Intro to Police I
Assignment 100%
Discussion 27/30 points (Lacking a little on my details)
Mid-term exam 46/55 points (7 out of 53 incorrect)
Bringing my total score for this course to 95.26%
Intro to Criminal Justice I
There was no written assignments this week.
Discussion 100%
Journal 100%
Quiz 16/20 points.
Bringing my total score to 94.52% for the course.
Computer Applications
Assignments 100%
Discussion 25/30 points (I forgot to include a required link in my post.)
Quiz 24/30 points.
Bringing my total score for the course to 95%
My total GPA is currently 3.5
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Week 5
Intro to Police I
This week we continued to study the new police officer. We read about training programs and academies. We then looked at the field training officer (FTO) program, which a good friend of mine happens to be an FTO ( Hi Eric!) In the class discussion we talked about whether or not the amount of training an officer receives is enough to prepare them for the streets as a fully functional officer. The truth I believe is no, just like in trucking, training program does not make a good driver, it takes time and experience on the job to develop that professionalism. The written assignment this week was on something called "Police cyncism" which is basically something that can happen when new officers come into the career with the misconception that their job is filled with lollipops and happiness and "helping" people all day long. When they are faced head on with the reality of the streets, and this applies mostly to the days before the wide acceptance off the community police tactics (COPPS) which we will get into in another week.
Anyway the fact of the matter is cops had to deal with the "bad guys" most of the time and begin to drift away from their fantasy world and develop an us vs. them attitude and assumes that everyone is bad except their fellow officers. It can lead to depression, seperation from family and society, divorce, and even suicide. It's not a good road to go down. The days of community policing are here now, the police get to deal a lot more with the good people in a proactive manner, which I believe helps to level out the emotions a little bit and keeps the officers perspective a little more balanced in the good.
Also took the mid-term exam this week.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
This week we studied criminology theories. This is all different sorts of studies on reasons that lead to crime from hereditary, biological, to social status. This is such an in-depth study that I wouldn't even know where to begin to blog about it. It would go on forever, but you get the basic idea. In the discussion we also discussed theories. In the journal entry I wrote about physical fitness preparation for a law enforcement career. The truth of the matter, I believe, is their is no one certain reason that leads to crime, most the theories make good points, and a few are just absolutly ridiculous. But it is a combination of factors that can lead people to crime, either one time, or a life long career.
This week we continued to study the new police officer. We read about training programs and academies. We then looked at the field training officer (FTO) program, which a good friend of mine happens to be an FTO ( Hi Eric!) In the class discussion we talked about whether or not the amount of training an officer receives is enough to prepare them for the streets as a fully functional officer. The truth I believe is no, just like in trucking, training program does not make a good driver, it takes time and experience on the job to develop that professionalism. The written assignment this week was on something called "Police cyncism" which is basically something that can happen when new officers come into the career with the misconception that their job is filled with lollipops and happiness and "helping" people all day long. When they are faced head on with the reality of the streets, and this applies mostly to the days before the wide acceptance off the community police tactics (COPPS) which we will get into in another week.
Anyway the fact of the matter is cops had to deal with the "bad guys" most of the time and begin to drift away from their fantasy world and develop an us vs. them attitude and assumes that everyone is bad except their fellow officers. It can lead to depression, seperation from family and society, divorce, and even suicide. It's not a good road to go down. The days of community policing are here now, the police get to deal a lot more with the good people in a proactive manner, which I believe helps to level out the emotions a little bit and keeps the officers perspective a little more balanced in the good.
Also took the mid-term exam this week.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
This week we studied criminology theories. This is all different sorts of studies on reasons that lead to crime from hereditary, biological, to social status. This is such an in-depth study that I wouldn't even know where to begin to blog about it. It would go on forever, but you get the basic idea. In the discussion we also discussed theories. In the journal entry I wrote about physical fitness preparation for a law enforcement career. The truth of the matter, I believe, is their is no one certain reason that leads to crime, most the theories make good points, and a few are just absolutly ridiculous. But it is a combination of factors that can lead people to crime, either one time, or a life long career.
Week 4 grades
Intro to Police I
Assignment 100%
Discussion 100%
Quiz 13/15 Points.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
Assignments 100%
Discussion 100%
Journal 12/15 points. (Was a little lacking on my details)
Quiz 18/20 points.
Computer Applications
Assignments 100%
Discussion 100%
Quiz 22/30 points.
Assignment 100%
Discussion 100%
Quiz 13/15 Points.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
Assignments 100%
Discussion 100%
Journal 12/15 points. (Was a little lacking on my details)
Quiz 18/20 points.
