Week 1

For the first week in the criminology course we start out by defining "criminology", which is simply "the study of crime." Now what is crime? Initially it's defined as "the human conduct that violates the laws of a state,federal government or local jurisdiction which has the power to make such laws." There are four main perspectives that make up contemporary criminology 1. Legalistic ,2. political, 3.sociological, 4. psychological. The purpose of this course is going to follow the legalistic perspective, which defines crime as I have stated. Without laws that define what a crime is, there can be no crime, regardless of how heinous an act may be to society. However in a "common law" state, a person can be prosecuted on what is accepted acts of right and wrong, it does not need to be any written formal law. These prosecutions are rare, and often unsuccessful though.

A quick look at the other perspectives of criminology are political, which defines crime as laws made by those in power to try and control the people from committing acts which would jeopardize their control. Sociological defines crime as an antisocial act that needs to be repressed in order to preserve the current system of society. Psychological perspective defines crime as a form of social maladjustment ,difficulty of the offender in reacting to the stimuli of his environment. It is a problem behavior which makes it difficult for the offender to live in a socially acceptable manner. But we will focus on the legalistic perspective only, for the purpose of this course. There is a difference between criminal behavior, and deviant behavior. Deviant behavior is simply human activity that violates social norms, the kinds of things that might get you in trouble in a "common law' state.

What is a criminologist, what do they do? A common broad stroking definition is of a person who studies crime, and criminals.  It's bit more complicated than that when you break it down though. Sometimes the scope of a criminologist gets overshadowed to those who are really criminalist, one who works in crime labs, or a crime scene investigator, or anyone who works with a special knowledge in a specific area of crime. Criminologist is reserved for academics and researchers with advanced degrees involved in the study of crime and trends and societal

reactions to crime.

The desire to understand the criminal mind predates written history, prehistoric skeletal evidence shows a primitive cranial surgery. It is believed that people assumed deviant behavior was caused by spiritual possession, and the surgery was an attempt to free the evil spirit.

Unfortunately the understanding of what criminology is, is not as simple as the explanation sounds. It's very detailed and covers many different theories. There is not one right or wrong theory, in my opinion, they all have valid ideas that need to be looked at.

 

Theoretical criminology is the type most often found in colleges and universities, it attempts to posit explanations for criminal behavior. There is also a category called "general theory" which attempts to define all criminal behavior under one explanation, this is one theory I would not bother looking to much into, because that is impossible to do. The integrated theory takes  concepts from different sources and merges them together to try and develop an understanding of crime. This theory seems like the most reasonable approach to me, and is part of what makes criminology an inter-discipline science.

The overall theme of this course is going to be one of social policy, the social problems perspective, which holds that crime is the manifestation of an underlying social problem such as poverty, inequality, and lower levels of education and so on. We must ask what we can do to control crime from these factors.

The opposite of this perspective is the social responsibility, which holds that individuals are responsible for their own actions, and they choose crime over law-abiding courses of action.

We will be contrasting these two perspectives in this course. Advocates of social responsibility believe that regardless of social programs to deter crime, certain individuals are always going to be prone to a criminal life, because that's what they choose to do. They want to see harsher enforcement and punishments, rather than government programs. This policy was best displayed in 1994, when the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was passed.

It expanded the number of capital offenses to 52, billions of dollars was made available to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets,it also funded money for prisons.

Every crime that occurs has a unique set of causes, consequences, and participants. Everyone from the offender, victim, bystanders, police, courts, and society as a whole,a criminal act has a different affect on them. Which usually leads to some sort of new law being enacted if society feels deeply offended by the case and realizes a need for change to prevent future instances as much as possible. The roles of the criminal justice system are (1) prevent crime, (2) adequately identify and inhibit specific offenders  prior to there involvement. (3) prevent the release of potential repeat offenders. 

Finally we change our definition of crime to an "emergent phenomenon" , a lawbreaking event that rises from an intricate social nexus involving a wide variety of participants.

In the discussion we talked about why society needs crime, on the surface we condemn crime, and punish offenders, but deep down crime and punishment is a ritual of our lives. Long ago, before television was made popular in America, the airwaves were filled with hundreds of radio programs of detectives solving murders, and the glamorous life of the old west lawmen, marshals and of course the Lone Ranger. Many of early televisions program were remakes of previously popular radio programs. Throughout the years since, criminal justice shows have been some of the highest rated programs ever. 

