Last Post - Final Reflection

Final Reflection

            This semester, in English, each student focused on a specific topic relating to education. I focused on Criminal Justice and Police Education.  My inquiry question was: the differences between a Criminal Justice degree and the education received in a Police Academy and whether or not the Criminal Justice degree is necessary. Even though my topic was unique, I found that the assignments actually helped me further my inquiry. The class was focused around analyzing different aspects of education and Police education fits right into that category. Each day we completed “day book” entries. These entries were prompted by a question or a quote given by the teacher. These entries were called “writing into the day”. They were helpful in deepening my inquiry because some such as the March 18 writing into the day helped me with my research into my topic. This day book entry was about reading a book and asking questions and finding the answers in the text.

            We had quite a few assignments in the class. Most of the assignments helped me to further my inquiry process as well as deepen my writing development. We had various reading assignments in the class as well. The reading assignments also served to further our inquiry. In the Bottom of the Ivory Tower is about Ms. L, a middle-aged woman struggling to write a research paper. The reading detailed what she was doing wrong which helped us to avoid those mistakes in our own paper and seek help. On our blog for the class, we posted a reading response to each reading assignment. In the reading response, we analyzed the reading and explained how it related to out inquiry and how it helped us to further out inquiry. The Ms. L reading response details what I should avoid in my research paper based on Ms. L’s mistakes. The Writing History was one of the first assignments that I completed. It helped me to get started thinking about how to write a good paper and how to improve as a writer. The objective of the paper was for the student to outline their writing history in order to learn more about their writing process and how to better understand how to become a better writer. The Writing History didn’t relate directly to my topic, but it helped me with my writing in general.

            I think that the Exploratory Essay was a good preparation for my inquiry project because it helped me to start thinking about how to relate multiple works into one or two underlying themes. In my Research paper, I took all five sources that I had and I wrote each section of my paper based on one source. After I wrote all sections of my paper, I connected all sources to my underlying them: Is a Criminal Justice degree necessary to be an effective Police Officer?

             The Research Proposal was the first assignment that directly related to my inquiry topic. My research proposal was basically an explanation of my inquiry topic. My research proposal is so helpful because it serves as a reference throughout my entire inquiry process. After I wrote my research proposal, I started gathering my sources. My class spent a day in the library learning how to do proper research. This was very helpful because I didn’t realize the school library had so many resources available. After gathering sources, our next assignment was an Annotated Bibliography. The Annotated Bibliography was extremely helpful. I relied on this for the rest of the course until I finished the multimodal project. The Annotated Bibliography is basically a long Works Cited page. With every source that is cited, there is a brief summary, explanation, and analysis of the source. The Annotated Bibliography also explains how I will use each source in my final inquiry project. The Annotated Bibliography leads right into writing the drafts of the paper.

            Joining the Conversation is where the paper actually starts to be written. In step #1 of Joining the Conversation (JTC), the assignment was to write a play involving some scenario with you and all five of your sources. This step helped me to get familiar with my sources. As I started writing the next steps and started finalizing my paper, I didn’t rely on the play at all when writing my paper. The main purpose of writing the play was to familiarize us with our topics. Step #2 of JTC was to make our play into an academic essay. The main assignment that I used here to help me write this assignment was the Annotated Bibliography. The summaries and analyses of the sources gave me a great outline to write my academic essay. This assignment was basically a first draft of my final paper. This assignment was a minimum of three pages. When I wrote my third step, I had to add two pages to the paper. Joining the Conversation step #3 was the final draft of my final inquiry project. This was the final research paper. It was a minimum of five pages, the longest assignment in the class. The whole class was centered on exploring our inquiry topics and the class led up to this final inquiry project.

            We had two more assignments after we finished the final inquiry paper. We had to do a “multimodal” project. This project was the last assignment relating to our inquiry. The assignment was challenging. It took a lot of critical thinking and problem solving to get this assignment completed. The class was split into groups, each group had similar topics and was to create some kind of video that included and connected each person’s inquiry topic. This assignment was very challenging because my topic was so unique. My topic only related to one other person and so we had to really stretch our topics to make them similar. The purpose of this topic was to help us understand how presenting our topics in a different form allow us to view and analyze the material differently.  The final piece in the class is this assignment. This is a final reflection of the class and all the assignments completed. The final reflection serves as a way for us to think about how we have improved as writers and how we explored our inquiry topics. In this paper, we look at how each assignment and class activity relates to our inquiry. This is also a way for the teacher to analyze whether or not her system of assignments are effective.

