My Ashford University Experience : criminal justice

Rough Men like Us: The best advice I can give for those wanting to get into law enforcement

Cajun — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:30:00 GMT

The enormous flag snapped in the wind about twelve feet above my head where it was suspended between two extended fire truck ladders. I kept my eyes forward as I stood at attention but out of my peripheral I could see hundreds of police officers who lined the street on both sides of me and directly across the street. The color guard passed and we all saluted the flag, the weather was perfect, the setting picturesque and ideal except nobody was in a joyful mood, nobody smiled.

A limousine carrying the family of the slain officer slowly drove by and as they began to approach the flag where I was standing the window rolled down and one of the officer's two very young daughters poked the top half of her body out and looked up. She then looked over at me and the men standing nearby and gave a little wave before poking her head back into the car.

The officer standing next to me began to silently weep to himself and I tried to act like I didn't notice. I stood perfectly still with burning tears welling up behind my eyes but I didn't break, I couldn't. I didn't know the officer I only knew of him but the same thought filled my head that was in the heads of every one of these men, it was on that of my own family and the tragedy that this family had endured because their husband, father, brother and son chose a different path in life. One where the real heroes are buried, where the hours are bad, the working conditions dangerous and the pay could be a lot better, but still he chose it.

Prior to the above scene however we were in the church. The service was solemn and exceedingly sad. The officer was basically a rookie, young with a very young family. He had everything going for him at the time of his death. After watching the mayor and the chief of police give their speeches, some of the officer's friends began to speak about him. Frequently they would stop to unsuccessfully try to fight back the tears but their efforts only served to make the pain even more real.

Before arriving at the graveyard my fellow officers shared a vehicle with me. There were four of us in all and we had just finished up at the church before joining the vehicle procession which involved hundreds of police cars with lights flashing to the graveyard. People all over the city stopped their cars on both sides of the freeway or walked out of their businesses and houses to wave American flags or stand with their hands over their hearts. Up the freeway I saw a man, a lone Marine Corps soldier standing on top of the concrete highway divider at perfect attention. He stood saluting while every single car drove slowly past where he had posted himself. He probably stood there in the middle of the highway for over half an hour before all was said and done.

That day will be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. That day I saw heroes, honor and sacrifice culminate into the drawing together of an entire city. That day showed me the impact that a good police department, with good officers has upon a community and how that community can sense the loss when one falls.

Occasionally we get postings on the forums here or I see postings on other forums from those who are interested in working in law enforcement. Inevitably they want to know how to become a cop, a CSI, etcetera and what education to get or what the prerequisites are. I always try to answer the questions as honestly and truthfully as I know how, but the reality is that the best prerequisite I know of is for that person to have a sense of community, a sense of honor and lastly a sense of obligation to serve something bigger than themselves.

If you they take that with them into their interview, into their school work and keep this the focus of their endeavors as a cop, they will be immensely successful in whatever they wish to do in law enforcement.

The officer?

http://www.odmp.org/officer/18636-officer-dwayne-n.-freeto

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Majoring in Criminal Justice? Are You Considering a Criminal Justice Career? Want a Sneak Peak?

Cajun — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:44:00 GMT

There are a lot of reasons people major in Criminal Justice. I think most people who major in Criminal Justice however are actually interested in working in some type of law enforcement or corrections role. While these jobs are frequently portrayed on television in sitcoms, movies and reality shows the professions in criminal justice are seldom truly understood by people until they've been there and done it themselves.

I have a little brother who has worked in the Florida prison system for years who is now trying to get on with a police department in Texas. My father was a police officer (besides being a preacher) then later a probations and parole officer so I guess you can say I have lived in a "cop family" most of my life. Yet when I entered the profession I was still shocked at how different the profession was from my expectations of what the job would be. Now I'll be the first to admit that my law enforcement experience is atypical of your average patrol officer, that being said however I have more in common with the average patrol officer than not.

So if you are majoring in criminal justice maybe I can shed a little light on what to expect should you ever enter the profession. These are my observations and probably not universally shared by all, but then again, this is my blog isn't it? Now that we've gotten that settled let's get to the list.

Cajun's list of surprises:

Contrary to popular belief, police work is not terribly exciting overall. There may be moments of excitement at times but after a while things get routine.
At some point it becomes a "job" you do but make no mistake it is not a "job." For example at a "job" if you get fired for misconduct you are not going to see your picture on the 8 o'clock news while some talking head with too much hairspray drags your personal and professional reputation through the mud in front of everyone for 30 seconds before the weather comes on but if you're a cop…

Next, if you screw up on a "job" you are not likely to face civil and possible criminal charges nor are you likely to be investigated by some of the very people you have called friends and comrades for years, but if you are a cop… Lastly if you work a "job" you are not likely to be fired for receiving a speeding ticket or other conduct outside of work. You are expected to be "professional" even when not actually on duty. So if you enter law enforcement, be prepared for a lifestyle change.
Eventually you may come to the realization that the police, courts, corrections department, etc. really are as likely to make a situation worse off than they are to actually make a difference for the better. For example, responding to a domestic disturbance call can be a 50/50 toss-up as to whether the service call will make a positive difference or not.

