How to Become an FBI Agent in New Mexico

The FBI was setup for several reasons. Being a top security outfit, one of its key priorities is counteracting terrorist attacks and ensuring that none of such occurrences happen in the United States. The federal bureau of investigation is a large agency consisting of more than 36,000 employees and has headquarters in all 50 states of the United States of America with several other locations abroad.

Together with preventing terrorist attacks, the FBI is charged with other functions including; intelligence operations in the united states, upholding and maintaining civil rights, tackling violent crimes, and preventing cyber attacks. There has been quite a demand for FBI jobs and the demand in New Mexico is just as much as it has always been. The headquarters of the agency in New Mexico is located in Albuquerque and it has five other offices located in towns like Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Gallup, Farmington, and Roswell. They are generally two career paths at the agency which are; specialized professionals and the FBI special agents, and while both of these are two entirely different areas. They have similar criteria for applicants.

FBI Agent Requirements in New Mexico

The most basic criteria required to become a federal agent includes;

• Interested person must be a citizen of either the United States or Northern Mariana Island.
• He or she must have a four-year college degree from an accredited institution.
• He or she must be between 23 and 27 years old with some exceptions made for career veterans.
• Interested persons must possess a valid driver’s license
• He or she must have three years’ professional work experience.

There are quite a number of federal bureau of investigations jobs and while candidates may meet all the aforementioned requirements, prospective agents are put through rigorous background screening to determine if such a person has any criminal record or any punishable offenses, since all arrest and crime records are stored in a database. All prospective agents are thoroughly screened after which they may be processed to join the FBI.

Together with the screening, an intensive assessment is administered to candidates as a personality test to determine mental ability, personal situational judgment, and logical reasoning. All interested persons are expected to answer each question honestly. This will determine how suitable they are for the agency. It also measures an agent’s ability to attend to minor details.

Different Positions with the FBI

To fully carry out its functions effectively, the FBI intelligence is charged with collecting vital information and analyzing it with the end goal of protecting the citizens. Each department in the FBI is assigned a certain area of specialization and its agents are oriented to focus on that purpose. Among these departments, the positions include;

Criminal Investigation

This is currently one of the largest divisions with the agency and its major goal is to detect and quell threats on a global scale. The FBI agents attached to this division focus on handling investigative cases directed at organized crimes, violent crimes, public corruption, financial and drug-related crimes. They consist of a team of professionals who have undergone FBI training to execute these tasks flawlessly.

Tactical Support/Operations

This division is mostly associated with field operations; they consist of a number of a diversified team each with highly trained agents. These include

• Bomb Technician
• Hostage Rescue Team
• Enhanced SWAT
• Tactical Mobility Team
• Special weapons and tactics team (SWAT)
• Assault Teams
• Crisis Negotiation Team
• Sniper
• Tactical Helicopter Team.

Counter Terrorism

The Counter-Terrorism Division is charged with protecting the U.S from all acts of terrorism. In its capacity, the division consists of highly trained agents that detect and dismantle terrorist sleeper cells by gathering Intel through analysis and assessment of threats. Just like any other division, counterterrorism jobs are highly classified as they require access to several key information.

Cyber Crime

This unit consists of computer forensic experts who monitor online crime like intellectual property theft, child pornography, and online fraud. The FBI remains the leader in the nation’s cyber-based terrorism investigations.

Counter Intelligence

This division is designed to keep the United States safe from all forms of espionage and foreign intelligence operations. It works to detect and impede the activities of foreign intelligence that threatens national security.

New Mexico FBI Agent Education

Since the FBI is involved with the investigation of federal crimes, most of the investigative and forensic jobs require critical thinking and reasoning, and applicants must be prepared with the right skill set to fit in.

Bachelor of Science in criminology – a criminology degree provides candidates with a thorough view of the criminal mind and behavior, aspects such as criminal profiling, crime analysis, and interpretation, and ethics are covered during the duration of this course. Candidates with a degree in criminology are at an advantage to end up as FBI special agents.

Masters of Science in criminology – The FBI prioritizes its candidates through a thorough assessment of their experience and critical skills. Candidates with a Master’s degree in criminology will only need to have two years’ work experience as opposed to the mandatory three.

Degrees for FBI support specialists – Aside from the degrees in criminology, there are several other degrees that prospective candidates may possess to join the FBI. Diversified positions like paralegals, financial analysts, electronics technicians, security experts, computer experts, experienced linguists, and others require a minimum of a four-year degree in any of these; law, accounting, computer science/information technology, language as it applies to the division of interest.

Major Cities in New Mexico

There are a lot of large cities in New Mexico but the FBI has a strong presence in six which are Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Gallup, Farmington, and Roswell.

Specific Duties Of FBI Agents

While there really are no restrictions to the functions of the organization, there are some key roles that agents are charged with, these include;

• Investigating crimes and making arrests.
• Safeguarding the internal security and protecting the lives of citizens.
• Setup up profiles and keeping track of suspicious events and individuals.
• Investigating financial crimes and white-collar abnormalities.
• Presenting themselves in court to testify if the need arises.
• Maintain the strictest confidentiality about the job.

There are other duties that agents working for the FBI are expected to perform, and that depends greatly on the units they are attached with.

Interesting Facts

Right from its inception, the Albuquerque division has handled cases of all types, a major highlight was the 1970 case where a man was killed during a robbery attack on the Navajo reservation, the 1980s saw the division uncovering and solving a serious electoral fraud and much later the division solved a case with international implications where a Libyan national was killed and the culprit was arrested. The division has a jurisdiction that spans through 30 counties and is the headquarters of FBI operations in the state of New Mexico.

New Mexico FBI Agent Salary

Depending on where the agents are assigned, the average FBI agent in New Mexico typically earns between $60,000 and $70,000. Although the current FBI agents’ salary is $65,322 in Albuquerque, new agents could be put at a starting rate of $53,795 annually.  As agents earn promotions and gain experience, their salary and benefits increase. Aside from this income, agents are provided with full access to other government benefits that come with the job including, life and health insurance, vacation periods, sick pay, and retirement benefits.

FBI Training Programs and Schools in New Mexico