Criminal Justice Schools in Los Angeles, CA

Updated September 29, 2026

Los Angeles has six schools with federally tracked criminal-justice-related programs, from community college certificates to a master’s at USC. LAPD patrol officers earn a median $121,980 a year in the metro area, per May 2025 BLS data. LAPD’s minimum requirement is a high school diploma, not a degree, though coursework and a bachelor’s raise starting pay.

The LAPD patrols a city of four million people spread across more than 470 square miles, and its officers investigate everything from freeway collisions on the 405 to gang violence in South LA. LA County Sheriff’s deputies cover the unincorporated areas and run the county jails. If you’re weighing a criminal justice program here, here’s what the schools actually offer and what the pay looks like once you’re sworn in.

Featured Programs:

What Los Angeles Criminal Justice Jobs Actually Look Like

Patrol officers investigate crimes, make arrests, respond to traffic collisions, and handle community disputes on shift. Detectives take over once a patrol officer’s initial report needs follow-up: interviews, surveillance, and building a case file that can hold up in court. Corrections officers work inside county and state facilities, supervising people awaiting trial or serving sentences.

Criminal Justice Schools in Los Angeles

Six institutions in Los Angeles report a program in the broader federal criminal-justice-related CIP family, per U.S. Department of Education data. That family covers more than Criminal Justice itself: five of the six schools below offer a program coded specifically as Criminal Justice and Corrections, while UCLA’s listing here is a Legal Support Services credential, a related but separate field.

School	Type	Programs Offered	Credential Levels
California State University, Los Angeles	Public, 4-year	Criminal Justice, Fire Protection, Security Science and Technology	Bachelor’s, Master’s
Los Angeles City College	Public, 2-year	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services, Homeland Security	Associate, Certificate
Los Angeles Southwest College	Public, 2-year	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services	Associate, Certificate
Los Angeles Trade Technical College	Public, 2-year	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services	Associate, Certificate
UCLA	Public, 4-year	Legal Support Services	Graduate Certificate
USC	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Criminal Justice	Master’s

School and program data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, institution file May 2025 and field-of-study file April 2025. Data accessed September 2026. These are the programs each school reported to the Department, not confirmation of what’s actively enrolling today, so confirm current offerings, format, and admission requirements directly with the school before applying.

If you’re commuting to any of these campuses, you can use the Los Angeles Metro to get around. You can pay for each ride as you go or get a TAP card that you preload with money, which is usually cheaper if you’re taking classes more than a couple times a week.

Choosing a Degree Level

Certificate, associate, bachelor’s, and master’s programs all show up in Los Angeles. What each one commonly looks like:

Degree Level	Common Length	What It Typically Covers
Certificate	Often under a year	A narrow set of courses in one area, such as corrections or homeland security
Associate	Commonly two years full-time	Foundational coursework in the criminal justice system, often transferable toward a bachelor’s
Bachelor’s	Commonly four years full-time	The same foundational subjects in more depth, plus general education requirements
Master’s	Often two years beyond a bachelor’s	A specialization, such as criminology, victimology, or forensic science

Which level, if any, a specific job requires or rewards varies by agency and role. Check the requirements page of the specific department or employer you’re targeting before choosing a program length.

Your bachelor’s doesn’t have to be in criminal justice to apply to most master’s programs. Psychology, sociology, and human services backgrounds are common, since master’s-level coursework tends to specialize rather than repeat the basics.

Paying for School in Los Angeles

Cal State LA’s 2026-27 tuition and mandatory fees run $7,938 a year for California residents, per the university’s official cost-of-attendance figures, well below what the private schools on this list charge. If cost is what’s holding you back, the site’s financial aid guide covers grants, loans, and scholarship options worth reviewing before you enroll.

Professional Associations in the LA Criminal Justice Field

Several organizations serve people working in or studying toward this field in Los Angeles. The Peace Officers’ Association of Los Angeles County is a nonprofit network of law enforcement professionals across local, county, state, and federal agencies. The Los Angeles Paralegal Association serves the legal-support side of the field, and the California Association of Licensed Investigators covers private investigation statewide. Check each organization’s current site for membership eligibility and any student rates, since these change.