Day Book Post #3

Day Book Post #2

Day Book Post #1

Joining the Conversation Step 3 Final Draft

Joining the Conversation Step 3 - Academic Essay

Exploratory Essay Final Draft

Exploratory Essay

Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

Annotated Bibliography

Writing History Response Final Draft

Writing History Response

Letter to Elementary School Student

Self Assesment Reflection - JTC Academic Essay

In writing this paper, my goals were to write with in-depth knowledge of my topic. My topic is actually relevant to me and I care about it, so I naturally wanted to learn more about it. I believe that I have reached my goals in learning about the topic and writing with the knowledge that I have gathered. I will continue to learn as I prepare for my multimodal project. As I progress in this career field, I will never run out of things to learn. A lot of my time in developing this paper was used on the assignments leading up to the third step (final paper). All of the assignments before this one were great for preparing me for this paper. By the time I wrote the final step in my inquiry project, I was so well prepared that it was more of a revision than writing a paper. I think that with each step: the research proposal, the annotated bibliography, and the first two JTC steps my writing improved a little bit each time. Not only did my writing improve a lot with this paper, but it has improved overall throughout the class. Last night, I went back and revised the first paper that I wrote in this class, the Writing History Response. As I was reading it, I was impressed with how I have improved. Obviously, I haven’t become a fabulous writer in four months, but I am one step closer to it. I took great advantage of my peers’ feedback on my drafts. When I wrote the next step, I had the last draft and the peer comments next to each other; they came in very handy in helping me to improve. My inquiry group contributed to my success quite a bit because they gave me great feedback with each draft. While writing this paper, and in the whole class in general, I have learned a lot about my ability to improve my writing. The hardest part about writing this paper was to include every point of view of all the authors that I used as sources. Once I would start writing, I would pick a side that I agreed with and start to leave out the other arguments. I had to stop myself and include everything. The easiest thing about writing this paper was the topic. I thoroughly enjoyed the topic, therefore, I was excited to learn and write about it. One of the main things about my paper that still needs improvement is the cohesive, flowing, easy-to-read aspect of it. I can work on that by trying to tie all the viewpoints together and come up with one view that includes both sides of the argument spectrum. I didn’t work very hard to fix this aspect of my paper yet, I was more focused on other things, such as, including all views, grammar, and writing outside of the box.

Joining the Conversation Step #3 Inquiry Project

Police Education

          What is the difference between the education received in a Criminal Justice degree and at a Police Academy? Is a Criminal Justice degree really necessary to be an effective Police Officer? Should there be a better connection between Police Departments and colleges? Peter McDermott, Diana Hulse, Michael Bueger, Charles Tenney, Richard Harris, and Frank Morn have differing opinions on this topic.

          According to Harris, all Police training is regulated through the state. There are minimum standards for what is to be taught in the Academy. Minimum standards are put in place to ensure adequate education for all officers across the country. This guarantees that new Police Officers are well-equipped to do their job and keep the community safe. Minimum standards are good for those without a college degree. The training academy is the only education that they will receive. With minimum standards, it is ensured that they will be well educated to help make up for the lack of a college degree. A world without Police Education regulation would be a scary world. If Police Education wasn’t regulated, then there would be so many Police Departments that would provide very little training, which is dangerous for the Officers and for the community.

          It is extremely hard to get into many of the Academes in the United States and this creates problems in the hiring process. Many require a Criminal Justice degree and even with a degree, you might get the job. Someone once told me that if you don’t become a Police Officer, the only thing you can do with a Criminal Justice degree is teach. Recruits have to submit to an extensive background investigation including a “competitive civil service exam”, a physical fitness test, and a thorough medical examination. (The Police Academy, pg. 10)  Recruits have to jump through hoops to get to the Academy, which is where the intense training is, and there is no guarantee that you will actually get there. It is not fair to the recruit to have to pay for college and then go through this rigorous process to possibly end up with no job. Police Departments need to either stop requiring a college degree or make the Academy easier to get into and finish. There needs to be more guarantees for the recruits because they spend so much time and energy in the application process and so much money on their education which is useless if they don’t get the job.

          McDermott and Hulse highlight the differences between the Police Academy and the college degree. In the Academy, training involves tactical skills, communications, human interactions, and proper documentation skills. Tactical skills are definitely not on the list of courses that are required to earn a Criminal Justice degree. In the tactical skills portion of the Academy, recruits learn defensive skills, some martial arts, and how to fight in high stress situations. Communications consists of learning to use the Police radio and training in the Police ten codes and reference codes. Learning about human interactions and proper documentation skills is important because you learn how to deal with citizens and how to handle the different types of people that you will come in contact with every day. In the field of law enforcement, documentation is a very important thing. You have to be able to describe what happened in every situation during your day. These just aren’t things that can be taught in a classroom. Every Police department operates differently, so in order for colleges to teach everything they would have to give an overview of every Police department, which would take a very long time.  New Police Officers have to take what they have learned and apply them every day in the field. The Academy combines classroom learning with physical fitness and recruits need both of these things to be a successful Police Officer.

          On the other hand, Bueger emphasizes the importance of a college education AS WELL AS the Police Training Academy. He says that these two types of education need to work together to provide the best education for our Police Officers. Programs such as internships, explorer programs, and cadet programs are a way to connect the college education with the hands-on Academy training. If the college community and the Police Training Community communicated on their education topics, then we could avoid a lot of the “double education” that occurs. If these two are not willing to have an educational relationship, then why are more and more Police Departments requiring a 4 year degree to get an entry level job or for promotions in the future. UNCC and CMPD work very well together. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has many programs for UNC Charlotte students to get involved in law enforcement before they graduate. This helps students to learn more about law enforcement and about this particular department.