Computer Applications
Assignments 100%
Discussion 100%
Quiz 22/30 points.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Week 4
Introduction to Police I
Beginning this week we start to look at the hiring and training process for new officers, referred to as the "hurdle process." The process may vary depending upon department,some use more of the methods than others. But consist of some of the following and the percentage of departments nationwide that use each step in the hiring process of new officers:
Introduction to Criminal Justice I
This week we began our study into crime, covering all sorts of crime. Part I and Part II offenses.
This was a very in-depth look at all sorts of crime, so I wont go into much detail about that. In the assignment for this week we took the crime of murder and compared it's results with the FBI Uniform Crime Report and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics site. The UCR site basically takes each type of crime and gives and gives a total number for the year,regardless of factors. The SCJS site takes a crime and breaks it down into several factors, weapon,gender,age,size of city, etc. The discussion this week we discussed the influence of the media on the criminal justice system. In the journal entry I wrote about ethics.
Beginning this week we start to look at the hiring and training process for new officers, referred to as the "hurdle process." The process may vary depending upon department,some use more of the methods than others. But consist of some of the following and the percentage of departments nationwide that use each step in the hiring process of new officers:
- Application 100% (obviously)
- Personal Interview 98%
- Medical Exam 85%
- Drug Test 73% (This is kind of surprising, one would assume 100%)
- Psychological Evaluation 67%
- Physical Agility Test 50%
- Written Aptitude Test 43% (This is primarily used in large departments)
- Personality Inventory 26%
- Polygraph Exam 25% ( This is really surprising, and we will discuss later why)
- Voice Stress Analyzer 4% (Have no idea what this means)
- Second Language Ability Test 1% ( Really only applies to specialized federal positions)
- Background Check 99%
- Background Investigation 98%
- MVR check 96%
- Credit check 55%
- Volunteer Service Check 8%
- Applicant in PA came highly recommended by a police Lt. and his previous employer from a home for blind and mentally challenged children, admitted to 50 counts of sexually abusing the children under his care.
- Applicant in KS admits to burglaries and the police clear eight unsolved cases.
- Police officer in CA applies to transfer to new department and admits under polygraph to burglaries while on duty, and sex with underage girls in his patrol car.
- Another applicant to a CA Sheriff's office admits he likes to beats Blacks, Mexicans, and long haired pukes to release his frustration. (although he used some other terms)
Introduction to Criminal Justice I
This week we began our study into crime, covering all sorts of crime. Part I and Part II offenses.
This was a very in-depth look at all sorts of crime, so I wont go into much detail about that. In the assignment for this week we took the crime of murder and compared it's results with the FBI Uniform Crime Report and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics site. The UCR site basically takes each type of crime and gives and gives a total number for the year,regardless of factors. The SCJS site takes a crime and breaks it down into several factors, weapon,gender,age,size of city, etc. The discussion this week we discussed the influence of the media on the criminal justice system. In the journal entry I wrote about ethics.
Week 3 Grades
Introduction to Police I
Scored 100% on assignments and discussion and 14/15 on the weekly quiz.
Introduction to Criminal Justice I
Again 100% on assignments and discussion and 18/20 on the weekly quiz.
Computer Applications
100% on assignments and discussion and 22/30 on weekly quiz.
Scored 100% on assignments and discussion and 14/15 on the weekly quiz.
Introduction to Criminal Justice I
Again 100% on assignments and discussion and 18/20 on the weekly quiz.
Computer Applications
100% on assignments and discussion and 22/30 on weekly quiz.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Week 3 04/04/09
A very action filled week in the police courses, starting see some personal emotions coming through the instructors in the discussion boards,especially concerning the 9/11 discussion in Police I.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
This week we studies in our text books about criminal defenses in court. Basically falling under four categories.
Justifications are reasons that led someone to commit a crime in order to prevent a greater evil from occurring. This would include self-defense, defense of others, home and property etc. Also resisting an unlawful arrest, however how many people arrested believe that they are the victims of an unlawful arrest? Your personal opinion does not justify use of force against a police officer. I would recommend full cooperation with law enforcement and let the system work out the details. That is the safest bet nobody is going to get hurt, however if an officer is using unreasonable amount of force during an arrest and you fear for your safety you may resist such arrests.
Excuses apply to things such as age,duress,involuntary intoxication,provocation and insanity, which is the focus of class discussion this week. This basically sums up that in some way a person was provoked to commit a crime such as in marital homicides and or removal of male genitalia due to some extended time of abuse. Age applies to holding children criminally responsible for their acts. Any child under seven is not mentally capable to reason right and wrong under the law and can't be taken to trial. Insanity we will discuss more in the discussion section.
Procedural defenses apply to the defendant making accusation that the CJ system made some sort of error in the way the case or evidence was handled.
