8/1 Annotations: How America’s police became so heavily armed

In “How America’s police became so heavily armed” author F.j. explains why America’s police departments have been so heavily armed over the past years.  Barack Obama barred the federal government from providing some military equipment to American police departments. The extraordinary arsenal maintained by some departments which includes body armour, powerful weapons and armoured vehicles had become highly visible over the previous year, as a result of outbreaks of unrest in response to police violence. Americans have grown used to seeing police respond to protests with tear gas, carrying automatic weapons and sniper rifles, and riding in vehicles that would not look out of place in Baghdad or Aleppo.  Defense Department to transfer military gear and weapons to local police departments if they were deemed “suitable for use in counter-drug activities”. The American Civil Liberties Union found that the value of military equipment used by American police departments has risen from $1 million in 1990 to nearly $450 million in 2013. In 1980 SWAT teams across America were deployed around 3,000 times. Deployments are estimated to have risen nearly seventeen-fold since, to 50,000 a year. This tremendous rise in paramilitary police forces has occurred as violent-crime levels have fallen. And while SWAT teams remain essential for high-risk and dangerous situations, most SWAT teams are deployed to serve routine drug-related warrants on private homes, often with disastrous consequences. Radley Balko, a journalist who wrote the essential book on police militarisation, has found at least 50 cases where innocent people died as a result of botched SWAT raids.

Source: https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/05/economist-explains-22

 

Second Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/03/more-armed-police-to-patrol-the-streets-in-response-to-terror-at/

In “The new heavily armed face of counter terror policing is revealed” author Martin Evans talks about policemen are now training to be ready for terrorist attacks in cities, and how they need to be more heavily armed. Equipped with SIG 516 semi-automatic carbines and Glock 9mm sidearms, the counter-terror specialists are capable of racing to the scene of any potential incident on board specially adapted BMW F800 motorcycles. The SAS style officers are also trained to carry out water borne assaults from rigid inflatable hull vessels and even abseil into situations from hovering helicopters. Members of the public across London will begin to see an increase in armed patrols, particularly in high profile tourist areas, with an increased number of officers carrying semi-automatic weapons, Tasers and shotguns. But the plans come amid warnings from the Police Federation that plans to introduce 1,500 more armed officers nationally could take at least two years. If there is an attack it is unlikely to be an isolated incident. We’ve got to have the resources around the country because it might happen in multiple places at the same time. Sir Bernard said: “Anyone who’s been following events in Europe over the past few weeks will understand why we want to show our determination to protect the public.” They will help support newly recruited armed officers who will operate in visible roles across the capital to help reassure the public and deter any would be terrorists. Overall i believe that police officer should be armed for terrorist situations.

 

 

7/30 Annotation: 45 Things Police Officers Want You to Know

In “45 Things Police Officers Want You to Know” author Michelle Crouch explains forty five things police officers want the public to know. I won’t be going over all of them but i will be covering what i believe are the most important and most irrelevant to people right now. First is the news is probably the most misleading kind of information a person can learn about police. Most of the time the news will blow up news about a police officer and create a lot of drama, causing policemen and women to be in harms way. Second stories about shooting a policemen “murdering” civilians are blown out of proportion, like the Shooting of Philando Castile, it does seem a policeman had gunned down a innocent man, but they’re both in the wrong, first off Castile had mentioned he as a concealed carry firearm and kept on going for his wallet, to look in a policeman’s prospective from where he is looking he cannot see what Castile is rummaging for and doesn’t know if he’s going for the wallet or gun. But at the same time the officer did not make the right judgement and in the heat of the moment did what he believed would protect him. Third, a being a police officer is emotionally draining, one scene can be you being a hero, and five minutes later at the next, you will be called a pig, murderer, and scum of the earth. Finally, not all policemen are the same, out of one bad tomato there’s thousands more, and because of one bad tomato it is unfair for police officers to get judged because one of them ruined it, it’s just like a bad dentist, just because he doesn’t give you enough numbing and make it a terrible experience, most likely the average person won’t be quick to judge that all dentist are bad, but for cops, it’s a different story…

Source: http://www.rd.com/culture/police-officers/

7/25 Annotation: Types of Sworn Law Enforcement Careers

In “Types of Sworn Law Enforcement Careers” Discoverpolicing.org talks about the different kinds of police work can pick or do when joining law enforcement. People depend on police and detectives to protect their lives and property, but there is a different kind of “police” for every scene or situation, it might be a robbery, or it might be a murder, not just any cop can show up to the scene and solve it. First is the uniformed police officer, the one everyone sees, loves, hates, they are the ones protecting the streets and responding to 911 calls. Some of the things they do awhile on scenes are direct bystanders away from an accident, investigate a murder scene, or give medical aid to a person in an accident. Awhile on duty, they can also may identify, pursue, and arrest criminals; resolve problems within the community, and enforce traffic laws. Second are the sheriffs and deputies that enforce entire counties or cities that don’t have their own police department, they are very similar to the standard uniformed police officer. Third are the state police officers or troopers, their job is to enforce the law on the highway or redirect traffic that has happened on the highways. Fourth are the specialized assignment officers, they are responsible for “Officers can specialize in a particular field, such as chemical and microscopic analysis, training and firearms instruction, or handwriting and fingerprint identification.” Other types of specialized policemen are horseback, bicycle, motorcycle, or harbor patrol. Fifth are the detectives, they are the ones that gather information and try to solve murder or bring down drug deals, it takes a keen eye to recognize details at a scene to be a detective. Last are the fish and game wardens, they are the ones keeping regulations on fishing, hunting, and boating laws.

