598 Foundations of GIS and Spatial Analysis
• One course from the list below:
  • MET CJ 640 Performance Management Analytics
  • MET CJ 705 Threat Assessment
  • MET CJ 840 Applied Crime Analysis Project
  • MET CS 521 Information Structures with Python
  • MET CS 555 Foundations of Machine Learning
  • MET CS 677 Data Science with Python
  • MET CS 699 Data Mining