Criminal Justice Internship Essay PDF

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Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNSHIP

Criminal Justice Internship Gary D. Rowe Park University

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Abstract In this essay I will discuss, describe, and ruminate on my recent criminal justice internship taken with Park University to fulfill graduation requirements. I first will provide a description of the agency and its placement in the criminal justice system followed by observations and experiences learned by participation in the internship. Subsequently, I will provide a discussion of the positive and negative experiences of the internship. I will summarize this essay with a comprehensive conclusion which will include how the internship fitted into my student coursework at this point in my university experience.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNSHIP

Criminal Justice Internship Practical application is the essence of the purpose of any kind of internship. For years now I have studied the principles of criminal justice at Park University. Thus, the purpose of the internship that I have just completed was practical application within the criminal justice system to complement my already extensive scholastic experience. Edification is best approached by immersing a student within an immense quantity of information, but also by providing the student with a way in which they might apply the knowledge gleaned from their lessons in practical scenarios throughout their lives. Only then will the information truly take a permanent seat within the student’s mind. Within the criminal justice system there are multiple layers of mosaic enforcement entities which are complemented by an immense web of courts followed in order by multiple correctional bodies. Enforcement entities may vary slightly depending on the state and city. State governments have their own criminal justice system which operates separately from the federal justice system. The reason that these justice systems are set up this way is because of the separation of powers concept implemented within all government inside the United States. The federal government and its individual state governments operate independently in many regards. State governments are free to make and enforce laws which are not expressly outlined in the Constitution. This is delineated in the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Similarly, the federal government is free to make and enforce laws as they please within the scope of the Constitution. Thus, the federal government also needs a way to police and enforce their own laws. At times state government laws and federal government laws contradict each other. For example, in my old home state, South Carolina, it was legal for persons under the age of 21 but

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over the age of 18 to own, possess, and carry handguns within the state. However, there is a federal law which makes it illegal for any person under the age of 21 to purchase a handgun. Perhaps more controversial are the conflicting laws regarding marijuana in the U.S. In California, and most recently Colorado, marijuana is legal in some regard. Contrarily, marijuana is universally illegal in respect to the federal justice system. Each entity is free to make laws but they also must be capable of enforcing those laws. Federal law enforcement may still go into the states of California and Colorado and arrest citizens for marijuana possession. Potential offenders will be tried and incarcerated by the federal justice system. Despite these differences the federal and state justice systems will frequently work together collaboratively during special circumstances or in times of emergency. Usually there are primarily three enforcement entities within a state: municipal police agencies, sheriff offices, and state police departments. Typically municipal policing agencies enforce laws in small cities within a specific county. A larger sheriff’s office patrols the county as a whole. Typically, the areas that are not specifically in the town’s jurisdiction fall under the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s office. However, deputy sheriffs have jurisdiction in their entire county. Outside of the sheriff’s offices jurisdiction is the state police. Much like the relationship between the sheriff’s office and the municipal police departments, the state police have jurisdiction throughout the entire state they reside in and typically patrol the highways within the state. State police agencies are characteristically the largest police entities within an area followed by sheriff’s offices in size and then next are the municipal police departments which are smaller still. All of these agencies have their own jurisdictions and they all overlap. Thus, the power and enforcement is separated in some regard but all the agencies are capable of a collaborative effort if needed.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNSHIP In my search for an internship I landed with a municipal police department, which of course has the smallest area to patrol out of the three enforcement entities mentioned above. When searching for an internship I contacted the state police, sheriff’s offices and multiple municipal agencies. I also contacted multiple federal agencies which partially included: the DEA, FBI, ATF, Marshals Service, and the Secret Service all to no avail. My only luck came from local municipal agencies. This was because they are the smallest and had the least amount of scrutiny in selecting their interns. All of the federal agencies had extensive security checks for interns that were simply not feasible for the time frame I had. I ended up selecting the Bluefield Virginia Municipal Police Department. I selected this agency because out of all the local municipal agencies this one seemed to be the most professional. Because this agency is very small it follows logically that this department also has fewer calls for service than the larger county and state agencies. There is a very low incidence of crime already in this general region; it is very rural. Thus, I had anticipated from the beginning that the work days would be vastly uneventful. The Bluefield Virginia’s Police Departments Jurisdiction is about 7.5 square miles in size. This agency has about 14 patrolmen, two detectives, one K-9 officer, and one school resource officer. On any given shift there are usually two patrolmen on duty with one supervisor. The detective’s usually only work during the day along with the chief. This agency’s patrolmen work 12 hour shifts which alternate to equal 40 hours a week. The administrative workers, detectives, and the school resource officer work eight hour shifts five days a week to equal 40 hours a week. Every officer with this agency has a take home vehicle. Every officer is issued a Glock .357 pistol, a 12 gauge shotgun, and a M16. The police department has a Special Response Team as well which are issued shorter M-4 type rifles. Because of the size of the jurisdiction there are no beat assignments, something I found to be