As part of my Criminal Justice education, I completed an internship. The experiences and the things that I have learned during my internship are priceless. When you do an internship, it is like on-the-job training while you are taking classes. I go to class and learn the law and learn about different elements of crimes and then I ride along with a Police Officer and get to learn first-hand how these things apply directly to the job. It was an amazing experience that connected my education with my future career. It also helps students to realize how the material they learn in class actually relates to the job.

          “An increasing number of Police Agencies require that 4-year Bachelor’s degree as a hiring credential” (Education and Training the Future Police Officer, pg. 2) If so many Police Departments have made a degree a hiring requirement, than is it more useful than previously thought? Some think that a college degree is becoming more valuable. With the sophistication of crime, a college degree is becoming a more favorable credential of candidates.  According to Charles Tenney, education should be left up to the law enforcement agencies. Their training should provide enough classroom education to be as effective as a college degree in Criminal Justice. Tenney believes that college-type education should be part of the Police Academy. He believes that this would be easier on the recruit because they wouldn’t have to pay for what is basically job training. New recruits would only have to learn the material once in the Academy instead of once in the Academy and once in college and they wouldn’t have to pay for it at all!

          What are the problems with the Criminal Justice field? Some look down upon the field of Criminal Justice; however, the field has come a long way in recent years. Historically, the Criminal Justice discipline has been looked down upon because of the nature of the courses that are involved in this type of degree. Some say that it has no place in higher education and that it is a waste of time and of a degree. Historically, when people thought of Criminal Justice, they thought of the “handcuffing 101” class. (Academic Politics and the History of Criminal Justice Education, pg. 23) The bad reputation of the Criminal Justice degree is another reason that Law Enforcement training should stay within the Police Academy. Our Police Officers are going to colleges around the country to get an education in order to go to the Academy, but they are learning from people that don’t even have any respect for this line of work. People don’t think that this field of study is legitimate.

          The problem that remains within the Criminal Justice degree and the Police Academy is that they are so different and so alike at the same time. Some things that you learn in college you just can’t learn in the Police Academy and there are things that you learn in the Police Academy that have no place in college. Can you imagine and college class that focused on the correct way to shoot a gun. This would be very weird in a college setting. Can you imagine a shooting range on a college campus; it would definitely be something that has never been done before. Both education methods are important, but whether or not this way of educating our Officers will last is unknown. 

Police Education - Academic Inquiry Essay

What is the difference between the education received in a Criminal Justice degree and at a Police Academy? Is a Criminal Justice degree really necessary to be an effective Police Officer? Peter McDermott, Diana Hulse, Michael Bueger, Charles Tenney, Richard Harris, and Frank Morn have differing opinions on this topic.

            According to Harris, all Police training is regulated through the state. There are minimum standards for what is to be taught in the Academy and this is supposed to be a good thing. (The Police Academy, pg. 10) Minimum standards are good for the Police Academies because it insures that the Police recruits are learning enough to keep the community safe. Minimum standards are good for those that did not get a college degree. The training academy is the only education that they receive. With minimum standards, it is ensured that they will be well educated to help make up for the lack of a college education.

            A problem with the Police Academy and the hiring process before one gets to the Police Academy is how long the process is. Recruits have to take a “competitive civil service exam”, a physical fitness test, a medical examination, as well as submit to an extensive background investigation. (The Police Academy, pg. 10)  Recruits have to jump through a lot of hoops to get to the intense training. The only problem with such a lucrative process is that it leaves no guarantee of a job. It is not fair to the recruit to have to pay for college and then go through this rigorous process to possibly end up with no job in the end. Police Departments need to either not require a college degree or make the Academy easier to get into and pass. There needs to be more guarantees for the recruits.

            McDermott and Hulse highlight the differences between the Police Academy and the college degree. In the Academy, training involves tactical skills, communication (Police Radio System), human interactions, and proper documentation skills. (Focus on Training, pg. 16). Tactical skills are definitely not on the list of courses you are required to take to earn a Criminal Justice degree. New Police Officers have to take what they have learned and apply them every day in the field. The Academy combines classroom learning with physical learning and recruits need both of these things to be successful as a Police Officer.

            On the other hand, Bueger emphasizes the importance of a college education AS WELL AS the Police Training Academy. He says that the two need to work together to provide the best education for our Police Officers. (Educating and Training the Future Police Officer, pg. 1) Programs such as internships, explorer programs, and cadet programs are a way to connect the college education with the hands-on Academy training. If the college community and the Police Community communicated on their education topics, then we could avoid a lot of the “double education” that occurs. If these two are not willing to have an educational relationship, then why are more and more Police Departments requiring a 4 year degree to get an entry level job or for promotions in the future.