Today CSI : Miami is "THE" highest rated show in the world, with over fifty million viewers in over fifty five countries. Even though I hate to be the one to burst the big bubble and tell you that things don't really work quite that way in the real world, it just shows the desire and attraction people have to crime. Can you think of anytime in your life a criminal justice program wasn't popular? CHP's, Murder She Wrote, Matlock,COPS, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol,CSI,Law and Order... it could go on forever, I think it shows a positive conjunction for the thesis of this discussion.

We marvel at criminal behavior, as in the case of the old west outlaws, who were by all rights cold blooded killers, but society seen them as romanticized heroes. I'm not sure exactly where this comes from, I believe it's more of the detective in all of us coming out, and we don't stop to realize the true horror and life changing affects that a crime can cause. Hollywood really has desensitized us to the truth about crime over the last century, and sometimes it's not until it hits us directly that we realize what it's really about. 

We posted our introductions this week, some students are returning from my previous classes and some are new. Every criminal justice student takes a little different path in the order of the classes, so the ones that I've been with the last two terms will be with me to the end, and the rest will be mixed.

No assignments were due this week.

The same procedure in this course as well for week 1, post introductions to the class. We did not have any book reading assignment this week, we just read from the online lecture material and discussed why it's important for students to study corrections, which most people think of only as jail and prison. We must not forget that parole and probation as well as other rehabilitation programs are all included in the corrections branch of the system.

For the assignment I had to write a short three paragraph report summarizing the "convict ships" of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that took convicted criminals from England away to exile to live in Australia. I covered the early days of cruel treatment and many deaths, until after 1801 when the English government got involved and put their own doctors on the ships who did not have to answer to the Captain, and also offered bonuses to the crew for the safe delivery of all the convicts.

Week 9 Grades

Intro to Police I

Discussion 100%

Final Exam 43/55

Final Score 638/690 92.46%

Intro to Criminal Justice I

Journal 11/15

Assignments 100%

Discussion 100%

Final Exam 85/100

Final score 976.80 / 1035 94.38%

Computer Applications

Assignments 90/100

Discussion 100%

Quiz 24/30

Final Score 1376 / 1450 94.90%


STRAIGHT 'A's

Week 9

Intro to Police I

This is the final week of this term, we did not have any assignments this week. We wrapped up our discussion of community policing and took the final exam.

We also discussed why repeat victimization occurs so frequently, and what can be done to change that. We watched this video as part of our topic.





Intro to Criminal Justice I


In this week's discussion we talked about police brutality, particularly in this video from Reagan International Airport. The description of the video is cleverly written to put outrage into the viewers. "Police beat up a girl at Reagan National Airport, throwing her across the room into a person and a metal chair. Then they picked her up and threw her against a table. After that, they bashed her head into that metal table, giving her a concussion. Then they twisted her arm so hard that it was about to break. "

I did not however see any sign of brutality in this video other than the fact that the TSA agent grabbed the woman and threw her backwards into a chair, that was pretty excessive. As far as the rest of it goes when they picked her up and "placed" her against the table, in my opinion, I did not see anything that was not routine arrest procedure. No bashing of heads or twisting of arms, the woman seemed a little agitated, and rightfully so, and may have been resisting arrest at this point.

Only one other student agreed with me, so I don't know maybe I'm missing something here, but it just did not seem nearly as brutal as I expected from the description. The camera angle is kind of hard to see,no audio, and I have no idea what the problem was, so I have to assume something in the woman's bag led to the incident. There was certainly some excessive force used, but I wouldn't call it "brutality." It was the TSA, not the police who were involved in throwing the woman to the ground anyway.

For the assignment we had to write a report on the history of police corruption within the LAPD,and most recently from the Rampart division gang unit scandal that occurred there.

In the journal entry I summed up what I've learned through the course from the careers in criminal justice workbook and all my previous journal entries. I finished out the course by taking the final exam.

Police Ride Along 05/15/09

Went out riding again this weekend with my buddy the "big city" cop. For legal purposes I will not release any names, Officer or city, as you may have noticed. Anyhow he picked me up and we headed back to the district, we were doing some business checks of a main Blvd. that is known for hookers to hang out, when we pulled up a woman sitting at the bus stop kind of waved as we drove by, so I waved back at her and we pulled into the shopping center and observed her making eye contact with passing traffic and waving. She then spotted us sitting in the shopping center and she stood up and began waving again, we thought maybe she was little too friendly so we drove over and contacted her about what she was doing, of course she was just "waiting for the bus." Rule #1 in police work, EVERYBODY lies, and we were not buying her story, so we asked her who she was and she voluntarily gave up her ID, we ran it and found that she had previous contacts for prostitution. We went back and got her to admit she was out trying to make some cash, we advised her when the bus pulled up to get on it and get going, and she complied.

