Continuing Education for Law Enforcement Officers
Continuing Education for Law Enforcement Officers
Ruben Castellon
L24561605
Liberty University
2012 CJUS300-D04 LUO
Continuing Education for Law Enforcement Officers
Since the inception of my military career to my present law enforcement profession, it has always been evident that training (quality) and/or continuing higher education has been paramount to producing a professional Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) – “the future leaders” of our Criminal Justice (CJ) system. Key to the success of any LEO’s quality training or higher education is the head administrator, in law enforcement it would be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO); also known as Police Chief or Sheriff. Unfortunately once this leader becomes the CEO he or she soon forgets the staff – “middle managers: Captains and lieutenants, first-line supervisors: the patrol sergeant” (Peak, 2010, pp. 100-101), and of course let’s not forget about the files: the “worker bees” (as I like to call them). Many contributing factors can be provided for the lack (my opinion) of initiative on behalf of the CEO, but for this purpose only two will be mentioned: greed and lack of knowledge. I will also concentrate only with my state – North Carolina. In addition, my references will be various and from different states. Currently the State of North Carolina has two training & standards: the North Carolina Sheriff’s Education and training Standards Commission and the Criminal Justice Education & training Standards Commission” (Cooper, 2012). These two commissions could be strongest when unified, thus implementing better training and continuing education to include better ideals for risk management for the LEO. This would further enable the CEO with more political power when lobbing for budgetary issues with regards to the training/education of the LEOs, etc.
By unifying both commissions and becoming one with an equal amount of members – 50 percent Sheriffs and the other half of Police Chiefs, all having
Ruben Castellon
L24561605
Liberty University
2012 CJUS300-D04 LUO
Continuing Education for Law Enforcement Officers
Since the inception of my military career to my present law enforcement profession, it has always been evident that training (quality) and/or continuing higher education has been paramount to producing a professional Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) – “the future leaders” of our Criminal Justice (CJ) system. Key to the success of any LEO’s quality training or higher education is the head administrator, in law enforcement it would be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO); also known as Police Chief or Sheriff. Unfortunately once this leader becomes the CEO he or she soon forgets the staff – “middle managers: Captains and lieutenants, first-line supervisors: the patrol sergeant” (Peak, 2010, pp. 100-101), and of course let’s not forget about the files: the “worker bees” (as I like to call them). Many contributing factors can be provided for the lack (my opinion) of initiative on behalf of the CEO, but for this purpose only two will be mentioned: greed and lack of knowledge. I will also concentrate only with my state – North Carolina. In addition, my references will be various and from different states. Currently the State of North Carolina has two training & standards: the North Carolina Sheriff’s Education and training Standards Commission and the Criminal Justice Education & training Standards Commission” (Cooper, 2012). These two commissions could be strongest when unified, thus implementing better training and continuing education to include better ideals for risk management for the LEO. This would further enable the CEO with more political power when lobbing for budgetary issues with regards to the training/education of the LEOs, etc.
By unifying both commissions and becoming one with an equal amount of members – 50 percent Sheriffs and the other half of Police Chiefs, all having
References: Chapter 17E., north carolina sheriffs ' education and training standards commission (pp. 1-9). (n.d.). (1983). Retrieved from http://ncdoj.com/getdoc/c4bb8d68-7612-4ee7-857c-4192adf2fae4/17-E.aspx Clift, R Cooper, R. (2012, April 22). North carolina department of justice. Retrieved from http://www.ncdoj.gov/ Cooper, R. (2012, May 06). Law enforcement training & standards. Retrieved from http://www.ncdoj.gov/About-DOJ/Law-Enforcement-Training-and-Standards.aspx Cooper, R Cooper, R. (2012, May 06). North carolina department of justice (ncdoj): Displaying results 1-10 (of 29). Retrieved from http://www.ncdoj.gov/Home/Search-Results.aspx?searchtext=faq&searchmode=AllWords Connelly, T North carolina justice academy: Certificate programs. (2012, May 06). Retrieved from http://ncja.ncdoj.gov/Certificate-Programs.aspx Nowicki, E., & Hallman, J Peak, K. (2010). Justice administration: Police personnel roles and functions. (6th ed., pp. 80-114). Upper Saddle, New Jersey: prentice hall. DOI: www.pearsonhighered.com Rydberg, J., & Terrill, W The FBI. (2012, May 06). The fbi academy: National academy quarterly statistics report. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/training/national-academy/na-quarterly-statistics Varricchio, D