            “An increasing number of Police Agencies require that 4-year Bachelor’s degree as a hiring credential” (Education and Training the Future Police Officer, pg. 2) If so many Police Departments have made a degree a hiring requirement, than is it more useful than previously thought? According to Charles Tenney, education should be left up to the law enforcement agencies. They should provide enough education in their training to be as effective as a college degree in Criminal Justice. (Higher Education Programs in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, np) Tenney thinks that if we roll the college education and Police Academy training into one, then it would be easier on the Officers. New recruits would only have to attend education/training once in the Academy and they wouldn’t have to pay for it at all!

            What are the problems with the Criminal Justice degree field? The field of Criminal Justice has come a long way. Historically, the Criminal Justice discipline has been looked down upon. Some say that it has no place in higher education and that it is a waste of a degree. Typically when people thought of Criminal Justice, they thought of the “handcuffing 101” class. (Academic Politics and the History of Criminal Justice Education, pg. 23) The bad reputation of the Criminal Justice degree field should be another reason that Police education should stay within the Police Academy. Our Police Officers are going to colleges around the country to get an education in order to go to the Academy, and people don’t even think that their field of study is legitimate.

            The problem that remains with the Criminal Justice degree and the Police Academy is that these two are so different, but so alike at the same time. There are things that you learn in college that just couldn’t be taught in a Police Academy. There are things that are taught in a Police Academy that just couldn’t be taught in college. Both education methods are important, but whether or not this way of educating our Officers will last is unknown. 

Self Assesment Reflection

Self-Assessment

My goals in writing this paper were to become more familiar with my sources. I think that I was successful in reaching my goals. I was able to get a good idea about what sources agree and disagree. I also was able to see the main points of each source.
What I did in the beginning was I wrote out a list of my authors. Then I took each author and wrote what each of the authors stand on Criminal Justice education was. This helped me because once I knew what each author thought, I was able to write a dialogue that reflected their work.
I saw my writing change from my annotated bibliography to this "play" a lot. In the annotated bibliography I wasn't very familiar with my sources, but when I was writing my "play" I was able to write with a better understanding of my sources.
To a certain degree I did take advantage of the advice I received from my peers, however, I did not receive that much advice. No one else really contributed to my paper's success. I have learned that if I just work hard, I can write some really great papers. I also learned that I can learn a lot about my own writing from reading other people's papers.
The easiest part of writing my paper was writing out the character list and writing my introduction and conclusions to my "plays".
In my paper, I am proudest of how well my paper flows. I was able to include every character, even though I had quite a few characters to include.
My paper still needs improvement in adding more dialogue with each character.

Workshop Reflection - Joining the Conversation step #1

Workshop Reflection
Joining the Conversation Step #1

My group for the workshop was me, Dominica, and Brian.
We spent a lot of time on Dominica's and Brian's papers because we thought that we would have more time, so by the time we got to my paper, we had little time left. Dominica and Brian told me that in the introduction for my "play", I should include the Officers first names instead of their last names. They said that it was confusing to have their last names in the introduction and then have their first names throughout the play.
Changing the names of the characters was actually the most helpful peice of advice that I received. They said that I had done a good job on my paper, so they didn't give me that much advice on what to change.
There wasn't really any peice of advice that was least helpful because I only recieved that one peice of advice.
I plan to revise my paper in the following ways:
In my introduction, I plan to change the characters names to only their first names to make it easier to read. I also plan to read through my paper and edit some of the grammatical errors.

Joining the Conversation Step #1

Rachel Pilkington

English 1103

Prof. Megan Keaton

3 April 2013

                                                    The Academy Graduation Debate 

By: Rachel Pilkington

Characters:

Officer Rachel Pilkington

Officer Peter McDermott

Officer Diana Hulse

Officer Michael Bueger

Officer Charles Tenney

Officer Richard Harris

Officer Frank Morn

It is the day of graduation from a major Police Academy. The new Officers are having a debate. Four of the seven new officers went to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice before going to the Police Academy. Officer Pilkington, Officer Bueger, Officer Tenney, and Officer Morn were the four that got a college education. The new Officers are arguing over whether those four wasted their time in college or it was a benefit for them. They are comparing a Criminal Justice education with a Police Academy education to see if they work well together or not and if a degree was necessary. This has become a heated discussion between the new Officers. All intellectual weapons have been drawn.

RACHEL: I don’t think getting my degree was a waste of time. Maybe I wouldn’t have done as well in the Academy as I did.

MICHAEL: You’re right. It wasn’t completely a waste of time. I think the relationship between college and the Academy could be better though.

RACHEL: What do you mean by better?

MICHAEL: In a perfect system, college would feed into the Academy. College should educate students and prepare them to enter the Academy for further training.

DIANA: Yeah, I agree that college should do more to prepare students for college. But, colleges can’t train students to learn about criminal investigations or traffic stops or tactical skills. There are some things that they can’t prepare students for. Is there supposed to be a class called “Tactical Skills and Physical Training”? That would be weird in a college atmosphere.

MICHAEL: What is wrong with a class like that? I think it would be a good addition to some of the Criminal Justice curriculums in college. A little PT [physical training] never hurt anyone!