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unique. The town also does not have animal control so the police department fills that role. Because of this a very high amount of the calls for service that I experienced were ‘dog calls’. My experiences may be exemplified more clearly by reading my weekly journals from the entirety of the internship. However, the overall essence of my internship involved not a whole lot. The days were extremely slow and uneventful, much more so than I had anticipated. The incidents I did experience were isolated. By the officers own collective admission, in this jurisdiction the most common calls for service include: domestic violence, shoplifting, dog calls, drug possession and traffic violations. I did not experience any domestic violence calls during my internship. This could be attributed to the time in which I primarily interned. Because it was most convenient I primarily completed my time during the day shift. I would imagine that many domestic violence calls occur during the night when both parties are home from work and tensions from the day may gather with explosive ramifications. Statistically speaking, the most common incidents by far that I was involved in were traffic stops. Of which two resulted in vehicle searches, both being voluntary and they produced no contraband. The second most common incident I experienced was ‘dog calls’. I experienced one drug paraphernalia charge which stemmed from a panhandling call and one shoplifting incident at a local Wal-Mart. Both of the latter incidents resulted in misdemeanor charges where the shoplifter was released with a citation and the drug paraphernalia charge resulted in a trip to the jail. It is unfortunate and fortunate that the local ‘criminal scene’ is not more extensive in my area. It is certainly fortunate because a crimeless society is the goal in all societies. Thus, the closer we are to that goal the better. Crime is most often a negative thing because it most often means that someone is doing something wrong. Committing a crime and doing something wrong are not always synonymous however. There are laws which exist that are fairly arbitrary.

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However, most involve morally egregious acts. In the particular circumstance of this criminal justice internship the low crime rate was an issue, which is paradoxical in itself. It was an issue because the days were long and slow, there was nothing going on. Not only this, but the low crime rate limited the practical application that I was able to experience. The pros of the internship were that I was in a small police department so I was given a reasonable amount of freedom to view and experience everything the officers were experiencing. I was also able to develop more interpersonal relationships with officers because there was not very many of them. The reason that the internship was good was also the reason why it had cons, which is also paradoxical to consider. I would have liked to have interned with a huge agency like the Los Angeles Police Department for example. Departments of this magnitude are huge and have many different units complemented by an extremely high crime rate. This would be a department ripe with opportunities for practical application. Luckily I did not require an internship like this. I have taken to the criminal justice subject matter quite well and I was intimately familiar with the ‘system’ before I entered it as an intern. Here at the completion of my criminal justice coursework I am confident that I am competent enough to begin work as a police officer immediately. This internship has given me the opportunity to ‘live the life’ which is something that course work cannot provide. Even with the lack of extensive experiences during the internship I am still considering it an overall success. I was offered a patrolman job from the chief near the completion of my hours. I will probably be accepting that offer in the near future. My B.S. in Criminal Justice and my military experience certainly makes me competitive in this field of work. In this essay I have discussed, described, and ruminated on my recent criminal justice internship taken with Park University to fulfill graduation requirements. I first provided a

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description of the agency and its placement in the criminal justice system followed by observations and experiences learned by participation in the internship. Subsequently, I provided a discussion of the positive and negative experiences of the internship. I have also included a description of how the internship fitted into my student coursework at this point in my university experience....