*Based on 2025–2026 Boston University tuition and fees.
Learn to Lead Investigations through Crime Analysis
The online 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 roles or similar positions, while strengthening the skills of students working in investigations, management, and operations to utilize analysis more effectively.
Curriculum
Boston University’s Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis consists of four required online courses (16 credits).
Coursework from the Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis can be applied toward the Boston University Metropolitan College Master of Science in Master of Science in Criminal Justice.
Learn about application requirements for BU MET graduate degree and certificate programs.
How You Benefit from a Boston University Education
A BU credential can help lay the foundation for career advancement and personal success.
Benefit from a 15:1 student-to-instructor ratio
Courses in crime and intelligence analysis, mapping and spatial analysis, and other essential database and analytics skills.
Collaborate with faculty who have subject-matter expertise, research-based insight, and extensive field experience in law enforcement, corrections, cybercrime investigation and digital forensics, research and policy, forensic mental health, the judicial system, strategic management, and many other areas.
Collaborate with faculty who have subject-matter expertise, research-based insight, and extensive field experience in law enforcement, corrections, cybercrime investigation and digital forensics, research and policy, forensic mental health, the judicial system, strategic management, and many other areas.
Throughout your program, you can rely on faculty to provide mentorship via assistantships, academic support, and career advising.
BU MET has offered criminal justice education since 1973, introducing its Master’s degree in criminal justice in 1980, which became BU’s first fully online program in 2002.
Current members of the American Jail Association (AJA) are eligible for a Graduate Application fee waiver ($25 for applications to the graduate certificate program).
US citizens and permanent residents are automatically considered for Merit Scholarships during the application process and nominated based on eligibility.
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Graduate with Crime Analysis Expertise
Students who complete the Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis will be able to demonstrate:
Understand the wide variety of data sources available for crime and intelligence analysis, including the methods of data collection, uses, strengths, and limitations.
Prepare different sources of data for analysis (e.g. data reorganization, matching) for use in analysis processes.
Conduct analysis using a variety of different techniques, including mapping and spatial analysis and other advanced techniques.
Incorporate analyses into effective written and oral reports 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 a democratic society.
Inform effective data-driven or intelligence-led investigations, strategies, and policies based on awareness of contemporary law enforcement and security approaches.
Advance Your Career in Criminal Justice
Data-driven and intelligence-led approaches to crime have become the standard among contemporary criminal justice organizations. The Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis at Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET) prepares students to fill in-house crime analyst roles within a variety of justice organization settings, and strengthen the skills of those working in investigations, management, and operations to utilize analysis more effectively.
Take Advantage of Career Resources at BU MET
You will find the support you need in reaching your career goals through MET’s Career Development office, which offers a variety of job-hunting resources, including one-on-one career counseling by appointment for online students. You can also take advantage of tools and resources available online through BU’s Center for Career Development.
Recent graduates have found job opportunities and career paths in organizations such as:
Louisiana State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
Wilmington Police Department
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Capital One
Roger Williams University
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
United States Army
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)
United States Department of Justice (DOJ)
United States Department of State (DOS)
Caitlin Kloess
Completing this program allowed me to move forward in my crime analysis career by expanding the range of positions that I could apply for in the field. While I did undertake this program with the intention of advancing my career, I also had the opportunity to learn skills that were applicable in my current position. After completing this program, I could perform more varied and elaborate analyses of the kind expected of traditional crime analysts.
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