Cja 334 – Gathering Research DataGathering Research Data Danee WrightCJA/334September 21, 2015Rhonda GrantGathering Research Data In the modern society today, police officers are part of the American life to serve and protect, enforce laws, and prevent / reduce crime activity. Police officers within the United States come in contact with critical issues regarding policing. Most police officers will face some kind of danger in field ranging from internal and external. Police officers face dangerous situations daily. As an officer, one could face an active shooter, an emotionally disturbed person acting out, car accidents, or getting injured on the job. Wide-ranging law enforcement training in many areas such as defensive tactics, range training, autism awareness, and public safety are examples of training to learn to deal with these situations. Despite these dangers and more, people still choose to be a police officer. Officers puts their lives and safety in harm’s way to protect their community. Learning about the dangers of becoming a police officer, research will discover what the hazards through qualitative research. The type of interview structure as well as listing the questions that will be asked will illustrate how to achieve the goal of this research.The Goal of the ResearchThe goal of the research is to discover the many dangers police officers go through during a daily basics. When people hear about the dangers of policing, they automatically refer to shootings in field. Though police involved shootings are at a high, with no shortages of online video footage and television shootings between police officers and criminals. But, is police shootings the only danger when it comes to policing? People need to know the other important dangers that police officers go through.
What Type of Interview Structure Would You Use?The type of interview structure that I would use to conduct this research would be an unstructured interview. “Unstructured interviews have many variations depending on the purpose. Sometimes referred to focused, clinical or nondirective interviews, they generally provide for open-ended responses to questions” (Hagan, 2010). The nature of the research and the room for understanding by each officer answering the question, the unstructured interview is the way to go. By allowing officers to give his or her own responses, there is the opportunity for an in-depth explanation of their answers. In addition, the advantage of this type of interview also allows the feelings of each of the officers to come through that may not come across in other types of interviews. While the officers are discussing dangerous situations, being able to see and hear the emotions behind their experiences will bring more clarity to the replies that are given.
”A large portion of all research done on the study of police officers has been conducted in the privacy of the office of Superintendent of Police and Police Review Officer. Therefore, a significant amount of this research will be conducted at the department headquarters of the Police Department and the use of the Police Department’s internal surveillance and investigative resources may provide an opportunity to improve the officer’s relationship with his or her officers and enhance the effectiveness of the use of these resources in the future.
‥The following discussion focuses on:
• The importance of training.
• The importance of training.
• The need for strong, organized and well prepared officers.
The importance of training in the use of mental health, substance abuse and criminal justice resources;
• The role of the Chief of Police and the use of force by the department’s police units in improving community safety; and
• The cost of doing research.
The use of the Police Department’s internal security system should not be considered a substitute for such training, however.
”This was demonstrated during a review of previous studies in which officers also demonstrated different levels of trust in the department and their training.
In the research cited above, more than half of Officers’ reported to have conducted interviews based on their feelings on the subject of their previous employment. While it might not be surprising to officers to receive a positive response when it comes to feelings, it must be emphasized that their feelings were the driving force behind those results. What’s more, respondents were given the opportunity to hear more than 50 percent positive answers to four separate questions asked to their colleagues and to engage with more than 30 different officers. The results also showed that the officers who received very negative responses were more likely to share the negative experience of their previous career choices.
”These findings are significant, but they are also encouraging. They are not a surprise considering that officers’ feelings in the past have been associated with much negative public perceptions of the police force. Many officers (even some highly placed officers and some who were not trained to deal with such issues) have recently discovered that the negative feelings they have had about their work are also shared by the police. A new study commissioned by the Department has found that, for the third time in its history, the impact of fearlessness on officers’ feelings and job performance have resulted in a major increase in positive perceptions of the police force and their work experience and results.
What does all of this suggest about the importance of an Officer interviewing a Police Research Specialist? Well, that answers the two main questions that most police officers will ask. First, is it really the job of investigators to determine the truth? The Police Research Specialist may be a good place to start. Second, does its use of the Police Research Specialist make an Officer’s work environment attractive and effective? First, the investigators and their students should not engage in the practice of research and use of research to help them determine the truth of the situation. They should seek out research on existing research, new ways in which that research may affect the research, better ways of doing research and possible opportunities to provide the investigators with a competitive advantage over their competitors. Moreover, this research is not free at home because of the secrecy at work, which could make it harder to make any recommendations with the community.
The Police Research Specialist’s job involves investigating trends, problems and policies that may affect the way the work of the Surveyor, Police Inspector or Detainer are viewed by the public. In addition to doing this, the investigators may also conduct field interviews in which they perform an area-level survey of the communities on issues they have been involved with that provide information about the issues to the general public and to the investigators. As mentioned above, the investigation must take into consideration the context of the crime or issue. The work of the Surveyor, Police Inspector or Detainer could help the investigators to know