Certification and Career Outlook for LA Criminal Justice Graduates

California peace officers are certified through the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which sets statewide selection and training standards. For city police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and many (though not all) California peace-officer classifications, the entry-level training standard is the POST Regular Basic Course (RBC), a minimum of 664 hours; POST-certified academies can and often do run longer. California allows both agency-sponsored recruits, who are hired first and trained after, and self-sponsored students who complete an academy on their own before applying. Completing the RBC earns a course-completion certificate. The professional POST Basic Certificate is a separate credential that additionally requires qualifying employment and completing the agency’s probationary period.

The RBC includes comprehensive, exercise, scenario, report-writing, and physical-ability testing, and individual hiring agencies typically add their own selection tests on top of that, so what you’ll face depends on which department you’re applying to.

Security guards in California fall under a different regulator entirely: the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS), not POST. A BSIS Security Guard Registration requires 8 hours of Power to Arrest and Appropriate Use of Force training before licensure, another 32 hours of skills training within six months of registration, and 8 hours of continuing training every year after that.

Occupation	Governing Framework	LA Metro Median Salary
Security Guard	California BSIS registration	$40,030
Correctional Officer and Jailer	Set by the employing agency and classification	$78,770
Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer	California POST RBC plus agency hiring standards	$121,980
Detective and Criminal Investigator	Agency-specific	$127,890
First-Line Supervisor of Correctional Officers	Agency-specific promotional process	$127,390

These are occupation-wide medians for the LA metro area, not a promotion ladder or a degree premium; BLS wage data doesn’t establish why one occupation pays more than another. Statewide, California projects patrol officer jobs growing 5.2% from 2024 to 2034, per ProjectionsCentral, with roughly 5,250 openings a year including turnover.

May 2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Security Guards, Correctional Officers and Jailers, Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers, Detectives and Criminal Investigators, and First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers. Long-term (2024-34) job growth projections from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, ProjectionsCentral. Figures reflect city and state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed September 2026.

Criminal Justice Schools in Other Major California Cities

Frequently Asked Questions

How many criminal justice schools are in Los Angeles?

Six institutions in Los Angeles report a program in the federal criminal-justice-related CIP family, per U.S. Department of Education data. Five of them offer a program coded specifically as Criminal Justice and Corrections; the sixth, UCLA, offers a related Legal Support Services credential.

Do I need a college degree to become an LAPD officer?

No. LAPD’s minimum education requirement is a U.S. high school diploma or GED. College coursework, a bachelor’s degree, or qualifying military experience can raise starting pay under the department’s education incentive structure, but none of them are required to apply.

What training does a California police officer go through?

Most city police officers and sheriff’s deputies in California complete the POST Regular Basic Course, a minimum of 664 hours covering law, tactics, defensive skills, and physical training, plus whatever additional selection testing the hiring agency requires. Not every peace-officer classification in the state uses this same standard.

What’s the difference between an associate and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice?

An associate degree commonly runs two years of full-time study and covers foundational material. A bachelor’s commonly takes four years and goes deeper into the same subjects, plus general education requirements. Which level a specific employer prefers or requires varies by agency.

How much do LA-area law enforcement and corrections jobs pay?

Median pay ranges from about $40,030 a year for security guards to over $127,000 for detectives and corrections supervisors, per May 2025 BLS wage data for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area.

Key Takeaways

Six LA schools, one broader CIP family – Five offer a program specifically coded as Criminal Justice and Corrections; UCLA’s is a related Legal Support Services credential.
LAPD’s floor is a diploma, not a degree – College coursework and a bachelor’s raise starting pay under LAPD’s incentive structure, but they aren’t required to apply.
Security guards and sworn officers answer to different regulators – BSIS licenses security guards; POST sets training standards for police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
Pay varies by occupation, not by credential – LA metro medians run from $40,030 for security guards to over $127,000 for detectives and corrections supervisors, per May 2025 BLS data.

If cost is what’s holding you back, the site’s financial aid guide covers grants, loans, and scholarship options worth reviewing before you commit to a program.

Looking beyond this city? Read the full guide to Criminal Justice Schools in California.