FRANK: Criminal Justice has a long History of being a “less than challenging” field of study. Do we really want to make that worse by adding a class that is a cross between fighting and P.E.?

RACHEL: Who cares what other people think? This is about furthering the field of Criminal Justice and better preparing Officers to work in the field.

MICHAEL: I understand that people might look at it like a “Handcuffing 101” type of class, but honestly, that it really what we need.

PETER: What we need is a healthy relationship between colleges and law enforcement agencies!

MICHAEL: I couldn’t agree more!

CHARLES: No, what we need are longer, more efficient Academy curriculums.

RACHEL: Really? We just got out of the Academy, it is our graduation day! Do you really think that, that should have been longer? You want more of the Academy!?

CHARLES: It’s not that I want more of the Academy. I just think that law enforcement agencies should provide enough training so that a college degree isn’t necessary. They should provide enough education in their training programs to be as effective as a college education in Criminal Justice.

RACHEL: Yes, I understand that. The only problem is that a college degree is four years long and the Academy is only 6 months long. In order to fit in four years of education, the Academy would have to be at least two years long. I know I don’t want to go to a two year Academy program and the there is no funding for Academy programs like that anywhere-federal, state, or local level. I think I have to agree with Peter and Michael, a healthy relationship is the only way.

RICHARD: Something that I disagree with are the exams and the rigorous process that one has to go through in order to even be considered for an Academy class. Polygraphs, medical exams, physical fitness tests, and written exams, it is way too much. If you are going to require someone to get a degree, at least make it easier for them to get a job. It is not fair to someone to pay for four years of college only to realize that they can’t be a Police Officer and their Criminal Justice degree is just a useless piece of paper.

DIANA: What do you believe that we should do to eliminate this problem?

FRANK: We can’t eliminate all of these things. It is a rigorous process to eliminate people that aren’t cut out for this type of work. We want good, noble people in the Police Force. If someonehas to take a Polygraph and go through a background investigation than we can be certain that they are good, honest people that are surely cut out for this line of work.

DIANA: I agree with you, Frank that we need to make sure we are getting the right kind of people to be Police Officers, however, I agree with Richard as well. It is too much to go through with no guarantee or a job.

Charles jumps out of his seat and starts rambling.

DIANA: Oh, he strikes again!

CHARLES: Like I said earlier, it should be left to law enforcement agencies. If it were left to the law enforcement agencies, then there would be no risk, just a couple wasted months. If law enforcement agencies were solely responsible for the education and training of their new recruits then it would be like any other job application process – no risk.

MICHAEL: What do you guys think of law enforcement agencies only requiring an Associate’s degree instead of a Bachelor’s degree?  Two years is better than four years and its better than nothing. It is a happy medium between a four-year degree and no education prior to the Academy.

RACHEL: I think that Michael has it here!!

PETER:  Diana and I agree.

RICHARD: I just think that education needs to stay within the Police Department hiring the new recruit.

FRANK: I’m caught in the middle. I am in favor of a four year degree, but I do think it’s a happy medium. I think that sometimes after four years of college, come Officers get burned out before they even start the Academy.

CHARLES: I’m with Richard. I think that it needs to stay in the Department.

RACHEL: This is something that has been debated for a long time and is going to be debated for a long time after this.

Diana hushes everyone talking because their graduation is starting.

DIANA: Hey, graduation is starting!

Something to be considered is that everyone is graduating on this day. The four that went to college and got a degree and the three that didn’t get a college degree are all in the same place now. They all made it through the Academy. Maybe it was harder for some than others and maybe a college education helped prepare some of them. Maybe some of them wouldn’t have made it through the Academy without first having been prepared by a college education.

Annotated Bibliography Draft 2 (5 sources)

Works Cited

McDermott, Peter J., and Diana Hulse, Ed.D. "Focus on Training: Corrective Feedback in Police Work." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (2012): n. pag. Www.fbi.gov. Federal Bureau of Investigation, June 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

This article details the curriculum for the average Police Academy in the United States. The differences between college education and Police Academy education are highlighted. In the Police Academy, new recruits learn in areas such as, tactical skills, communication, human interactions, and proper documentation skills. New recruits have to take what they learn in the classroom and in training and be able to use it and perform well on the job. They will use their education for everyday things such as motor vehicle stops and criminal investigations. The article focuses on Corrective Feedback which is used by Field Training Officers (FTOs) as a way to teach new recruits and let them know that they are doing something wrong and how they should fix it.

This source is definitely credible because it is published by the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin which is a very well-known source. The FBI has the best stats regarding law enforcement and law enforcement training. This author of this article does a good job of analyzing how new recruits are taught in the academy, how they apply what they learn, and how it differs from a criminal justice education.

This article will be very good for looking at some of the distinct differences between a Police Academy education and a Criminal Justice education in a college setting. I chose this article because it shows exactly how new officers are taught. The focus of this article is Corrective Feedback given by training officers to the trainee. The focus on Corrective Feedback is actually good because it shows one of the teaching techniques of the Academy which can be compared to that of a Criminal Justice degree in a college.

