impact of police patrol in your community
Order ID:89JHGSJE83839 Style:APA/MLA/Harvard/Chicago Pages:5-10 Instructions:
impact of police patrol in your community
Final Course Project/Presentation- CRJU 2090/Practicum
NOTE: You must complete the following project in addition to the four research papers (writing assignments) as well as the discussions.
Do Not Procrastinate!! This portion of your independent study requires a large amount of research, a research paper, and a final presentation to a class on the campus chosen by your instructor. (15 minutes).
- Research
Your goal is to research and present a project describing the impact of police patrol within the community (neighborhood) of your choice from the list below. Please refer to the Kansas City Patrol Experiment for reference and guidance.
- Choose a police/sheriff’s department from the list below. If you live in an area that is not represented by one of these agencies then please let your instructor know the department in your area so that they can determine if it will meet the requirements for this paper.
Valdosta Police Department Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office
Hahira Police Department
Remerton Police Department
Lake Park Police Department
Adel Police Department
Cook County Sheriff’s Office
Douglas Police Department
Fitzgerald Police Department
Irwin County Sheriff’s Department
Quitman Police Department Brooks County Sheriff’s Office
Nashville Police Department
Berrien County Sheriff’s Office
Lakeland Police Department
Lanier County Sheriff’s Office
Georgia State Patrol
Coffee County Sheriff’s Department
- Conduct 10 interviewsof the department personnel listed below. A list of sample interview questions are provided on the following page; however, you should also include any additional questions necessary to fully address the impact of police patrol in your community.
- 1 agency contact (chief, patrol commander, lieutenant, sergeant, etc.)
- 3patrol officers
- 6 citizens (Preferably residents of the community serviced by your agency)
- Research Paper (Work document in APA format; 5 pg. minimum)
- Research and include facts to provide the reader with fundamental knowledge about the community.
- Explain the methods used to collect your data Ex: Who you interviewed, why you chose these individuals.
- Describe the impact of police patrol within your community (sample topics provided in the sample interview questions)
- Refer to the Kansas City Patrol Experiment for reference and guidance.
- Submit your research paper to the drop box provided
- Power Point Presentation (minimum 20 slides)
Prepare a power point presentation that utilizes the data gathered during your 10 interviews to explain the impact of police patrol in your community as described in your research paper. Schedule a date and time with your instructor to present your presentation to a class. Your presentation should not simply be reading your slides aloud, but a lecture presentation of at least 20 minutes which is supported by the slides. A Q&A segment will follow your presentation.
Sample Interview Questions
- Perceptions of COP
- How do you define community oriented policing/?
- What are some examples of COP used by your department
- How do you perceive your relationship with the community?
- Efforts/Examples of COP
- What community service activities do your officers take part in
- What practices does your police department often do to ensure a positive relationship with the citizens you protect?
- What community crime prevention programs are available in your community? (Ex: neighborhood watch, citizen patrol)
- What do patrol officers within your department do to work directly with youth to ensure a good relationship?
- What practices does your police department often do to ensure a positive relationship with the citizens you protect?
- Describe patrol type and impact
- What type of patrol does your Police Department use most frequently or on special occasions? (Ex: saturated patrol, random routine patrol)
- Would citizens notice changes in the level of police patrol? How?
- How would changing the method of patrol impact the citizens’ fear of crime?
- Obstacles for patrol officers
- What obstacles make it difficult for you to effectively do your job?
- What is the hardest aspect of your job?
- Picture your most difficult citizen to deal with when patrolling. What characteristics are common in this type of individual?
- Focus of crime for Law Enforcement
- Is the focus of your department directed more on crime prevention or responding to criminal behavior?
- What type of crime is most common when patrolling?
- Is there a certain time of day or season of the year when crime rates seem to rise?
- What do you do to prevent or prepare for these times?
- Is there anything that you would like to add about the impact of police patrol within your community?
- Read Definition of C.O.P. (Community Oriented Policing)
- What types of COP does your police department use?
- Describe your police department’s method of patrol. What changes would you recommend for patrol officers?
- What impact does the presence of law enforcement have on reducing crime rates and ensuring the citizen’s sense of safety in your community?
- What is the most problematic type of crime in your community? What are police efforts to deal with this type of crime? Are they effective?
- What can patrol officers in your community do to improve the relationship with the citizens?
