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.