I would like to sincereley thank everyone that helped me in my goals to gain experience in law enforcement at the California Department of Insurance Fraud. From day one, the office courteous and friendly to me. They immediately gave me opportunities to show me what a career in law enforcement is like. Detectives took their time to explain the process as I watched. I have wanted to join law enforcement for a long time now and my time with the department has only encouraged that desire. The close family atmosphere is exactly what I was hoping to experience through law enforcement. Witnessing the level of professionalism and enjoyment the detectives found in their careers gives me something to look forward to as i enter this career. I believe they internship has helped me become better prepared to pursue a career in Law Enforcement.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Accomplishments
My original goals were:
My three goals for this internship are;
1. Gain experience in the career field of law enforcement
- This area has definitely been accomplished through my time at the academy. During the internship i have gone one two search warrants and multiple suspect interviews. I got to see the investigative aspect of law enforcement. I got to the see the interaction of officers and individuals involved in their investigation. Being in the academy, I am learning proper officer training tactics and procedures and was able to watch similar tactics be performed by the detectives in real situations.
2. Learn and understand how an investigation is operated from start to finish
- I feel I have learned a lot about this procedure as it pertains to insurance fraud investigations. It starts with an insurance claim being investigated by special investigators who are not sworn peace officers. They lay out the case as best they can and then send it to the CDI to determine if there is enough evidence to pursue an arrest. The detectives then follow the leads and interview all those involved. Sometimes a case will go to the DA and sometimes they detectives determine there is not enough evidence to pursue an arrest.
3. Learn how different departments work together within the Justice System such as different law enforcement agencies and the District Attorneys office.
- The realtionship i witnessed between the CDI and the DA's office was interesting to say the least. The Deputy DA assigned to help the insurance fraud detectives I worked with was incapable according to the office talk. The relationship was a tense one in that the detectives were not happy but at the end of the day they did the job to the best of their ability and made it work. I learned not everyone will get along or work together well abut at the end of the day the end of the day is to put criminals away.
CDI Strengths
The major strength of this organization is the vast area that it covers. The department is spread out to cover all of California an yet the departments still communicate efficiently. The other week, a detective from the sacramento branch spent the week in southern California and was able to work his case out of the local office there with the help of detectives from that branch. It just showed me how although hundreds of miles apart, each branch functions together as one unit to accomplish the mission of the department.
If I were in charge of the an organization similar to CDI, I would focus more on employee retention and training. One major issue with law enforcement agencies is lack of funding for training once peace officers get out of a basic academy. Officers go through a rigorous academy to get into the career but then do not et much training after. Driving skills are retrained only twice a year for a majority of departments yet car accidents account for almost 40 percent of officer deaths a year. There are many other areas of training that get overlooked because of funding. I would allocate more funds to training to keep the officers within my organization up to date on current tactics.
If I were in charge of the an organization similar to CDI, I would focus more on employee retention and training. One major issue with law enforcement agencies is lack of funding for training once peace officers get out of a basic academy. Officers go through a rigorous academy to get into the career but then do not et much training after. Driving skills are retrained only twice a year for a majority of departments yet car accidents account for almost 40 percent of officer deaths a year. There are many other areas of training that get overlooked because of funding. I would allocate more funds to training to keep the officers within my organization up to date on current tactics.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The Holidays
The CDI gets holidays off which allowed me to spend extra time with my family this year. For thanksgiving I went to my Girlfriend's family for dinner which is the first time I have been to any other thanksgiving dinner that was not with my family. My family spent this year in San Diego because my little brother had a soccer tournament so it was unavoidable. I would say it was a pretty good day I mean there was turkey, pumpkin pie, football, and favorable beverages, there was plenty to be thankful for. I look forward to Christmas and the new years celebration as well. With my current schedule I don't get as much time as I would like to spend with my family. The holidays are a good remedy for that. Spending time with my family is rejuvenating for me and a reminder of why I am working so hard to get where I want to be.