We went back on patrol and a few minutes later got a call to a nearby Wendy's where a man was involved in a traffic altercation with some self proclaimed local gang members who followed him into the parking lot and pointed a gun at him, they then wrote down his plate number in an attempt to intimidate him and told them they could find out where he lived and drove off. We took some initial suspect information and the other officer's showed up and we turned it over to them.

We went back on patrol a few blocks away and a vehicle rolled through a stop sign right in front of us, we flipped around and cornered him in parking lot where he was attempting to turn around, he was visiting from FL. The man driving the SUV had no drivers license and no insurance, we cited the driver for those offenses but not running the stop sign and advised him to park the car, he was from a residence that was nearby.

Next we went to a call off some neighbors fighting, possibly drunk, it turned out to be just yelling and threats mostly. We turned the case over to the district cars to settle, we are a command unit so we do not get dispatched to any calls or take reports.We also responded to a call of a suicidal woman with several other units. We arrived at the apartment complex and all squeezed into the elevator, the officers' went in and took some statements and talked with the woman, she was taken to the hospital on a mental health hold. We then responded to call downtown of a domestic outside a business, a man was yelling at his girlfriend and grabbed her arm, we were able to clear that pretty quickly, it was nothing really.

We were on patrol again we were in the left lane and a car was in the right lane, a man pulled out of a business drive right in front of the car in the right lane and they had to slam on the brakes and almost crashed into him, the car then got in the left lane and we got behind him to prepare to make a stop. When the light turned green he made a right turn from the left lane and we followed him and he drove back around the block into the alley he just came out of and we stopped him there. He was not drunk but was driving on a revoked license for alcohol offense.
We cited him for driving under revocation and ordered him to park the car.

Next were patrolling through a housing complex known for selling drugs and saw a car load of juveniles pulling out and they made a left turn without signaling so we stopped them for that to see what they were doing down there, presumably buying dope but we did not pursue the matter and let them go. Also earlier we stopped another juvenile for making a turn without signaling but it was nothing, though my buddy stated the driver was "playing for my team", not sure what that means, maybe he was an Indians baseball player or something.

Next we covered a district car that made a traffic stop on a car with five occupants, some appeared to be juveniles. Three males and two females, they were all pulled out of the vehicle and given the "Terry pat." The court case of Terry v. Ohio that gave Officers' the right to pat down people for weapons, so it has become known as a "Terry pat." The car was searched and did not turn up anything, however one of the females who was 27 years old claimed to have no ID. So my buddy started playing mind games with her, he said where you from, she said "Houston" so he asked her what neighborhood and she said "Breezewood." A few minutes later he told her he used to live in Houston and there was no such area, of course he did not live in Houston, but neither did she. He then told her she needed to come clean and take care of her past problems and not add anymore, she then revealed her name and that she was probably wanted for parole violations, we ran the name and she was wanted on a felony warrant for parole violations, so she was arrested and the rest were sent on their way.

We were then cruising another strip that is notorious for hookers' standing around,we had noticed this woman standing out their all night long, so we stopped and asked her what she was doing, she said "My foot is hurt and I can't walk, I'm waiting for someone to pick me up and take me the hospital." We knew she full of crap and told her to go home, she said she would. We went around the block and came back and she was hopping in a car, we flipped around and followed them into an apartment complex where she lived and lit them up, the driver and woman attempted to get out of the car and my buddy ordered them back in, when he approached the driver he was acting very froggy and kept trying to reach his hands under the seat, my buddy pulled his gun and ordered the man out of the car, he then did the pat down and cuffed the man and sat him on the bumper of the cruiser. I watched the suspect while he talked to the girl.
Initally she was trying to play like she just got him to give her a ride home like we told her, however the man had a fifty dollar bill that he was attempting to hide, which is why he had been placing his hands under the seat. Then a man and woman came outside one claiming to be the girl's mother and the other said that was his wife, the situtation started getting a little uncomfortable. We informed them that we were not stupid, we know what she was doing and they had best get out of the way, which they did.

When we checked the two suspects, the woman had prior contacts for prostituion and the man had prior contacts for picking up hookers, even though was still saying he was just giving her a ride home. The woman was cited for soliciting prostitution and released to her residence. The man was also cited and after we told him he was not going to jail, but he needed to come clean with the truth he admitted she had offered sex to him and he was intending on paying ten dollars for a blow job. We advised him to go back home and stay away from this area trying to pick up hookers.

