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 specialized coursework that teaches cutting-edge skills to analyze data that informs the investigations, strategies, and policy decisions of criminal justice organizations. This set of skills is crucial to a growing field within public safety and related domains in criminal justice, community-based organizations, and private firms. Data-informed approaches to crime have become the standard among contemporary criminal justice organizations. The concentration 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

• Acquire, clean, integrate, and manage complex public safety datasets (e.g., incident, calls-for-service) for analytical use. 
• Apply statistical, spatial, and predictive analytical techniques—including mapping, GIS, and emerging data science tools—to identify crime patterns, trends, risk factors, and actionable insights. 
• Produce professional analytical products (e.g., intelligence bulletins, tactical briefings, dashboards, and executive reports) that directly inform investigations, deployment strategies, and policy decisions. 
• Evaluate and apply ethical, legal, and governance standards in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of crime and intelligence data within democratic public safety systems. 

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 577 Data Science with Python
  • MET CS 699 Data Mining