For those of you don’t know, this is CJIS, located in Clarksburg, WV. CJIS stands for Criminal Justice Information System. Now their headquarters is wayyy out in the woods, and its pretty hard to get to unless you have a pass or work there. I went on a tour there last year and its nice… but probably not something I’m looking for.

CJIS is where the main server/all files for AFIS are secured and stored. Meaning, CJIS is where the majority of all of the fingerprint analyzers are located and where all the ten print cards are analyzed. (All latent Prints are classified and analyzed in Quantico Va.) If you are getting a background check, your fingerprints are sent to CJIS to be compared with the AFIS system to see if you were every arrested before. If you are in the military then your prints are in this sytesm for identification purposes.

[on a side note, we also toured the archives of CJIS where they have original ten print cards that were not uploaded into the system from like the 1940’s. I was actually able to locate my grandfather’s ten print card from the military section when he was in Wold War II. crazy right? Well I thought so.]

Why I am even venturing to bring this up, is because there were almost 15 positions offered to us at CJIS by my university because we took classes on fingerprint analysis by people from CJIS. YEs this might seem glamorous and awesome but let me tell you, analyzing thousands of ten print cards everyday is probably not for me.

I am only graduating with 27 forensic science students this year and 15 of them appear to be taking the job down at CJIS. Everyone keeps questioning me, asking why I’m not interested. Its kind of upsetting because I don’t know what I want.

I mean money wise this would be a good choice. As a beginner fingerprint analyzer you’ll start off at G6 which is about 30,000 and after only one year you’ll move up to about 40,000. That’s not too bad, but I just don’t think its right for me.

I have plans to work in intelligence with the navy and then get a masters in counterintelligence. I can’t be held back. Yes, I might not do any of the things I had planned because of what not, but I at least have to take a chance right?

I’m definitely going to be going and living in Russia for some time. I will speak that language fluently before I die. With all of these ideas and hopes I am sticking to MY path, but I just don’t want to be unjustified. I don’t want to lose oppurtunities for a job when things are so bad with the economy when I have them. AGH!

My decision to stick to the path I want to be on might be selfish and in the end might get me nowhere, but at least I have to try. Worse comes to worse I can apply to CJIS myself right?

I don’t know if I believe in fate, but if I look back in a few years and I’m doing everything I said I would be doing, I couldn’t be more satisfied.

Confessions of a Writer<3