For example let's take the scenario of a domestic violence call. You, the officer show up to a house with an un-employed mother who is drunk and probably on some kind of drugs, who has a couple of kids running around in what you would swear are 2 day old diapers. She says her husband/boyfriend/whatever hit her. He's drunk and swears up and down he didn't but the situation is out of control and you work in a state that requires an arrest in the case of a domestic violence complaint, even if it does not result in charges being filed/upheld/whatever. So off he goes to the can, you can't take her because of the kids and he never complained of her hitting him, so it's a little one sided.

As you leave the kids are crying and the woman is yelling at the guy for getting arrested. You know he doesn't have money for bail, etc. but nonetheless the decision has been made for you. A week later you show up to the same house only to find the same exact situation only this time the only gainfully employed person, the husband/boyfriend/whatever has lost his job because he spent the last several days in jail and cannot work. Now she's upset because there's no money, no lights, no food and no paycheck on the way and the man's upset because he blames her for all of this.

You are there again, playing at being the world's worst marriage counselor, trying to figure out who goes to jail again and just dreading life in general at the moment. Eventually you come to the realization that the cops do not always make things better. After a while you realize the cops only sometimes make things better. After a few years you wonder if the cops make anything better. It's the evolution of a police officer's attitude.
Nothing will work like you see on CSI. You will discover that forensic work is very slow, methodical, detailed and exacting. There is no little bottle of magic chemicals that when you shake it up it will turn blue indicating a murder suspect or something. You will also not see CSI people interrogating anyone, they simply document and collect evidence and often do not even process it themselves.

Nobody wears $400 leather jackets and looks like a Calvin Klein model, nobody drives a Hummer and you're office looks more like a Dilbert Comic strip from hell than it does a sexy, dimly lit office that looks more like a night club than it does an office. In all likelihood you may not even have the luxury of a cubicle or even your own desk.
Guns are not fashion accessories designed to make you look cool. They are instead two pounds of undesirable weight attached to your hip that make you wear highly unfashionably thick belts exceptionally tight around your waist causing you a backache after a nice long twelve hour shift. Guns also require lots of training, even more discipline and even though you have to carry the stupid thing everywhere, all the time, of all the tools you will be issued this is the one you are least likely to ever use.
All cops do not get along. Oh sure there is a "brotherhood" or "family" but just like in a real family, the cop family has its fair share of first class buttheads. Chances are if you meet a jerk on the street he's a jerk in the locker room too. So expect some personality conflicts and try not to get your feelings hurt too easily because…
Cops need thick skin. If you show weakness criminals will exploit it and your fellow officers are likely to have fun with it. It's a sad and unfortunate truth that cops "shoot their wounded" when it comes to certain kinds of stress related or emotional disorders. A lot of cops deal with stress with cynical and even hurtful humor directed at one another at times in the worst of possible situations.

Case in point, there was a police officer who was involved in a shooting where he shot a teenage gangster who would have shot him. The teen died and the officer was left to deal with the trauma of the shooting alone. One of his superiors gave him a box of bullets with one missing out of the fifty and said "one down, forty nine to go." This of course was meant as a congratulatory type of humor, but how do you think that officer felt so soon after the shooting?
Being in law enforcement will change your personality either for the better or for the worse. If you have a strong set of values, good moral character, live according to your faith and can deal with adversity you will likely become a better person for being in law enforcement. The job can be like fire separating the impurities from gold, but it can also consume you if you do not maintain your perspective and stick to your core beliefs. Never compromise yourself, not once, not for anyone or any reason. Never take a bribe, never allow negativity to rub off on you, never exact "street justice" because of your frustrations with the system, etc.
Being in law enforcement will challenge your beliefs. Make no mistake about it, you may not believe in God, but if you work in law enforcement long enough you will believe in the devil. Criminal Justice is man's feeble attempt at dealing with the physical manifestations of spiritual warfare.
Don't expect closure. You'll rarely get it. Don't expect to respond to a crime, arrest the guy, go to court and testify against him (sometimes her) and then see justice served. Sure you'll see it sometimes but don't come to expect it or you will be driven mad. Just do the best you can, all the time and never compromise your ethics and values, not once, not ever.

I hope this helps. Also any criminal justice degree worth its salt will have a lot of ethics training involved. Of all the courses you may take in my opinion these are the most critical. So pay attention as you will be called on to make hard choices that will permanently change the people's lives that you deal with daily.

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So I'm Considering a Doctorate Degree

Cajun — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:56:00 GMT

First up, I've written about them before and I'm doing it again, but the Harrison Middleton University's College of the Humanities and Sciences has the best looking all around liberal arts doctorate programs I've seen. I love the concept of performing your research based upon readings from the Great Books, many of which have shaped our way of life in the Western World. Some of these works have influenced everyone from Marx to the framers of the United States Constitution to Einstein. I love the concept, I love the idea of the program.