 

Source: http://discoverpolicing.org/whats_like/?fa=types_careers

7/19 Annotation: Artificial Intelligence Is Coming To Police Bodycams, Raising Privacy Concerns

In “Artificial Intelligence Is Coming To Police Bodycams, Raising Privacy Concerns” author Aaron Tilley talks about how police are starting to use artificial intelligence to help them out, but at the same time this can begin to raise concerns about using artificial intelligence. Body cams used in police work have been booming, it protects the police officers from fraud, and ensures that what the policemen are doing are the right thing. But with all this technology is does come with a consequence as it is becoming more complicated to use and there is a ton of data that needs to be looked through. One of these

7/18 Annotation: The No-Nonsense Guide to What Makes a Good Police Officer

In “The No-Nonsense Guide to What Makes a Good Police Officer” author Elizabeth Xu explains how to become a good police officer. Here are some of the qualities that every police officer should have, compassion, a sense of humor, attention to detail, ethical and professional responsibility, creativity, self-reflection abilities, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, the ability to think critically, and a sense of teamwork. First compassion is a great way to be able to feel for another’s loss especially when they’re at the scene and you need to comfort them about their lost one. Second a good police officer should have a good sense of humor, citizens don’t like police officers that are stuck up and can’t take a joke, everyone will love a officer with a good sense of humor since it will show that they are actually human and sometime it’s okay to laugh at something. Third being a professional police officer at all times is a good way to show that you’re able to be professional at a scene and not take things too bad or let things go too easily. Fourth is the ability to communicate with citizens, some words can get a civilian angry or even cause them to do something rash and a police officer that runs his mouth and says whatever is a bad one. Most importantly is the ability to think critically, at a scene a police officer can be within feet of danger, or in a life or death situation. With fast critical thinking, a police officer and either save a life or actually save his own life by making fast split second decisions.

Scholarly Source: http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/justice-studies/blog/what-makes-good-police-officer/

 

7/13/17 Annotation: The Impact of a College-Educated Police Force: A review of the literature

In “The Impact of a College-Educated Police Force: A review of the literature” author Rebecca L. Paynich explains the impact of college education for the police force. Most police officers with education have several advantages over officers without education like, having better communication skills, writing better reports, are more tolerant of citizens, think more clearly on dangerous situations, have a better understanding of policing and law enforcement, and have better comprehension of civil rights issues from multiple perspectives. Better, police officers with education adapt better to organizational change,
are more professional, have fewer administrative and personnel problems, are better able to utilize innovative techniques, receive fewer citizen complaints, receive fewer disciplinary actions, have fewer preventable accidents, took less sick time away from work, perform better in police training, are less likely to use deadly force, are less cynical, are more open-minded, and place a higher value on ethical conduct. Finally, police officers report that are better able to utilize employee contacts, have a greater knowledge of the law, are better prepared for court, have a higher quality of performance on the job,
have a higher level of problem-solving abilities, communicate better and have better interpersonal working relationships, are better at resolving conflicts, are more equipped to deal with criticism, change, workload, and stress, make better discretionary decisions.

Scholarly Source: https://www.masschiefs.org/files-downloads/hot-topics/96-the-impact-of-higher-education-in-law-enforcement-feb-2009-and-summarypdf/file

Source 2: How Education Impacts Police Performance

In “How Education Impacts Police Performance” writer Mark Bond explains how education can be a big impact on a police officer’s performance, like speech, thinking, writing, and the communication. Here are some of the changes education change police officers, better behavioral and communication skills, better with decision and problem making, ability to adapt to situations quickly, more proficient with technology, enchant writing ability, less likely to be involved in unethical behavior, less time using sick days, greater pay, ability to be promoted faster and farther, and better adapted to early retirement and even second career options. Law enforcement has changes quite a bit over the past 30 years and it’s no longer what it was back then. There is new technology to assist police officers now a days, and it takes some education and learning to be able to operate them. “Modern police departments need highly educated people capable or leading change in an evolving technology-oriented society.” (Bond) With citizens trending to video tape police officers doing unethical and abuse their power, it is more important to be professional and do everything right, instead of abusing the power of the government to hopefully get officers around. Some thing’s like changing discretion, tolerance abilities, and confronting resistance can save a police officer from doing something bad or even save his department from being sued in the process of trying to detain or deal with a citizen. So, it is a good idea to take a college course or even get a degree in law enforcement to ensure that police officers are ready to go out in the real world and be ready for their departments and society.