We then got a call of a man who had been stabbed outside a residence while sitting in his pickup truck. We responded with several other Officers' and EMS, the man had a good slash in his arm but not life threatening, he was taken to the hospital. We secured the crime scene with tape because witnesses saw the suspects touch the mans truck, also the knife was later found at the scene, however due to the heavy rain at the time the evidence may be useless, the victims fled on foot and were not located at this time. We responded to one more call of 911 hang ups that involved screaming in the background, however we had no address because the calls were coming in from cell towers. We checked the area and one address but nobody answered and it seemed to be all quiet, so we left that one up to the district cars to handle.

We had dinner earlier in the evening at a very good local Mexican restaraunt and also made apit stop to district headquarters. We tried to get a picture of me standing next to a sign that said "Parking for Top Cop", which is the spot reserved for the Officer of the month or something, but the flash was too bright and the words didn't show up, thought it would make a cool photo though.

We called the night at 0100 instead of 0300 because of the rain,and my buddy had already worked some extra hours today on other events. Was still a great ride though, and I'm improving my skills on being able to keep track of where we are at all the time, and also observing what's going on around me. Looking forward to my next ride!

Week 8 Grades

Intro to Police I

Assignments 100%

Discussion 22/30

Quiz 12/15



Intro to Criminal Justice I

Journal 100%

Assignments 100$

Discussion 100%

Quiz 18/20

Final Project 100%




Computer Applications

Assignments 100%

Discussion 100%

Quiz 18/30

Video Update

Week 8

Intro to Police I


This week dealt solely with community policing (COPP) and problem oriented policing. (POP)
As we have discussed already community policing is the new model of policing used by police to improve community relations and get the citizens involved in preventing crime. POP is a method of policing that aims to get to the root of a problem to resolve it, instead of responding to the same calls over and over again.

For the assignment this week we watched a video on the web about how the city of Boston, MA has used foot patrols to reduce the crime rates in high crime areas (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3028081n) Then we wrote a report summarizing the video.

In the discussion we debated whether police should put more emphasis on solving crimes they get called to, or using COPP and POP strategies.































Intro to Criminal Justice I

This week we got into very detailed study of the rules of search and seizure, including the "exclusionary rule" that was created by the US Supreme Court that set forth very strict guidelines for the ways that police can obtain evidence through search warrants, arrest warrants and incident to arrest searches. It also covers some modifications that have been given to police in emergency situations to do searches and seizures. It also covers the special circumstances surrounding vehicle searches, because of the ability of a vehicle to flee a departments jurisdiction quickly. They were covered under incident to arrest and plain view searches, meaning anything in plain view of an officer or when a person in a vehicle is arrested the entire vehicle is legally able to be searched by the police, however rumor has it the US Supreme Court within the last few weeks has changed the incident to arrest procedures to those of arrest warrant searches where only the person being arrested and the area within their "immediate control" can be searched, this could really cause problems for the officers on the streets.

In the assignment we wrote a report on scenarios provided and referencing them with court cases provided in the text to tell if the evidence seized in the scenario would be excluded in court or not. I also turned my final project for this class, which is worth 150 points. For this project I did an interview with my friend Eric, a police officer, and also wrote a report on Westwood College Online CJ instructor Mark Smith.

In the journal entry I had to provide what states I intended to contact to start my criminal justice career, for which I picked Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky police departments all have paid training through the academy, Ohio does not. So I'm looking at moving down there as it would be a much easier route than trying to go through an Ohio academy at my own time and expense, which is about six months long. Unless of course I pursue a career with the Ohio Highway Patrol, then I would receive paid training. But I really do love responding to calls in a city environment also, so I'm not sure yet which way to go. If I do decide to go the city officer route I will certainly look to KY then.

Police Ride Along 03/09

This is a ride along story that happened a few months back on the 1700-0300 shift. I was out with a buddy of mine who is an officer in a major city. We started out the night after he picked me up and headed into the district by assisting a Deputy who had pulled over a car on the city and county line because he was alone and had two occupants in the car. The driver of the car was trying to give false information as to his identity and he was around 21 years old and had a girl in the car who was underage, 16 I believe. My buddy pulled the girl out of the car and questioned her and got her to reveal her identity and phone number, the Deputy then called her parents who said they knew he was, it was her boyfriend but they were alright with it. We then left the scene handing control of the situation back to the Deputy. We then responded to a call of a group of juveniles who had beaten up an elderly man on a transit bus, a felony in this state due the age of the victim. They had fled the scene, we responded and the transit police were also on scene. We took some basic information, then went back on patrol.