The cost is very reasonable at just over $16K and of course I love the idea of being "Doctor Cajun." However there is a con, the degree seems as if it would have very little practical use as a credential in the "real world" even though the education gained from this program may prove invaluable indeed. So the inner pragmatist within me keeps shouting "something else, find something else" so I continued my search.

Found at http://www.chumsci.edu/pages/degree/doctorarts-coursework.asp

My search eventually landed me on Northcentral University's Web site. This school offers a deep law enforcement discount placing the degree program squarely within my predefined "affordable" range and the idea of a PhD soothes my inner pragmatist because of its utility in teaching and academia. I've made no secret of it; if at all possible I would love to teach college management, leadership and criminal justice courses. I am passionate on the subject matter, I am interested in the topics and because of that, I am gifted in those areas.

NCU has concentrations that are in areas of interest to me such as in Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, Homeland Security: Leadership and Policy and a strange but interesting offering in Business, Corporate and Campus Security. Holy cow!!! On top of that if I choose 18 hours in electives towards Organizational Leadership that will be added to the transcript as a secondary specialization. So it would read something like Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration with a specialization in Criminal Justice and Organizational Leadership…not bad, eh?

Another consideration is that NCU is accredited by the ACBSP and is regionally accredited by the NCACS which would turn into a weighty teaching credential.

I'll have to start really weighing my options again. In all honesty if I could have any job on the planet, right at the top of my list somewhere would be a college professor or instructor in criminal justice, management and leadership, I've just never considered that to be a practical goal but now it looks like it could actually happen one day…maybe.

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A Degree in Criminal Justice: Chester the Molester meets the system

Cajun — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:39:00 GMT

In a follow up post to helenh's, "2 Good Reasons to Get Your Criminal Justice Degree", (the comments wouldn't hold it all) I am using Chester the Molester to illustrate the various jobs and opportunities that a Criminal Justice degree can help open the door to.

Criminal Justice is a HUGE field consisting of many more opportunities than just patrol style police. Let's use Chester the Molester for an example.

The Police

Chester got arrested by a police officer. This department is likely made up of patrol, investigations, traffic enforcement, administrative staff, the executives (IE Chief, Asst. Chief, etc.).

The Jail

Chester will get booked and cooked by a jail intake officer. If Chester get's silly in jail, he will get beat down, um...I mean "subdued" by a jailer, likely a sheriff's deputy of the respective county. Sheriff's often also do many if not all of the same roles as the police with the added responsibilities of the jail, probation office, overseeing some court administration and security, serving warrants, etc.

The Court

Chester will go into a court room where there will be a bailiff, transport deputies to make sure he arrives safely, a court clerk or court appointed investigator (sometimes a probation officer but not likely in this case) who will at times appraise the judge of Chester's background, education, societal status, etc. in an effort to determine an appropriate bail, which will not be granted in this case. The judge will have various clerks and administrative staff who will ensure that every "I" is dotted and "T" is crossed in order to guarantee Chester gets a fair trial.

Corrections

Once Chester is convicted he will be sent to a prison. In some states prisons are private, in others they are state employees and still in others they are Federal employees. Corrections Officers have a tough job, but a necessary one. These are the people who ensure that Chester doesn't get out to hurt anyone else. One thing to note is that frequently in corrections the turnover rate is high, due to of course the tough nature of the job. But some people love it and with a degree you can move up very rapidly. Corrections also have various roles of investigators, teachers, psychologists, medical staff, administrative staff, executive staff (Warden, Asst. Warden) preachers, counselors, Special Response Teams (SRT, SWAT, or SORT), along with patrol (in very large prisons) and of course the old "turn key".

Parole will review Chester's file to see if he is eligible for early, supervised release. Not likely.

And that's pretty much it for Chester.

Some other occupations to consider are:

Private sector: investigator, insurance adjuster or investigator, auditor, security, loss prevention, risk mitigation, etc. There are a lot of private opportunities, many pay much more than law enforcement.

State law enforcement. Everything from investigations to highway patrol. Of course in Texas we have the Texas Rangers (not the crappy baseball team).
Constables (usually court "go-fors"). You know, the guys who serve subpoenas, misdemeanor warrants, perform some investigations, prepare some documents, sometimes patrol, sometimes they also transport prisoners and evict people, enforce court orders etc. Think of them as the "judge's police" and you get the idea.
The Marshall's Office. Much like a constable but often they serve like a hybrid of the police, constable's office and sheriff.
Federal Law Enforcement. All of the alphabet agencies here, the FBI (though you'd do better majoring in Accounting than Criminal Justice with them) the DEA, the DHS, the ATF, the DOJ, the Border Patrol, the Secret Service, Capital Police, etc. These positions are so diverse, of specific jurisdiction and have so many different types of jobs it would take a book to cover them all. Generally they fall into three categories in the following:

1.) Investigations = this is the bread and butter of most FLE.
2.) Protective services = everything from gate guards to the President's own escort.
3.) Patrol and police services = think of the Park Services, Border Patrol, etc.

Lastly there is the military, which is its own thing altogether and I don't have any experience here to speak of, but I do know that they have Military Police, investigators, etc.

I'm sure I've forgotten somebody ... but there you have most of it anyways.

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