Buerger, Michael. "Educating And Training The Future Police Officer." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 73.1 (2004): 26. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

This article emphasizes the importance of college education and Police training working together. If the two work together and COMMUNICATE then it would make for more rounded and cohesive education. The author hits on the point that in a “perfect” system, the college education would prepare individuals and the college education would feed into the Police Academy education. This article also addresses the issue of whether or not a college degree (Criminal Justice) is really necessary. A quote that I pulled from the article actually says that a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is becoming a necessary job requirement. The issue of how a degree directly relates, and what a Police Officer might do with or use a degree in his/her career is addressed. The author says that experiential learning in the Police Academy is the best way for a Police Officer to learn. The last point that the author made is that of the struggle that the Criminal Justice discipline has had. Even today the field of Criminal Justice is looked down upon as unnecessary and simple.

The reason that the degree in the Criminal Justice degree has seemed rather useless is because of a major lack of communication and cooperation. Students will learn a variety of things in their college education and then go and learn some of the same things in the Police Academy. At the same time some of the vital things that a new recruit should learn are left out, sometimes because it is assumed that they have learned those things in college. The author wonders whether or not a college education is really necessary. If the college education wasn’t a requirement, then we wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of communication. Police Academies could increase their curriculum and students would definitely learn everything they need and they wouldn’t have to pay for a costly degree. Why would anyone want to get a degree that they don’t really need? The issue of the validity of the Criminal Justice degree in the College environment is addressed. People sometimes see Criminal Justice as a useless field. It goes back to the beginning when colleges offered “Handcuffing 101” as a class for Criminal Justice majors. Sometimes people look at those in this field and wonder why one would spend so much money on a degree when they are going to learn a lot of the same things in the Academy.

This article is going to be a very good source because it addresses almost all of the questions that I have. I can use this article to show why people still get a Criminal Justice degree, but also, why it isn’t really that necessary. This article is also one of the very few that analyze how people in other professions view Criminal Justice. This can be very interesting thing to look at as well as the main issues.

Tenney, Charles W., Jr. Higher Education Programs in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Washington, D.C.: NILE & CJ, U.S. Department of Justice, 1971. Print.

The author says that the reason for education is to help an individual “execute his functions in the most efficient manner”. However, the author says that this education should be left up to the law enforcement agencies. This publication is heavily opinionated. The author believes that law enforcement agencies could provide enough education in their training programs to be as effective as a college education in Criminal Justice.

This publication explains the balance between college educations and the Police Academy. It explains how we need both yet it also shows how both can be rolled into one to be more efficient and cheaper for the student.

This will serve as yet another example of the balance between these two types of education. This is the second source that I have found that shows how both the college education and the Police Academy training can be one. This can be handy. I can analyze how the process of the two becoming one could work.

Harris, Richard N. The Police Academy: An Inside View. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons, 1973. Print.

            This book gives an inside view to the Police Academy and the training that new recruits receive there. The author went through the Academy documenting (with the approval of the Police chief) everything that happened along the way. Everything from the first day and how the recruits are dressed to what they learn to what the Police commissioner says at graduation is described. Some of the problems with the Police Department and the training practices are discussed as well.

All Police Academy programs are regulated by the state. All of the training that the recruits go through is designated by the state. Some Academies (such as the CMPD Academy in Charlotte, NC) add to the minimum requirements to make their recruits better trained. The book details the process that applicants have to go through before they are even chosen to go into the Academy. They have to take a “competitive civil service exam”, a physical fitness test, a physical/medical exam, and they have to submit to a background investigation. The author says that most of the recruits’ time in training was spent in the classroom listening to lectures just like in college. One of the most important things that recruits learn in the Academy is how to use the reporting system. Every Police Department has their own reporting system. This is something that cannot be taught in a college because of how many different kinds of reporting systems there are.

I will be able to use a lot of the information contained in this book to contrast the Academy training with the Criminal Justice education. There are some great details about what is learned in the Police Academy and how it is learned. The process that the recruits have to go through before even going to the Academy is rigorous and nothing at all like getting a college degree. According to this book, recruits spend a great amount of time in the classroom listening to lectures. This is very similar to college; therefore I can look at the necessity of learning the same material in a classroom twice.

Morn, Frank. Academic Politics and the History of Criminal Justice Education. N.p.: Greenwood, 1995. Print.

This book covers the history and evolution of the Criminal Justice education system. It details the start of a Criminal Justice education and who were the supporters and who were the skeptics. The field of Criminal Justice used to have a bad rap. People looked down upon it and it wasn’t respected field of study. Those who were Police Officers didn’t think of police work as a career but a job that kept food on the table. Today, Criminal Justice is a respected and noble field of study. This book shows how far this field has come.