This is when the "crap hit the fan" so to speak, officers from another district had been in a pursuit with a vehicle wanted in connection with a felony. There were at least 30 cops chasing this car and the helicopter, the freeway was literally covered with cruisers, they pulled off the on ramp and we were positioned at the top off the ramp to block it off. Everyone in the car was arrested except for one male who jumped out and ran across the freeway into a residential neighborhood. A very tight perimeter was quickly set up around the block he headed into with cruisers blocking off every escape route, and the hunt was on! We cruised up and down streets spotlighting, checking everything from cardboard boxes to dumpsters. They were preparing to turn the K9's loose to track him down, but he was apprehended by an officer who spotted him first.

We then responded to a call at a hotel where I used to work as the security guard for a domestic that had just occurred, a man had struck his girlfriend then took off, we searched the area along with other officers and the man was eventually located. We assisted as cover on a few traffic stops and we made one traffic stop also on a minivan who had a taillight and blinker out,no citation was issued,just a courtesy stop. We assisted on another traffic stop that involved a vehicle search but did not turn up anything so they turned him loose, we then ran to another traffic stop for cover that turned up a warrant on one of the males in the vehicle and he was arrested.
About 0200 we headed to a bar that had problems with people shooting off guns as they were leaving, and driving recklessly. We just sat back and watched the people pile out of this busy bar on foot and auto. No shots were fired, however there were a few people who started revving up their motors like they were going to start acting crazy and they would punch the throttle and take off and then they spotted us and they would slam on the brakes and act like nothing had happened, it was pretty funny. We did not make any traffic stops, a few flashes of light to let them know we seen what they were about to try and do was enough to resolve the situation. About that time calls started flooding in about someone walking down a street throwing rocks through a window, so we headed up there to see what was going on. Just as we pulled up I noticed someone walking down the sidewalk so I brought it to the attention of my buddy and he spotlighted the man just as he was crossing the street, other officers arriving on scene quickly ran down and stopped the man to find out what he was doing, he did not have any incriminating evidence on him, such as rocks, and he seemed to just be walking back to his home so he was turned loose. There was no immediate suspects located, though my buddy was aware of the residence and some of the problems they were having with the juveniles who presumably committed the crime. The complainants face was also bloody from a prior altercation that she (although originally I thought it was a he, but that's another story) had with the juveniles, so she could identify who they were.

Also during the night, and I may be mixing up the order of events here, sorry, but we attempted to make a traffic stop on a car load of juveniles with a cracked windshield. We turned around to go after them and they took off and started playing a game of ditch the cop with us by driving in circles around the neighborhood blocks. This certainly raised our suspicion levels so we we went up and down each street very carefully. Just as we were going down one street we passed a car then slammed on the brakes, backed up and lit up the inside of the car with the spotlight..jackpot! There they were, tried to use the old lights out trick. So we backed up behind them and lit them up. My buddy asked them why they were trying to ditch him, but of course they had no idea what he was talking about. They parked in front of this particular house to "wait on a friend." (one whom never showed up incidentally.) Anyways by this time a cover car had arrived and they had one of the boys out of the car and his stories were falling apart quickly.

He was initially taken into custody for providing false information, there was no record of his name that he was giving and he had no proper ID, only a school ID or something but it made no sense because at his age he should surely have had a drivers license or state ID by now. They ended up releasing him, but to this day my buddy is still working on that case, he has made some advances and did prove that the kid lied about his name and found out who his father was, so there may still be an arrest to come for this kid.

We also responded to a call earlier in the night of a suicidal woman who had swallowed some pills, we arrived first on scene and the ambulance and cover cars arrived shortly after. The woman's boyfriend had called 911, but the woman resisted the efforts of the paramedics to take her to the hospital. However protection of life is the #1 priority of the police, and a person does not have the right to refuse medical treatment when their life is presumed to be in danger. The police had to use a little force to get the woman up and to the ambulance, she then screamed and the boyfriend became combative and had to be calmed down by the officers. He thought they were trying to hurt her, but she was not hurt. She then walked out to the ambulance on her own.

So that was pretty much the main stuff that happened that night that I can remember, another awesome ride along! The felony stop just blew my mind, I had never seen anything like that before, nice thing about big cities, there is always plenty of cover to be rounded up in a very short amount of time when needed.

Next Term..

My next term which starts on May 27, 2009 consists of Intro to Corrections, Criminology, and College Writing.

Power Point Presentation

This is a Powerpoint presentation that I made for Computer Applications for a fictional job presentation.

