[title subtitle=”words: John Post, Director of Public Information, UAFS
images: courtesy Rachel Putman, Marketing Communications Photographer, UAFS”][/title]
University of Arkansas – Fort Smith student Justin Harris may have never earned an internship with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) had curiosity not struck him one night in 2012 while watching the hit show based on the law enforcement agency.
“I wondered if there was an actual NCIS,” he said. “And I looked it up and saw their website and all the careers that were possible. You’re still a civilian, but you get to experience aspects of the military as well.”
That curiosity led to an opportunity for Harris to do more with his education by interning over the summer at the agency’s base in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where nearly forty agents worked. It was an experience that allowed Justin to apply what he’d learned in the university’s criminal justice program to a wide swath of duties within the agency.
Justin wasn’t sure what to expect when he started the internship, but he found the agency was drastically different from what is depicted on television. “The show has a ‘Hollywood’ spin on it,” he said. “I encountered very few agents who have ever needed to use their firearm in the line of duty. The show primarily focuses on cases of homicide and terrorism, but that is a very small percentage of what NCIS deals with day to day.”
Still, Justin said the agency was “far from boring.” He worked within many different units in the NCIS, including special operations, sexual crimes and counterintelligence. One day, he would accompany an agent searching the base for a stolen firearm. The next, he would watch an interrogation of a sexual assault suspect. “Each day was different. I would be sitting in the office and agents would come up and ask for my help with whatever they were working on.”
The opportunity was also a catalyst for Justin to begin his career in law enforcement. It was more than just curiosity that drove his decision to research NCIS that night. After dropping out of college in 2010, he began working as an HVAC technician, initially in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and then in Kansas.
While there was opportunity for advancement in the field, he didn’t feel passionate about his work. “Before I left, I got offered a higher paying position than I ever would have in law enforcement,” he said. “But I would’ve been miserable.”
Law enforcement, on the other hand, was an opportunity for Justin to make a positive impact and help dispel the negative perceptions surrounding police officers. Growing up in Elkins, he saw police officers as role models, and he wanted to be a positive influence in the same way for future generations.
While Harris believes many people have jaded views of police officers, he saw a love officers showed for their community that was “seldom found elsewhere.”
“Being in law enforcement would give me the opportunity to serve my community and impact the lives of people each day,” he said.
When he saw that the path to working with NCIS required a bachelor’s degree, he made plans to go back to school. His sister had recently graduated from UAFS and highly recommended it.
NCIS would be a very fitting place for me, but it’s a very competitive agency. It’s definitely a career I am pursuing, and I’m excited to keep building my experience and knowledge base at UAFS.
When he got into the program, he found a diverse group of professors, many of whom possessed real-world experience in law enforcement and were able to guide him on his career path. “All of them come specialized in different facets. I’m able to take valuable information from pretty much every class I’ve had here. Their knowledge base is so broad, and they’re so personable. It doesn’t matter what professor you go up to, they’re going to have sound information and reasoning behind the advice they give you on how to pursue a certain career.”
For Justin, the career he wanted to pursue stayed the same: a job with NCIS or another federal law enforcement agency. The criminal justice professors recommend students work internships to have hands-on experience to apply to their classroom learnings, so he researched internships and applied.
After beginning his internship, he was surprised at the edge he had over other interns. When they arrived at the house of a soldier who tragically committed suicide, Justin immediately knew what to do to process the scene. “We studied crime scene documentation in class, so I could see what needed to be done and where I could assist. I’ve realized that some other schools don’t offer the same hands-on learning as UAFS has, and it’s really played an important role in my internship.”
From here, Justin plans to work for a police department in northwest Arkansas for several years to gain the experience necessary to earn a job with a federal law enforcement agency.
“NCIS would be a very fitting place for me, but it’s a very competitive agency. It’s definitely a career I am pursuing, and I’m excited to keep building my experience and knowledge base at UAFS.”
For more information on the UAFS Criminal Justice Program, visit www.uafs.edu or call 479.788.7433.
