Detective Family
Career series with 4 positions across 2 levels
Detective is a career-ladder family in New Jersey civil service, with 4 titles spanning 2 levels.
Entry is typically through Detective 1 State Investigator Law & Public Safety, advancing through the ladder toward Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety. Pay across the family spans $55,439 to $141,195, around the 70th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 125 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Law and Public Safety.
Specializations
Positions in This Family
- DETECTIVE 2 STATE INVESTIGATOR, LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY (57094) $95,827 - $141,195/year
- DETECTIVE 1 STATE INVESTIGATOR, LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY (57095) $84,180 - $123,352/year
- DETECTIVE 2 STATE INVESTIGATOR, LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY (57097) $79,160 - $113,840/year
- DETECTIVE 1 STATE INVESTIGATOR LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY (57098) $55,439 - $79,490/year
What the Detective family covers
Detective is a graded series in the New Jersey civil service classification plan, running 4 title codes across 2 levels. Every title in it is a state title, so the employer is a state department, commission or authority rather than a county or municipality.
Sworn and investigative titles sit apart from the rest of civil service. They carry their own salary schedules, their own unions and, in most cases, an academy requirement and a medical and psychological screen on top of the exam. Rank is handled by moving between titles rather than by moving up a range, so the ladder here is a sequence of separate classifications. New Jersey also runs a large civilian investigative service alongside the sworn forces, and those titles follow ordinary competitive rules even though the work overlaps.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Ordered by what they actually pay rather than by the number in the title, the Detective rungs look like this. Note that the numbers in these titles do not run in pay order. In this family a lower number sits higher on the ladder, which is a New Jersey convention that catches people out when they read a title list top to bottom.
- Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety — $95,827 to $141,195 (a bachelor's degree and 4 years of experience)
- Detective 1 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety — $84,180 to $123,352 (a bachelor's degree)
- Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety — $79,160 to $113,840 (frozen schedule) (a bachelor's degree and 4 years of experience)
- Detective 1 State Investigator Law & Public Safety — $55,439 to $79,490 (frozen schedule) (a bachelor's degree)
The distance from the bottom of Detective 1 State Investigator Law & Public Safety to the top of Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety is $85,756, an increase of about 155% over the entry minimum. 2 of the 4 titles in the family sit on a schedule whose rates are frozen, so the published figure there is the schedule of record rather than a guide to actual pay.
What each title does
Each title in the family carries its own published definition. These are the opening lines of each one, which is usually where the difference between two neighboring rungs is actually stated.
- Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety: Under supervision in the Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Law and Public…
- Detective 1 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety: Under supervision in the Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Law and Public…
- Detective 1 State Investigator Law & Public Safety: Under supervision in the Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Law and Public…
What it takes to qualify
Across the 4 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a bachelor's degree on 4 of them. Experience requirements sit at 4 years wherever they are stated.
On how the jobs are filled: 4 are unclassified, which means appointment at the employer's discretion and salary set individually.
Who actually employs these titles
State payroll records show 125 people working under 2 of this family's titles, spread across 1 agency. Law and Public Safety alone accounts for about 100% of them.
- Law and Public Safety — 125 employees
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $92,036 for Detective 1 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety up to $117,387 for Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
The family is split across 2 salary schedules (YD and YE), so two titles that look adjacent can be paid from different tables with different step structures. Bargaining is handled by PBA Local 383. Union contracts and rights are collected here.
Where these jobs exist
These are state titles, hired by New Jersey departments, commissions and boards through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process rather than by an ordinary job posting. How state hiring works, and which agencies employ what.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
These titles sit elsewhere in the classification plan but share vocabulary with Detective, which usually means overlapping duties or a related eligible list.
- Detective Trainee- State Investigator, Law and Public Safety ($77,309 to $80,661, state jurisdiction)
- Detective Trainee- State Investigator, Law and Public Safety ($50,629 to $52,975, state jurisdiction)
Common questions about Detective jobs
How many Detective titles are there in New Jersey civil service?
The Detective family holds 4 title codes arranged across 2 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
What does a Detective earn in New Jersey?
Published salary data for this family runs from $55,439 at the bottom of Detective 1 State Investigator Law & Public Safety to $141,195 at the top of Detective 2 State Investigator, Law and Public Safety. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Do you need to take an exam to become a Detective?
Mostly no. 4 of the 4 titles here are unclassified, so appointment is at the employer's discretion rather than from an eligible list, and salary is set individually rather than by a published step. That also makes cross-agency salary comparison less reliable for these titles.
What qualifications does a Detective need?
The most common education requirement in this family is a bachelor's degree, named on 4 of the 4 titles. Stated experience ranges from 4 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Detective staff?
State payroll records show 125 people in this family across 1 agency, with Law and Public Safety the largest at 125. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.
Is Detective 1 higher or lower than Detective 3?
In this family the lower number is the more senior title. New Jersey's level numbering does not run in pay order, and reading the titles by number alone will give you the ladder upside down. The list above is sorted by what each title actually pays.