Police Ride Along 05/09/09

Went to meet with my buddy Eric for a fun night on the town patrolling and fighting bad guys. My wife and I arrived Saturday afternoon and met Eric and his wife for dinner at the local O'Charleys. We left the restaurant at 1830 hours, and went back to the motel. Eric picked me up from the motel at 1930, our shift began at 2000 and went until 0600. We went to headquarters for a brief "roll call" where the three 3rd shift officers coming on duty meet and chat for a few minutes. This is my first ever ride on 3rd shift, or with a small agency. Things here are much more laid back than I'm used to seeing in larger departments. We hit the streets and got our first call outside a bar on a rural road for a minor no injury accident. We arrived on scene and took some quick notes for a report. Car A was coming around a sharp curve and struck car B backing out of the bar,nothing to major. However car A left their car in the middle of the road right after the blind curve, which I thought was maybe not the best idea. We were off and running, this is a county police agency which is something very unique to me, it has some larger cities on the north side of the county which are suburbs of a major city, that have their own police departments, and several small towns in the south side of the county that have no police, their is also no Sheriff patrol in this county so the county police are responsible for these areas, as well as the major highways and interstates that run through the county because the state police do not patrol much, if any, in this county as well.

So our role here is like sheriff, police and highway patrol all at the same time, it was very unique and fun. Unlike all my other ride alongs where I have been with a patrol car assigned to a sector of maybe one mile, responding to calls here sometimes means driving up to 30 miles. We started out by doing a few business checks, an average of ten per night is required by the department, and an average of 3 traffic stops per night is also required. There is a ticket quota here as well, but it does not have to be citations, written warnings can also be given to fulfill the quota.

We made a few traffic stops, one was some teenage kids we followed who were riding the fog line, when asked why, the 16 year old driver responded "what is a fog line?" so we just said nevermind and sent them on their way with a warning. We then responded with other officers to a call from a small town buried deep in the hills where a male driver was apparently DUI and hit several cars on the street then fled on foot abandoning his car in the middle of the street. This is where I learned what it's like to respond quickly to a call using rural narrow windy backroads. Let's just say I was quite queezy by the time we arrived on scene. lol I was a little nervous, but I had faith in Eric that he knew what the hell he was doing and was not going to get us killed! His wife tried to warn me prior to riding, but I didn't take it seriously, now I know what she means.

Anyhow when we arrived on scene the witnesses said he ran towards his parents house the next block over, which is where the car was registered. The parents said their son was not at the house and gave consent to have the house searched, he was not there. He had been there briefly but took off again, assuming the police were coming and knowing that he had just wrecked his fathers car. We went to a bonfire across the street and he was not there either,though the neighbors said if he did show up they would gladly turn him over to us, didn't seem to be very big fans of this guy. One guy at the fire said he had dated his daughter, so he was more than happy to help us get him. We then left that scene and went back on patrol.

We went back to the north part of the county and made a few more traffic stops along the interstate and highways. One for speeding, we released the driver with a warning. We made a couple more stops for cars that were weaving, but was not able to turn up a DUI,all the drivers were released with warnings. We stopped another woman on a back road for failure to dim bright lights, she said she forgot she had them on and as soon as she saw us turn around she realized what she had done, she was released with a warning. We responded to an inactive domestic violence call back in the rural part of the county, woman complained her boyfriend struck her then left. We showed up and took the initial report then went to an address in a city within the county where she said her boyfriend lived. The address turned out to be fake,and we were not able to locate any vehicles matching the description of his within the area, so we went back on patrol.

Got another call from a rural residence of a loud party in the area, woman was not able to identify exactly where it was coming from but said she could hear it from her residence. We responded with another officer and searched the area but could not hear anything,on call back the woman advised the noise had ceased, so we then went back in service and headed to the gas station to fill up the cruiser along with the other officer. Eric and the other officer had just gotten the nozzles in their fuel tanks and I was chatting with the other officer, I said it's kind of quiet out here tonight, and just as I said that we heard a loud bang and tires squealing. He said well it looks like you may have just got something! Two males were in an old pickup and the driver had driven over the curb trying to get into the gas station. As they exited the pickup and started to walk(or rather stumble) into the store Eric and the other officer ran over and shouted at the man to come talk to them. The passenger of the vehicle started to get up in Eric's business as he was trying to talk to the driver, but a quick threat of get over there and be quiet or you're going to jail calmed him down and he stayed out of the way. Driver was given the standard field sobriety test between the two cruisers, and he didn't do to well. The passenger was given a breathalyzer test and was found legal to drive, he was given permission by the driver to assume control of the pickup and the pocket knife he had been carrying.