In the written assignment this week we got to play the role of a defense attorney, given several scenarios, we had to determine a defense that we would try and make for the defendant and why.
In the discussion board this week we looked at the insanity plea and what it means. You may think that a person with a mental illness would be found insane, but this is far from true. Many mentally ill people are perfectly capable of being tried for a crime. Insane determines the persons ability to defend themselves in a trial. A person found to be legally insane can not stand trial, also it considers the persons state of mind at the time of the crime. Many people try and claim some form of temporary insanity, which is near impossible to prove, because the person has claimed to make a full recovery since the crime, so they can not be sentenced to a rehab facility, yet if they were insane in the commission of the crime they can not be sent to jail. Because of it's difficulty to prove the insanity plea is rarely used, duress may be much more successful,it will not keep you from prison but it does put consideration into the sentencing phase.
This week I also made another entry in my journal regarding job interview process and watched videos of Westwood instructors ,taking notes for the final written assignment of this course.
Before we move on to the next course lets look at a common thing that I hear thrown around "That's police entrapment" You know the one's, the cop had his lights off, he was hiding.. blah
Great example I hear two truckers not long ago in TX talking about an officer who would hide his cruiser in the woods and bust speeders, they swore this officer had committed entrapment, so what is "entrapment"? I think after reading this you will realize how ridiculous most claims of police entrapment are,and are rather people not taking responsibility for their own actions.
Entrapment is an improper or illegal inducement to crime by law agents. In other words the officer has to do something to make you commit a crime that you would not have otherwise committed! You were speeding long before you even knew a cop was or was not present at a location, nothing he done made you break the law. As I tell people, the officer could be hiding in the woods in the dark with lights off, under a bush, if you're not speeding, you wont get a ticket.
A successful scenario of entrapment would be if an undercover officer approaches you to buy drugs, and you say no thanks man, I'm not interested,and he goes oh come on buddy..this is some really good stuff, and you say well alright I'll buy some. See the difference, the officer has induced a person to commit a crime they had no intention of committing. Now does this apply to the undercover CB radio operations like that in West Memphis,AR? NO...That is not entrapment,if the officer gets on the CB selling drugs and YOU contact him with the intent to purchase drugs, the officer in no way induced you into that act,they only provide the opportunity, same thing as vice operations.
In intro to Police I this week we reviewed the roles of different federal law enforcement agencies and how their roles have changed since 9/11. For instance the FBI became a counter-terrorism agency rather than their old role of hunting down fugitives. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created, with 180,000 new jobs. We also studied ATF, and DEA in detail.
Written assignment this week was picking three federal law enforcement agencies and detailing their creation and role in the federal system. I chose..
The board discussion covered the effect of federal law enforcement and creation of the DHS.
Which has naturally brought out a lot of strong emotions from students and the instructor.
Intro to Criminal Justice I
This week we studies in our text books about criminal defenses in court. Basically falling under four categories.
- Alibi
- Justifications
- Excuses
- Procedural Defenses
Justifications are reasons that led someone to commit a crime in order to prevent a greater evil from occurring. This would include self-defense, defense of others, home and property etc. Also resisting an unlawful arrest, however how many people arrested believe that they are the victims of an unlawful arrest? Your personal opinion does not justify use of force against a police officer. I would recommend full cooperation with law enforcement and let the system work out the details. That is the safest bet nobody is going to get hurt, however if an officer is using unreasonable amount of force during an arrest and you fear for your safety you may resist such arrests.
Excuses apply to things such as age,duress,involuntary intoxication,provocation and insanity, which is the focus of class discussion this week. This basically sums up that in some way a person was provoked to commit a crime such as in marital homicides and or removal of male genitalia due to some extended time of abuse. Age applies to holding children criminally responsible for their acts. Any child under seven is not mentally capable to reason right and wrong under the law and can't be taken to trial. Insanity we will discuss more in the discussion section.
Procedural defenses apply to the defendant making accusation that the CJ system made some sort of error in the way the case or evidence was handled.
In the written assignment this week we got to play the role of a defense attorney, given several scenarios, we had to determine a defense that we would try and make for the defendant and why.
In the discussion board this week we looked at the insanity plea and what it means. You may think that a person with a mental illness would be found insane, but this is far from true. Many mentally ill people are perfectly capable of being tried for a crime. Insane determines the persons ability to defend themselves in a trial. A person found to be legally insane can not stand trial, also it considers the persons state of mind at the time of the crime. Many people try and claim some form of temporary insanity, which is near impossible to prove, because the person has claimed to make a full recovery since the crime, so they can not be sentenced to a rehab facility, yet if they were insane in the commission of the crime they can not be sent to jail. Because of it's difficulty to prove the insanity plea is rarely used, duress may be much more successful,it will not keep you from prison but it does put consideration into the sentencing phase.
