How to Become CID Officer
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Are you the one who is interested in knowing How to become CID officer? If you desire to be a CID officer then read this article till the end. In this article, you will gather all the information regarding the roles and responsibilities, citizenship, eligibility criteria, education qualification, exam pattern, salary, and other relatable information regarding the same.
If you aspire to how to become CID after the 12th, then you have chosen the right page to collect all the product information and proceed with the preparation and the strategy to crack it. You need to be hard-working and disciplined to crack the entrance exam and get your desired post in the department.
About CID Officer
The career of a CID officer is more demanding among the youth. If you want to have a career in providing Justice to the people then being a CID officer is the right choice. CID is all about looking into the matter of the crime that takes place in the city under the Government of India Act.
Only those cases are looked into by a CID officer who is assigned by The Government of India. As CID officers who have good decision-making skills, problem-solving qualities, analyzing the case, in brief, to investigate and gathering all the evidence.
CID officers are given complex cases to solve like rape, fraud, riots, and murder. They keep reports of the cases, look into autopsies, co-operating with another department to solve the queries.
There are other departments along with the post of CID officer to work as detectives are Anti-Human Trafficking, Human Rights Department, Dog Squad, Scientific Research Centre, Bank Frauds, Fingerprints, Missing Persons Bureau, Footprints Bureau, and Crime Inspection. There are different posts available in the CID their salary, educational qualification, and other eligibility criteria differ from different positions.
Full form of CID
Crime Investigation Department is abbreviated as CID. The post of CID officer is one of the most privileged ones among the police organization. When you start working in this department you will be called a CID officer or Detectives.
How to Become CID Officer in India
To become CID Officer in India you need to crack the Civil Services Exam (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC). The direct way to become CID Officer is to join the Police Force, pass the internal exam, and then apply for the post of CID. Graduation in Criminology is added benefit to crack UPSC.
Eligibility Criteria
To become a CID Officer you need to qualify some eligibility criteria – Citizenship, Age Limit, Educational Qualification, Physical Criteria & Entrance Exam. The eligibility criteria are as follows.
Citizenship
To be a CID officer you need to be a citizen of India.
Sex
To appear in the exam for CID officers both males and females are eligible.
Age Limit
The minimum age required to become a CID Officer is at least 20 years. And the maximum age required is 27 years for the General Category. There is relaxation to the maximum age limit according to the caste category. The age limit with the relaxation is listed below.
| Category | Relaxation | Age Limit |
| General | N.A | 20-27 Years |
| OBC | 5 years | 20-32 Years |
| SC/ST | 3 Years | 20-30 Years |
CID Officer Qualification
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s or graduation degree from any authorized university.
- Some of the Universities in India provide Criminal Justice and Criminology at graduation level to get enroll in CID. You can get enrolled for such courses.
Physical Criteria
The physical criteria to become a CID Officer are listed below – Eyesight, Height & Chest.
Eyesight
The aspirant needs to have the following vision to get enroll in CID.
- For Distant Vision 6/6 and 6/9 as either of the eyesight.
- For Near Vision 0.6 and 0.8 as either of the eyesight.
Height
The height of male and female candidates is listed below.
| Category | Height |
| Female | 150 cm |
| Male | 165 cm |
| Hills men & tribal | 5cm relaxation |
Chest
Then chest should be 76 cm, inflated for both male & female candidates.
Skills Required
Some of the skills needed to be a CID officer are mentioned below.
- He/She should have good team spirit to make others convenient to work with them in a team.
- He/She should be good in Communication.
- The aspirant should be good in current affairs or General Knowledge.
Number Of Attempts
The number of attempts as per the category of the candidate is listed below.
| Category | Attempts |
| General | 4 |
| OBC | 7 |
| SC/ST | No Limit |
Entrance Exam
Two exams are held to get enroll as a CID officer. First, the Indian Civil Services examination held by the Union Public Service Commission. The second is through the SSC CGL exam.
There are 2 ways to join CID. You can choose anyway and crack that particular Entrance Exam. Let us see the detail about both the entrance exams.