We took the man back to headquarters for a breathalyzer test where he was advised his rights under state law regarding the breathalyzer test. He refused to take the test, making the charge an aggravated DUI.(Double fine and jail sentence for refusal) We attempted to call an attorney to come down to the station at his request, but the attorney didn't answer his business phone and the Defendant refused to contact him at his home number because he didn't want to wake him. He was read his Miranda rights at that time, in which he said he didn't like the way they were worded he wanted "complete sentences."

Now he wanted to get into a grammar argument,however the rights were read to him directly the way they are presented on the card,which is all that has to be done. The Defendant became verbally abusive to both Eric and I, and we took him to the jail after his refusal. When we pulled in the jailer just looked at us like should've known it was you! lol Eric is a very proactive officer and makes alot of arrests, he jokes with the woman at the jail every time he brings someone in he tells her "I'll be back in 15 with another one!" She just says shut up and get out of here. lol

We headed back out on patrol before long we were blinded by a driver going the other direction who did not dim his headlights, we did a quick flip around and pulled him over. Upon approaching the vehicle Eric noticed immediately the smell of marijuana and we called for cover, the other two officers showed up and the car was searched and the marijuana was found along with a fake drivers license the kid was using probably to get into bars, it was made out of cardboard though and was not very convincing. So we bagged another one and headed back to the jail. They didn't seem surpised to see us back again, after all ,we did tell them we would be back! This time there was a combative man who had been restrained in a special chair raising a fit in the booking area. He was cursing and screaming for attention. At one point he yelled "HEY CUTIE!" Eric says "He's talking to you.." (though I presume he was refering to the female Deputy)so I looked at him and he said "COME OVER HERE AND SUCK MY DICK!" But I just politely informed the gentleman I was not going to be able to do that because I was married, then went back to ignoring him again.

We had about an hour and a half left on shift and headed back out, found a couple hanging out in a pickup at a bar and we contacted them to see what was going on, but it was nothing so we just informed them to get going since the driver was sober. We came upon another occupied vehicle in the parking lot of a famous bar that is supposedly haunted, incidentally the crew from ghost hunters was in town doing an investigation of an allegedly haunted bar, but it wasn't this one.Another officer made the comment on the 800mhz radio system that all the police agencies in the county can use to talk to each other,kind of like a high powered CB radio, that he was going to go by and "rattle some windows" lol He was joking of course,but it was pretty funny.
Long story short their was a semi tractor who had permission to park on the lot who was waiting for the last thing to straggle out of the bar and he was having sex with them. The city police also showed up because they had already informed the women to get moving a few minutes prior to us showing up. I had been in the car and Eric told me it was ok to step out, so I did and then one of the city officers came back over and I apparently caught him off guard, he was like "WHO IS HE! WHERE DID HE COME FROM?!?" Eric advised him I was a rider and he was like "Oh ok, well I guess your ok then!" lol It was pretty funny though, he thought people were just coming out of the woods or something. He then described the woman who was with the trucker as a "one caser, maybe two with a paper bag." LMAO That was one of the funniest things I think I've ever heard, I think I'll adopt that line for future use. That was pretty much the end of the night, a quick stop to the white castle and Eric took me back to my motel at 0600. He stayed on until 1000 to cover some over time and fill out the reports from the nights work.

All together it was one of the most exciting rides I've ever been on. It was very exciting to be able to take on so many roles of police agencies all in one place. I really like this agency and the fact that they provide paid training,something you don't find very much in Ohio may make it my future home. I hope to do more exciting rides here in the future! Also want to add something very cool is all the officer's get to wear black BDU uniforms after training, trainees and FTO's who have a trainee have to wear the blues, but after that you get to wear the BDU's which are much more comfortable and command a more authoritative message to would be attackers then regular police uniforms. One thing that did suck is the power inverter that runs the laptop gave up the ghost,so we lost the laptop after the battery died and we had to go "old school" using pen and paper,maps, and the 'ol trusty "blue book" of statute codes.

Week 7 Grades

Intro to Police I

Assignments 28/30

Discussion 30/30

Quiz 13/15

Intro to Criminal Justice I

Assignments 18/20

Discussion 30/30

Quiz 18/20

Journal 15/15

Computer Applications

Assignments 100%

Discussion 30/30

Quiz 26/30

Week 7

Intro to Police I

We discussed and read about the differences in police work from each shift,and what the advantages and disadvantages to working each shift are. In the assignments we were given a scenario of pulling a good looking man/woman over late at night for running a red light and listening to the story of the driver, then deciding how to use our police discretion whether or not to issue the driver a ticket, then we had to answer for a another possible scenario depending on our decision.