The Criminal Justice field of study was basically forces. In the 1960s-1970s there was a dramatic increase in crime. Chiefs of Police didn’t know what to do and citizens were fearful. Until this point, the Police were not respected and they didn’t have a big role in society and they were certainly not trusted. People looked to the Police to help them stop this increase in crime. Therefore, department implemented new training programs. This was the start of the Police/Law Enforcement training as we know it today.

I will be able to use this information to compare the history of the Criminal Justice degree to the history of the Police Academy training programs. The Police Academy took off about the same time that the Criminal Justice field of study did.

Annotated Bibliography - draft, 3 sources

Works Cited

McDermott, Peter J., and Diana Hulse, Ed.D. "Focus on Training: Corrective Feedback in Police Work." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (2012): n. pag. Www.fbi.gov. Federal Bureau of Investigation, June 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

This article details the curriculum for the average Police Academy in the United States. The differences between college education and Police Academy education are highlighted. In the Police Academy, new recruits learn in areas such as, tactical skills, communication, human interactions, and proper documentation skills. New recruits have to take what they learn in the classroom and in training and be able to use it and perform well on the job. They will use their education for everyday things such as motor vehicle stops and criminal investigations. The article focuses on Corrective Feedback which is used by Field Training Officers (FTOs) as a way to teach new recruits and let them know that they are doing something wrong and how they should fix it.

This source is definitely credible because it is published by the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin which is a very well-known source. The FBI has the best stats regarding law enforcement and law enforcement training. This author of this article does a good job of analyzing how new recruits are taught in the academy, how they apply what they learn, and how it differs from a criminal justice education.

This article will be very good for looking at some of the distinct differences between a Police Academy education and a Criminal Justice education in a college setting. I chose this article because it shows exactly how new officers are taught. The focus of this article is Corrective Feedback given by training officers to the trainee. The focus on Corrective Feedback is actually good because it shows one of the teaching techniques of the Academy which can be compared to that of a Criminal Justice degree in a college.

Buerger, Michael. "Educating And Training The Future Police Officer." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 73.1 (2004): 26. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

            This article emphasizes the importance of college education and Police training working together. If the two work together and COMMUNICATE then it would make for more rounded and cohesive education. The author hits on the point that in a “perfect” system, the college education would prepare individuals and the college education would feed into the Police Academy education. This article also addresses the issue of whether or not a college degree (Criminal Justice) is really necessary. A quote that I pulled from the article actually says that a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is becoming a necessary job requirement. The issue of how a degree directly relates, and what a Police Officer might do with or use a degree in his/her career is addressed. The author says that experiential learning in the Police Academy is the best way for a Police Officer to learn. The last point that the author made is that of the struggle that the Criminal Justice discipline has had. Even today the field of Criminal Justice is looked down upon as unnecessary and simple.

The reason that the degree in the Criminal Justice degree has seemed rather useless is because of a major lack of communication and cooperation. Students will learn a variety of things in their college education and then go and learn some of the same things in the Police Academy. At the same time some of the vital things that a new recruit should learn are left out, sometimes because it is assumed that they have learned those things in college. The author wonders whether or not a college education is really necessary. If the college education wasn’t a requirement, then we wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of communication. Police Academies could increase their curriculum and students would definitely learn everything they need and they wouldn’t have to pay for a costly degree. Why would anyone want to get a degree that they don’t really need? The issue of the validity of the Criminal Justice degree in the College environment is addressed. People sometimes see Criminal Justice as a useless field. It goes back to the beginning when colleges offered “Handcuffing 101” as a class for Criminal Justice majors. Sometimes people look at those in this field and wonder why one would spend so much money on a degree when they are going to learn a lot of the same things in the Academy.

This article is going to be a very good source because it addresses almost all of the questions that I have. I can use this article to show why people still get a Criminal Justice degree, but also, why it isn’t really that necessary. This article is also one of the very few that analyze how people in other professions view Criminal Justice. This can be very interesting thing to look at as well as the main issues.

Tenney, Charles W., Jr. Higher Education Programs in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Washington, D.C.: NILE & CJ, U.S. Department of Justice, 1971. Print.

The author says that the reason for education is to help an individual “execute his functions in the most efficient manner”. However, the author says that this education should be left up to the law enforcement agencies. This publication is heavily opinionated. The author believes that law enforcement agencies could provide enough education in their training programs to be as effective as a college education in Criminal Justice.

This publication explains the balance between college educations and the Police Academy. It explains how we need both yet it also shows how both can be rolled into one to be more efficient and cheaper for the student.

This will serve as yet another example of the balance between these two types of education. This is the second source that I have found that shows how both the college education and the Police Academy training can be one. This can be handy. I can analyze how the process of the two becoming one could work. 

Dialogic Journal: Article #2 "Education and Training the future Police Officer"

Education and Training the Future Police Officer

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin

By Michael Bueger, Ph. D

Before Reading: 1. I am reading this piece because, after long research, this article seems to relate to my topic the most. This is the only article that I could find that relates to a Criminal Justice DEGREE in any way.

2. I hope to learn whether or not a Criminal Justice degree proves useful and necessary in a law enforcement career or if training in a Police Academy is sufficient.