- Are you able to recognize criminal behavior when you encounter it first-hand? Would you approach the officer in your neighborhood to report a crime that you saw being committed?
- Would you be willing to testify as a witness to a crime if necessary?
- Do you think police officers are only visible when responding to a reported crime?
- Can you recognize the police officer assigned patrol to your neighborhood?
If you have any questions please contact your instructor for assistance.
Valdosta Police Department
Interview Responses
1st Interview Sergeant Barrent
Overnight sergeant for Valdosta Police Department
Sergeant Barrett stated that he has a great relationship with community. He loves to get out and meet the citizens of Valdosta. Valdosta has citizen complaint forms that can be field out to help see what type of crimes are going on in the community. Valdosta also have certain areas where they have neighborhood tailors where they can keep some of the crime down in the community. Valdosta has activities such as “shop with a cop” where the youth can shop with a cop during the holidays. Valdosta also has a donation center where donations can be made to help give back to the youth. Some crime prevention programs that are available are neighborhood watch and the neighborhood watch program works with the police department to help reduce some of the crimes that occurs in the neighborhoods. The hardest aspect of Sergeant Barrett job is a number of things such as the call volume going up during the holidays. He also stated that department could do better building a relationship with the citizens by getting out and talking with the citizens more to build a relationship with community.
2nd Interview Officer Vernotis Williams
Officer of Valdosta police department since March 25th 1991, Field Training Officer
Director of community policing in 2001 and retired in 2017
Officer Williams stated that Valdosta has a successful program that is called the Defined Program. It is a program that is drug education for the youth. The program is one year long and it mentors kids from ages 9-12. The program is 95% successful with turning the juveniles around. Officer Williams has a great relationship in the community, he has been working in the community so long he knows different generations of kids growing up and looking at him as their parent as well. He stated getting to know people in the community is the most important part of the job. Valdosta police department has activities such as “Shop with a cop” for Christmas. In Valdosta they have 26 neighborhood watch programs to help keep some of the criminal activity down. The neighborhood watch program is for the neighborhood to contact the officers As long as people call law enforcement it would reduce some of the crimes from happening. Most of the patrol officers take their cars home and that helps more when citizens see the officers cars in the neighborhood it will make them think twice to commit a crime. The hardest part of the job being a police officer is the stupidity on the “no snitch policy”. People that are not wanting to report crimes being labeled as a snitch hurts when trying to solve crimes. Main focus in Valdosta Police department is the crime prevention. It is a partnership with the citizens and the police department. The most common crime when patrolling is traffic offense. Officer Williams feels like every full moon is when the most crimes occur. There is nothing you can do to prevent a crime; the goal is to always be ready.
3rd Interview Officer William Shirley
Officer of Valdosta Police Department
Officer Shirley feels like he has a great relationship with the community. He loves getting out with the youth especially and getting to know them. Shop with a cop is the main activity Valdosta has with the community many of the youth love Christmas time to be able to shop with a cop. The Valdosta police department tries to get out to know the community more to have a good positive relationship with community. Valdosta has a good neighborhood watch program to help prevent some of the crimes from occurring. Valdosta has many different programs with working with the youth. The main practices Valdosta police department has to ensure a positive relationship with the citizens is getting out and getting to know the community more. The police department uses mobile homes during Christmas time to reduce some of the stealing and crimes. When someone sees a police, mobile unit set up they will think twice about stealing or breaking into a car. With the citizens seeing more officers on the roads it will definitely have a huge impact on the fear of crime. If citizens see more officers on the road they will feel more safe in their communities. The hardest aspect of the job is some citizens not trusting the officers. Most officers such as himself are them to serve the community. We want to help our community and make citizens feel safe living in the community. The most common crime when patrolling is stealing. There have been many times where officer Shirley has heard stealing come over the radio. There is really nothing you can do prevent a crime from happening the goal is to always be prepared.