Source: http://inpublicsafety.com/2014/07/how-education-impacts-police-performance/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Narratives

6/27 Annotation: Life of a Police Officer the – Pros

The story of how I found my source starts with my interest in becoming a police officer, and wanting to know more about what it’s like to be a police officer, so far my research has been the pros and cons, and the basics on how to become a police officer. I started by watching my favorite source for law enforcement related videos, Officer401 on youtube, he explains how to become a police officer, the good and the bad, and that’s when I came up with one of my questions, what’s the truth behind becoming a police officer, and this first annotation is about the pros in becoming a police officer or sheriff.

6/27 Annotation: Guide to Becoming a Police or Deputy – The Simple Guide

The story of how I found my source starts with my interest in becoming a police officer, and wanting to know more about what it’s like to be a police officer, so far my research has been the pros and cons, and the basics on how to become a police officer. I started by watching my favorite source for law enforcement related videos, Officer401 on youtube, he explains on how to become a police officer the pre-cautions someone should take before even thinking about it because becoming a police officer isn’t just like the movies or how the TV show Cop’s portray it. So, i asked myself, what are some of the basics to know about becoming a police officer? And this all led to my research on pros and cons, the basics, how to get experience, and this annotation is about the basics, and the basics even help ask if the job is right or not, that’s a big eye opener because this can really save someone’s career goal turning into a great decision or a great one.

6/28 The Truth Behind Becoming a Police Officer

This all started when coming into class today and wondering what should my next two topics should be about, and I thought of a great topic, what’s the truth behind being a police officer, so i looked up “The Truth About Becoming a Police Officer”. And there were several links, I only stayed on the first page… but, they were all very good like, “Why i regret becoming a cop” or “the truth behind becoming a police officer”, or “10 best things about being a cop” on and on. So i clicked on several links, just like my professor demonstrated his way of research, and skimmed over each article. I wanted what people don’t know, what people should really know about becoming a officer, and not so much about how people hated their job because of their department’s rules. So i rounded it down to “Thinking Police Officer? Here’s the Truth on Becoming One” on G.I.Jobs and “What is the cold, harsh truth about being a police officer?” on Quora.

7/10 Reasons to Become a Police Officer

So i just finished my hot spot discussions, but right before I finished Cj and i had to think up of a new research question to annotate about. So i’m trying to think of something through a raging headache, and one thing came to mind. Why should i become a police officer, and then i was like shit, i have to think of a scholarly article for this one too?! But that’s another narrative post. So back onto the story i found it fairly easy, i clicked on a couple of articles and i rounded it down to “Great Reasons to Be a Police Officer” by Timothy Roufa, i’ve read some of his articles before and they seem to get the information done and right.

7/10 Why Become a Police Officer? 5 Reasons You Can’t Ignore

So as you know from my last narrative post, i had no idea how i was going to find a scholarly article, but as i kept on thinking of a good research question that can be scholarly relate able, I tried anything that would come to mind, and then i landed on reasons to become a police officer, and i soon found my regular article to annotate about, and then i kept scrolling, keep in mind this was through a raging headache and the hope that my professor Derek swain would let us out early, (Which never happened…that TURKEY) but i managed to find my second article, the scholarly article, but this narrative isn’t too accurate since this is being written 5 days later, but i tried my best to remember when i found this article.

7/15 Going Beyond the Bachelor’s: Why Police Officer Education is So Important & The Impact of a College-Educated Police Force

It was Friday night and my partner had sent me his last two articles about his topic, so i still had to find my second set of topics to give him to do his hot spot so i started by thinking of what my research question should be. And then i had the idea, everyone thinks becoming a police officer is sooo easy but in reality it does take a lot to become one so i decided to look up education related to become a police officer. After that it was history, on the first page i basically found both my regular and scholarly resource to annotate on, first it was a article on why police officer education is important by UCSD and my scholarly article was found right after, since i guess education about police officers and scholarly articles are pretty relate able. (This narrative is for both of my regular and scholarly article since my scholarly article was found within seconds of my regular article, i can’t think of how i would write another narrative for my scholarly since it’s basically a simple scroll and click away from my regular.)

7/17 The No-Nonsense Guide to What Makes a Good Police Officer

So i was thinking one more scholarly article and i was like shit, so what do i think of now? But then what came to mind is what do cops do on their off time? So that’s what i looked up first, and i kept on looking and looking and even typed in “lit review” but there wasn’t a single scholarly article about it. So i decided to change up my question and just typed in “police officer lit review” and a whole bunch of bologna (ba-lo-nee) so i searched up how to become a good police officer, and within accouple scrolls i found my scholarly article, “The No-Nonsense Guide to What Makes a Good Police Officer”, so now i’m set for the day and i’m gonna go do some other shit now.

 

 

 

 

Reading Logs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PCw_hYqrWQjtZK27jXYlvCRKMmBO7NjNPpqWBFn33KY/edit?usp=sharing