This week I also made another entry in my journal regarding job interview process and watched videos of Westwood instructors ,taking notes for the final written assignment of this course.
Before we move on to the next course lets look at a common thing that I hear thrown around "That's police entrapment" You know the one's, the cop had his lights off, he was hiding.. blah
Great example I hear two truckers not long ago in TX talking about an officer who would hide his cruiser in the woods and bust speeders, they swore this officer had committed entrapment, so what is "entrapment"? I think after reading this you will realize how ridiculous most claims of police entrapment are,and are rather people not taking responsibility for their own actions.
Entrapment is an improper or illegal inducement to crime by law agents. In other words the officer has to do something to make you commit a crime that you would not have otherwise committed! You were speeding long before you even knew a cop was or was not present at a location, nothing he done made you break the law. As I tell people, the officer could be hiding in the woods in the dark with lights off, under a bush, if you're not speeding, you wont get a ticket.
A successful scenario of entrapment would be if an undercover officer approaches you to buy drugs, and you say no thanks man, I'm not interested,and he goes oh come on buddy..this is some really good stuff, and you say well alright I'll buy some. See the difference, the officer has induced a person to commit a crime they had no intention of committing. Now does this apply to the undercover CB radio operations like that in West Memphis,AR? NO...That is not entrapment,if the officer gets on the CB selling drugs and YOU contact him with the intent to purchase drugs, the officer in no way induced you into that act,they only provide the opportunity, same thing as vice operations.
In intro to Police I this week we reviewed the roles of different federal law enforcement agencies and how their roles have changed since 9/11. For instance the FBI became a counter-terrorism agency rather than their old role of hunting down fugitives. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created, with 180,000 new jobs. We also studied ATF, and DEA in detail.
Written assignment this week was picking three federal law enforcement agencies and detailing their creation and role in the federal system. I chose..
- FBI
- DEA
- National Park Service : Ranger Division
The board discussion covered the effect of federal law enforcement and creation of the DHS.
Which has naturally brought out a lot of strong emotions from students and the instructor.
Week 2 Grades 04/04/09
Intro to Criminal Justice I.
I did pretty well in this class this week, scoring a perfect 100% on my written assignment, my first ever in APA standard, so I was very surprised I got it right the first time! It was a report where we were given examples of crimes and had to define which crime category each one fell into. In the journal entry for this week I also got a 100% where I had to do an assignment from our careers in criminal justice workbook. It was about preparing for job interviews. Discussion I also scored a 100%, we discussed the mala in se and mala in prohibita offenses. The quiz I scored 18/20 points missing one out of ten questions. Going into week three my score in this class is 92%.
Intro to Police I
I am very happy about my performance in this class this week, a full 100% across the board! My first time ever doing that so far. My written assignment on the ways modern forensics could catch Jack the Ripper got a very good review from the instructor. The quiz I scored 100% also my first time I have not missed any questions on a weekly quiz, and discussion 100% where we discussed Sir Robert Peeler. Bringing my score in this class going into week three to 97%
Computer Applications
In this class my assignment was to create a flyer using MS Word, which I scored 95/100. I accidentally went over into two pages instead of one and didn't catch it before I submitted the paper. Discussion 100% and quiz 26/30 missing two out of nine questions. Bringing my total score to 96%.
A great week, see you next week!
I did pretty well in this class this week, scoring a perfect 100% on my written assignment, my first ever in APA standard, so I was very surprised I got it right the first time! It was a report where we were given examples of crimes and had to define which crime category each one fell into. In the journal entry for this week I also got a 100% where I had to do an assignment from our careers in criminal justice workbook. It was about preparing for job interviews. Discussion I also scored a 100%, we discussed the mala in se and mala in prohibita offenses. The quiz I scored 18/20 points missing one out of ten questions. Going into week three my score in this class is 92%.
Intro to Police I
I am very happy about my performance in this class this week, a full 100% across the board! My first time ever doing that so far. My written assignment on the ways modern forensics could catch Jack the Ripper got a very good review from the instructor. The quiz I scored 100% also my first time I have not missed any questions on a weekly quiz, and discussion 100% where we discussed Sir Robert Peeler. Bringing my score in this class going into week three to 97%
Computer Applications
In this class my assignment was to create a flyer using MS Word, which I scored 95/100. I accidentally went over into two pages instead of one and didn't catch it before I submitted the paper. Discussion 100% and quiz 26/30 missing two out of nine questions. Bringing my total score to 96%.
A great week, see you next week!
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