Interview 4 Officer Johnson
Works with Valdosta police department. Relationship in the community is good. Has a good relationship with people all throughout the community. Good community activity is “Shop with a cop” The police department practices being polite and interacting with the community to ensure to keep a positive relationship with the community. Also riding through the neighborhoods, speaking to the citizens and making rounds and responding to complaints. Working with the youth the department provides a program that is called DARE, to prevent the youth from finding interest in drugs. During special occasions the department has a TIPS line for high crime in the area. The department also targets specific areas during special occasions. Citizens will notice chances in the level of police patrol especially common criminals, if they see more officers patrolling they are less likely to commit a crime. Changing the method of patrol would impact the citizens fear of crime because the citizen would know they are more safe if they see officers patrolling also criminals would not want to commit a crime seeing more officers on the roads. It is a lot of aspects that makes the job harder, it all depends on the day and time and even sometimes the location. The most type of crime encountered while patrolling is domestic. Stormy weather helps reduce crime. Not really a specific time. More crimes occur during the holidays but crimes can happen anytime. You cannot prevent crimes from occurring. In Officer Johnson closing words he feels like there is a huge shortage in officers and that is a major problem. The department need more officers out patrolling areas of the city.
Citizens Interviews
Interview 5 Jessica Arcia
A citizen of Valdosta, Georgia for 15 years. Miss Arcia feels like Patrol officers in the community needs to stop being racists. The officers need to get out and know the community more. Also the officers need to know different ethnicities. It is good to have law enforcement because it keeps order, but when law enforcement does not do the right things then it brings more problems in the community. The most problematic crime in Valdosta is racism. Arica does not see much effort from the police department when it comes to racism. Miss Arcia stated she would be willing to testify to a crime. She also stated she does not think the patrol officer are not visible in the community unless a crime occurs because she witnessed an incident where an individual was shot and the responding officer took forever to respond to the crime.
She can not recognize the assigned officer in her neighborhood she barely sees any officers around unless it is a major crime.
Interview 6 Sonja Strickland
A resident of Valdosta her entire life and works as a residential counselor at a nursing home. The officer secures the community and have a good neighborhood watch program. Most problematic crime in the community is breaking into cars. The officers do a good job following up once the incident is reported and it is effective. She believes officers should interact more with the community. She can recognize a crime in the community and will report a crime happening to her neighborhood officer. She is willing to testify in court. She does feel like officers are visible in the community not just only when responding to a crime. Sonja also stated she can recognize the assigned patrol officer in her neighborhood because he is very polite and speaks to everyone.
Interview 7 Eugene Strickland
Eugene has lived in Valdosta all his life and has his own air condition business. Law enforcement have a good impact in the community and keeping the crime rates down and community safe. The main problem in the community is breaking into homes and breaking into cars during the nighttime. Officers usually respond pretty fast. The officers do a good job informing the community on the news to keep their doors locked and around the holidays they set up mobile units to help keep some crimes down. Eugene feels patrol officers should come around more in the community. Knock on doors and introduce themselves. Also even interact with the children in the neighborhood. Eugene stated he can recognize crime and he will report crimes and testify in court. He also feel that police officers are always around in the community. He cannot recognize his neighborhood patrolling officer.
Interview 8 Janecia Whitlock
Lived in the Valdosta community all her life. Officers do really good when it comes to patrolling the community to ensure safety. The most problematic crime in Valdosta community is killing. Police officers need to put more effort in with working with the youth to reduce some of the crimes. She feels that officers should be more interactive and make the community feel more safe to be around them. She cannot recognize crime first hand but if she sees a crime she is willing to report and testify in court. Officers are also visible in the community not just only when a crime occurs. The patrol officer in her neighborhood is very active in the neighborhood and she can recognize him.
Interview 9 Damian Magby
A citizen in the community for 5 years and is a truck driver. The presence of the police helps reduce crime rates. Stealing and robbing is the most problematic crime in the community. Police officers do not do as much to help reduce crimes. Officers should attend more community events and have fun days with the youth. He stated he could recognize criminal behavior and will report a crime if it is major. He stated he would prefer not to testify in court. The officers are always visible in the community. He also cannot recognize the officer assigned to patrol his neighborhood.
Interview 10 Rose Thomas
A citizen in the community for 10 years and is an elementary school teacher. The impact the officers have on reducing crime rates are patrolling the neighborhoods and coming quick when someone calls. The most problematic crime in Valdosta is stealing and breaking and entry. The officers comes fast and let you press charges but it is not effective. They need to be more strict with consequences and a lot of the crimes occur with youth in the community. Rose feels like the officers should get out in the neighborhood more to notice the citizens. She would like to see police officers more than just when you call. She would love to see that they actually care about their community. She also stated she can recognize crime first hand and will report to the officer on duty. She is also willing to testify in court for serious matters. The officers are visible they patrol her neighborhood a lot, but she cannot recognize a specific officer assigned to patrol her area.