2 Ways To Join CID
The direct way to join CID is to join the Police Force and then join the CID Department after cracking the internal exam for the same. Another way to join the CID Department is to crack the Union Public Service Commission Entrance Exam (UPSC). The entrance exam may be very hard and is in great competition among the youth. You need to work hard and give a great effort to crack this exam.
1. By Joining the Police Force
2. UPSC Exam – Civil Service Exam (CSE) conducted by Union Public Service Commission.
1. By Joining The Police Force
The direct way to join the CID Department is by joining the police force. No particular designation is required to apply for the internal exam to crack for CID for Police Force. Even the Assistant Police Officers & Halwadar’s can apply for the internal exam, crack it and join the CID Department. You can take the designation in the Police Force as per your qualification.
2. UPSC Exam
UPSC that is Union Public Service Commission is also responsible for the recruitment of the CID Officers.
What is UPSC
UPSC is the All India Service Examination. UPSC Examination is conducted in three stages namely- Preliminary Exam( CSAT Test) comprising of two papers which are objective type, Mains Exam which includes 9 papers which are subjective type. After qualifying the two phases you are eligible for the Interview Process. You can read more information about UPSC here UPSC exam details.
UPSC Exam Overview
| Exam | UPSC -CSE Exam |
| Authorized Body | Union Public Service Commission |
| Level | National |
| Exam Stages | 1. Preliminary 2. Mains 3. Interview |
| Eligibility Criteria | Nationality – Indian Age Limit – Between 21 to 32 years ( General Category) Age limit for OBC – 35 Years Age limit for ST/ST – 37 Years Educational Qualification – The candidate must have completed graduation in any field. |
| Number of Attempts | 6 Attempts (General Category) For OBC – 9 ST/SC – No limit |
The process for UPSC is as follows.
- Preliminary exam
- Mains exam
- Interview process
1. Preliminary exam
The preliminary exam has 2 papers that are conducted. Each paper has 200 marks a total of 400 marks. The question paper is in two languages namely English and Hindi. The duration of the paper is 2 hours each paper. This examination carries a negative marking of the one-third penalty. That is for each wrong answer there is a negative marking of 0.33 marks. This paper has objective-type questions which comprise multiple-choice questions.
Preliminary Exam Details
| Paper | Type | Number of Questions |
Marks | Negative Marking |
Duration |
| Paper 1 | Objective | 100 | 200 | 0.33 | 2 hours |
| Paper 2 | Objective | 80 | 200 | 0.33 | 2 hours |
Syllabus For Prelliminary Exam
The syllabus for both the papers of the Preliminary exam is listed below.
| Paper 1 | Indian History General Science Indian Politics Current Events General Issues Indian Geography World Geography Social Development Economic Development |
| Paper 2 | Communicational Skills Intrapersonal Skills English Skills English Comprehension Language skill that is chosen by the candidate Decision-making skills Problem-solving ability Mental Ability Basic Numeracy |
2. Mains exam
After qualifying for the preliminary exam the candidates are eligible for the second round that is the mains exam. Generally, Mains Exams are conducted in the month of January. After the mains exam, the candidate will be liable for the process of the interview. Mains Exam has the descriptive type of questions.
Mains Exam Details
| Paper | Syllabus | Marks | Duration |
| Essay | Essay on any topic | 250 | 3 hours |
| General studies 1 | Indian Heritage, Culture, Geography |
250 | 3 hours |
| General studies 2 | Constitution, Governance, Social Justice |
250 | 3 hours |
| General studies 3 | Technology, Environment, Disaster Management |
250 | 3 hours |
| General studies 4 | Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude |
250 | 3 hours |
| Optional subject 1 | Any | 250 | 3 hours |
| Optional subject 2 | Any | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper 1 | Indian Language (Anyone of the language) |
300 | 3 hours |
| Paper 2 | English language | 300 | 3 hours |
3. Interview
After cracking the Mains Exam you are qualified for the Interview Process. During the interview process your Subject Knowledge, Personal Skills, as well as Mental Ability, is tested. After cracking the final round of interviews a candidate is qualified to become an NIA officer. He is given training and then posted according to the requirements.
You can easily join CID after cracking the UPSC exam. But at the same time, there should vacancy in the CID Department. Then only you can join. UPSC is the toughest national exam in India. It is not an easy task to crack this exam. Many candidates choose the SSC SGL exam over UPSC to join NIA.