Quote	Explanation
“It is time for a new dialogue between the law enforcement and academic communities to better integrate education with the training and service needs of agencies” (page 1)	I chose this quote because it addresses a problem with the Criminal Justice education community. By saying that there needs to be better communication, the law enforcement agencies (here, the FBI) are saying that the Criminal Justice degrees aren’t meeting the needs of the agencies.
“…an increasing number of Police agencies require the 4-year bachelor’s degree as a hiring credential.” (page 2)	This quote shows that maybe the 4 year Criminal Justice degree may be more useful/necessary than previously thought, since it is now being required by an increasing number of agencies.
“Speaking broadly, the law enforcement profession apparently had not known what to do with a college education. Although college educated persons have succeeded in Policing, ‘education’ seems to remain tied in an abstract way to professionalization and more optional than necessary” (page 2)	This quote basically answers my whole inquiry question – the Criminal Justice degree still remains more optional than necessary.
“…Nor has the Criminal Justice degree proven itself valuable as a preparation credential” (page 2)	This quote explains that no one has proven that a Criminal Justice degree actually helps someone become a better Police Officer, whether it is necessary or not.
“…experiential learning [Police Academy education] is the only real preparation for Police work. (page 3)	This quote shows that even though you can learn a lot about Police work from a Criminal Justice degree, really, the only hands-on , practical training comes in “experiential learning”, in the Police Academy.
“The Criminal Justice discipline continues to fight a battle for legitimacy within the educational community, seeking to shed the early stigma of ‘Handcuffing 101’.” (page 3)	Other educational disciplines don’t take Criminal Justice seriously because all they think Criminal Justice education is, is how to shoot people and arrest people. In fact, they are only naive. A Criminal Justice education relies more on research methods and statistics and professional strategies than anything else.
“…in a well-developed system, the collegiate process would feed well-prepared individuals into a Police training process that capitalizes on their education, thus creating a complementary approach to improving Police Services.”	In the end, the college degree fits into the Police training well. The Police Academy does the majority of the proper training for Police Officers, but the Criminal Justice college education prepares the student well for intense training. The degree doesn’t necessarily prepare the individual for a Police career but for training for a Police career.

After Reading: 1. This reading is extremely useful for my inquiry project. It addresses the exact question that I want to answer in my paper.

2. This reading addresses the pros and cons of a Criminal Justice degree and how it helps or doesn't help in a Police Training Program.

Dialogic Journal - Article # 1 "Focus on Training"

Focus on Training

Before Reading Questions: 1. I am reading this article because it seems relevant to my inquiry topic. Also, it is published by the FBI bulletin, so I know it is credible and about U.S. Police work.

2. As I read this article, I hope to learn a lot about the processes in Police Training.

“Corrective Feedback in Police Work” by Peter J. McDermott & Diana Hulse, Ed. D

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin

Quote	Explanation
“Police Recruits are trained and supervised in the work performance areas of tactical skills, communication abilities, understanding of human interactions, and the development of proper documentation skills.” (page 1)	I chose to use this quote because it represents everything that I want out of my inquiry project. This talks about the actual training.
“Corrective feedback occurs when a Field Training Officer (FTO) identifies that recruits’ performance does not meet expectations and prepares to speak with them about changing their behavior.”	I chose this quote because it explains how new recruits are trained in the field.
“In field training programs, recruits are expected to translate classroom instruction to acceptable performance in motor vehicle stops, criminal investigations…They receive mandatory feedback on a daily basis for 10 to 14 weeks.”	I chose this quote because it explains a little about how new officers are taught and learn out in the field. It also explains how they interact with corrective feedback – how they learn from it. Having corrective feedback everyday or 10-14 weeks also helps them get acquainted with this type of instruction.
“Some supervisors may not know how to give corrective feedback and may have their own anxieties…as a result, behavioral change is not initiated, and professional development is stunted for both the giver and receiver.”	I chose this quote because it demonstrates the need for supervisors to give corrective feedback in Police work.
“The CFI-R consists of 30 items presented in a 6-point likert format: strongly disagree, disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, agree, and strongly agree.”	I chose this quote because it shows how corrective feedback is given/received.
“Cycle of Effective Feedback: Understandingàpresentingàreflectingà ^ßfollowing upßproblem-solvingß .”	This diagram (which didn’t transfer well to the computer) shows how effective corrective feedback can be translated to/from the recruit.
“During a motor vehicle stop conducted by a recruit and observed by the FTO, it is determined that the recruit conveyed a rude and disrespectful tone toward the vehicle operator. The function of the FTO is to give corrective feedback… put the recruit in a learning mode as opposed to a defensive one.”	This quote explains how an FTO might give corrective feedback and how he can make sure that the recruit reacts positively.

After Reading Questions: 1. I think that this article can definitely be useful to my inquiry project. It shows how new officers in the field learn, which is basically what my inquiry consists of.

2. This article is useful because it demonstrates an in-the-field type of learning presented by a training officer. It gives specific examples of how this “corrective feedback” works.