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.