Books & Study Material
The books & study material to become a CID Officer are listed below.
- Verbal and non-verbal reasoning by S. Chand.
- Quick Learning objective Genera English by R.S Aggarwal.
- Reasoning by B.S Sijwali and Indu Sijwali.
- General Knowledge by Lucent’s publication.
Selection Process for CID Officers
The selection process for CID officers is very easy. For that, you have to appear for a written test. After that, the candidate proceeds for a Physical test. The Interview is the last step to get selected as a CID officer.
Selection Process
The selection process is listed below.
1. Written Exam
2. Physical Test
3. Interview Process
Role & Responsibilities of CID Officer
With position comes great responsibility. Being a CID officer there are a lot of responsibilities to take care of to solve the case. Some of the responsibilities of the CID officer are listed below. Let’s go and learn each of them.
- He/She looks into the crime cases gathers all the pieces of evidence, maintains the report, and investigates the witnesses.
- Those matters which are assigned by the Government of India are investigated by the CID officers.
- He/she has many other sections to concern about like fingerprints, bank fraud, human trafficking, and scientific investigation.
- He/She responsibilities are to solve complicated and complex cases like communal riots, murder, fraud, rape, and assault cases.
- He/She has to act smart and work intelligently to take decisions in solving crime cases.
- He/She have to follow the rules and regulation to proceed in the case and present in front of the court.
Job Roles for CID Officer
Fraud Investigator
The role of a Fraud Investigator is to collect the statements of the complaints and queries, do research work in the case and analyze all the facts and pieces of evidence and get confessions from the witnesses.
Narcotics Officer
As a narcotics officer, your duty is to look into the illegal case of drugs and they’re widespread. The officers maintain the reports and other evidence related to the cases.
Criminologists
Criminologists deal with the investigation, theories, and look into the reports of the case. As a criminologist, you can understand criminal behavior also.
Police Officer
The duty of a Police Officer is to write the complaints, interact with the family or other witnesses and gather evidence if any. The Police Officer looks into the safety of the surrounding people and family members too.
Paralegal
The paralegal looks into the actions to maintain the case details. They help lawyers in maintaining motions and pleadings.
Investigative Officer
As Investigative Officers, their role is to look into the matter of how the crime was committed, to collect all the evidence to solve the case. They are also called in the court to brief their investigations.
CID Status
- CID is headed by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) in the police forces.
- Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)
- Inspector-General of Police (IGP)
- General Sub-Division (DIG)
- Police Officer (SP)
- Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy, S.P.)
- Inspector
- Superintendent (Superintendent)
- Under Inspector (Sub-Inspector)
- Assistant under Inspector (Sub Inspector)
- Constable (constable)
Career Scope/Employment Opportunities
Their work is to identify and gather all the pieces of evidence from the scene. You can get the scope in the Government sector and other agencies like local, federal, and state.
Top Recruiting Companies
Some of the top recruiting companies to hire CID officers are jotted below.
- Drug enforcement agency (DEA)
- Government of India
- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
Salary of CID Officer
In whatever profile you get the opportunity to work salary is the most important part to understand in detail. In this article, we have mentioned the salary of three posts of CID. They are listed below.
| Job Profile | Initial Salary in INR | Intermediary Salary in INR | Final Salary in INR |
| Police Officer | 1,76,171 | 3,25, 950 | 7,86,880 |
| Fraud Investigator | 2,56,081 | 3,51,353 | 11,73,760 |
| Paralegal | 2,23,820 | 5,11,110 | 7,12,790 |
Best Colleges in India to perceive the course
The best colleges to pursue CID courses in India are mentioned below.
- Government Law College, Mumbai
- Rizvi Law College, Mumbai
- Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
- National Law University, Delhi
- Law College, Dhanbad
- National Law School of India University, Bangalore
- Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
- NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
Conclusion
To conclude, this was all about How to become CID Officer. I have tried covering all the detailed guides of the CID Officer. Even though if you have any more queries related to the concerned topic ask me by commenting in the comment box. I will get back to you with a proper answer. Also, share with me your experience of becoming a CID officer.
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