Week 3: Community Watch
Hello everyone! Admittedly, this week was a bit slower compared to the first two. However, I still got to see quite a bit, and I would be happy to talk to you all about it!
This week at Prescott Valley Police Department, I worked a bit with the Department’s Community Services unit. These are a group of civilian employees who work with the Department to keep in touch with… well, the community. This includes setting up police-related events and gatherings, handle recruiting advertisement, and build relations with locals and local businesses through security checks, where officers can come by and see if a home or business has proper security measures in place. Another important aspect of safety that the Community Services unit handles is emergency preparedness and coordination. Whenever there is a large fire, or any other type of large-scale emergency, Community Services are the people setting up maps and evacuation points, handling information, preparing statements for the police or government to release, and informing the public on where to go or what to do. In fact, I was able to attend a meeting between members of Community Services and the Valley’s new Emergency Manager (someone in the government whose job is to coordinate and lead these efforts) about improving emergency preparedness in the city. Overall, while not a part of criminal justice that I see myself going into, I found my time with Community Services to be very interesting, as well as very important to getting the full-scope of knowledge regarding law enforcement.
Like last week, my work at Prescott Police Department is much of the same: more paperwork! However, working in Records has also given me a chance that not many have, in that I get to hear information which has not yet been released on incidents that are being investigated in Prescott. While I, of course, cannot reveal these details to the public, it does allow me to get a feel for the investigation process which goes into these incidents, with each update giving me a fuller picture on what criminal investigation is about. I have also been able to get a slight glimpse of what sorts of training Prescott PD has, as I was able to witness their “Taser Training”. This involves taking a willing officer and using a taser to incapacitate them, in order to make sure that they work correctly. After witnessing this training, I have to say that I definitely do not want to go through with it, as it looks pretty painful. However, because of it, I was able to get a demonstration of how a taser works, which was nice!
Finally, in terms of research, I am still in the process of figuring out exactly what shows will make up the backbone of my comparison. I do have some candidates, though, and I will begin testing them this weekend in order to see whether they will work, so stay tuned! For Law and Order, I have finally found some episodes that do focus on the inner workings of the police world. These episodes tend to focus on police mental health and how that causes them to commit crime which, while I have not experienced in my internships, has been a significant issue int he criminal justice world that I can connect to what I have learned and heard from my internships.
That concludes my assessment of this week. As I said, a bit slower than last week’s ride-along. But, I think it was just as important in its content, as having a good relationship with the community is what gives a police department its legitimacy. Next week will be another surprise for myself, though I do hear that at some point I might be able to get a look at the Police Academy, and what going there entails. Of course, that won’t necessarily be happening next week, just some time in the near future. Also, expect to see me talk about some new shows next week. See you all then!
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