Scenario 'A': You use your police discretion give the driver a ticket, the driver becomes angry stating that you could have given me a break.” He/she continues by saying “I am going to file a complaint on you because the only reason you pulled me over was to try and hook up with me." Explain your actions and how you would defend yourself to the Chief.

Scenario 'B': You use your police discretion and don't give the driver a ticket. You let him/her go along his/her way. Upon his/her arrival at home their wife/husband is angry because he/she has come home so late. He/she then says, "I would have been home quite a bit earlier had it not been for that cop who pulled me over just to meet me. I would have been home on time. I know the cop didn't have a legal reason to stop me because she/he didn't give me a ticket. The wife/husband then calls your supervisor to file a harassment complaint against you. Explain your actions and how you would defend yourself to the Chief.

In which I respond with A, The vehicle was observed running a red light, it was 2 am and they pulled over into a dark parking lot (this was part of the initial scenario) so I had no way of knowing what the drivers sex or looks were. I issue the citation so that there is no questions of ethics that would arise from stopping an obviously attractive woman,as would arise from scenario B.

This week was basically dedicated to the patrol function of policing, the "backbone."

Into to Criminal Justice I

Basically another cross over week with the other course, going more into the community policing styles, and looking at older methods of policing that existed before the 1980's when community-oriented-policing-program (COPP) began. For the assignment this week we had to take the community policing plan of the Chicago police and contrast it with the plan of another department. For this I worked with my friend in the Denver police department who provided me all the guidelines for DPD problem-oriented-policing model (POP) We will discuss POP more in week 8. For the journal exercise I explained why my interest in criminal justice is to be a state police officer.

Week 6 Grades

Intro to Police I

Assignments 100%
Discussion 24/30 I need to keep in mind that this is a college course, not a chat room. I was a little excessive in my responses, without a lot of detail into the topic. Need to reduce amount of posts to the requirement and make sure they are substantial.
Quiz 12/15 points.
Current grade 93.83%

Intro to Criminal Justice I

Assignments 100%
Discussion 100%
Quiz 18/20
Journal entry 100% (Careers in law enforcement we find most interesting, I chose National Park Police.)

Computer Applications I

Assignments 100% (although originally I got a 0 for submitting the wrong assignment)
Discussion 100%
Quiz 26/30

Week 6

Intro to Police I

This week we looked at the organization and management of police agencies.
We discussed the importance of communication through the ranks of a police agency, and for the assignment I wrote a report on the differences between the two main chief executive officers in law enforcement, the police chief and the sheriff. The police chiefs are usually selected from within the department as opposed to county sheriff's who are elected and usually have a much more political role. Chief's are more likely to have a college education and started out as patrol officer's and worked their way up through the ranks of the organization.


Intro to Criminal Justice I

We begin to see a crossover between the two courses this week. We go back to the beginning of Intro to Police I and look at the history of police from English roots, and Sir Robert Peeler, so we won't get into that all over again.

Then we learn about what was called the Kansas City experiment, I'm sure most any officer out there has heard about this. Conducted in the early 1970's in a year long experiment the city was broken up into 15 areas. Five were patrolled in the usual traditional way, in another 5 areas patrols were doubled over normal coverage, and the last 5 areas were not patrolled at ALL, police only coming into the area to respond to calls for service, the public was unaware of this experiment at the time. The results showed that crimes like burglary,robbery,auto theft,larceny and vandalism showed no differences in rate of occurrence in any of the three patrol areas,proving that the though of increased patrol is a deterrent to crime.

Then we look at types of law enforcement agencies from local to federal, again a crossover with the other course. Finally we look at the effects of private security and the effects they have on law enforcement. More than 80% of property in the US is said to be under private control, and the business is a growing one, with officer's receiving on average eight hours of training. The relationship between between public and private services has not always been a good one, but there defiantly needs to be some level of cooperation between the two in understanding their roles in defending the homeland. Their certainly is not enough police officers to do it alone, it takes a lot of cooperation with the public.

In discussion we talked about the relationship between public and private security.For the assignment I watched a video on the use of 50,000 volt stun belts by police and court officials to detain potentially dangerous suspects in the event they get out of control. I did not agree with it, the demonstration looked very brutal, I think 50,000 volts is way to much voltage. The news story was from the early 1990's so I'm not sure that it even applies today, the belt had been banned in some states, today it could be replaced by the taser.