Free Write- Tempe
My internship has brought me back to my hometown of Sacramento, CA. It had been just about a year since I have been back to Tempe. I can honestly say I miss living in Tempe. I know many Californians that move to Arizona don't always share my opinion due to the weather but I grew accustomed to the heat, or at least how to handle it. It has brought thoughts of possibly moving back to Arizona some day in the future. But I begin to think what about Tempe do I miss. I know I miss my friends for one. Although I am in contact with a lot of my friends I met as a Sundevil, a majority of them have also left Tempe in search of careers. Another aspect I miss is the town atmosphere. My experience in Tempe was a that of friendly people and not much worrying about violence when out in public. Sacramento is not the same any aspect. Sacramento is better compared to phoenix in that it is congested and diverse, not everyone if friendly and helpful, and going out in public reminds me that I should be aware of my surroundings in certain areas. I think when its comes down to it I miss the college town atmosphere and the experience I had living in Tempe. I look forward to going back for a visit soon to see friends and catch a football game, hopefully when the team starts playing better though....
Free write - Memorial destruction
I am a little behind on posts due to the craziness of the last couple months so I will be posting a few extra posts. The first topic that came to mind was a very frustrating incident that happened back in October.
On Friday, October 27 2006 Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Mitchell was shot and killed during a vehicle stop. The offender was never caught and the murder investigation is still open. Deputy Mitchell gave his life attempting to make Sacramento county a safer place to live. The ultimate public service in my opinion. In honor of sacrifice, a memorial was built in his name near his place of death which included an American flag and bench area.
This past October only a week before the memorial of his death, his memorial site was destroyed. The bench was uprooted and the flag destroyed. I'm not sure what kind of person does such a thing. I can't really put my feeling about the incident into words but they would bot be pleasant words if I could. I donated to the cause of rebuilding and improving the memorial before the anniversary of his memorial and was happy to hear the wife and son of Deputy Mitchell were pleased with the new memorial.
I don't really know the purpose of this post other than as I continue my pursuit of joining a law enforcement agency I am reminded of the family atmosphere of the job and how even officers who have never met each other would do whatever needed to look out for one another.
Fallen But Not Forgotten.
On Friday, October 27 2006 Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Mitchell was shot and killed during a vehicle stop. The offender was never caught and the murder investigation is still open. Deputy Mitchell gave his life attempting to make Sacramento county a safer place to live. The ultimate public service in my opinion. In honor of sacrifice, a memorial was built in his name near his place of death which included an American flag and bench area.
This past October only a week before the memorial of his death, his memorial site was destroyed. The bench was uprooted and the flag destroyed. I'm not sure what kind of person does such a thing. I can't really put my feeling about the incident into words but they would bot be pleasant words if I could. I donated to the cause of rebuilding and improving the memorial before the anniversary of his memorial and was happy to hear the wife and son of Deputy Mitchell were pleased with the new memorial.
I don't really know the purpose of this post other than as I continue my pursuit of joining a law enforcement agency I am reminded of the family atmosphere of the job and how even officers who have never met each other would do whatever needed to look out for one another.
Fallen But Not Forgotten.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Report Writing
I am quickly learning that one of the most important tasks in law enforcement is writing a good report. Report writing is not something most people thin about when they think about a career in law enforcement. Every case or call a peace officer works must be properly and thoroughly documented. Reports that are done poorly can lead to violent offenders being freed and released back into the population, civil law suits against counties or police agencies, and even prosecution of officers if information was reported falsely on documentation.
A peace officer is responsible for being as detailed as possible in his reports including the times and locations of events, accurate reporting of statements taken, observations of the scene or injuries if relevant. Police reports need to be accurate and thorough because it could be years before the officer is called to a stand to testify on a case and the only thing he has to remember the incident is the report he wrote. Another reason reports are so important is that they document the justification of an officers actions. If an officer is going to arrest someone and in essence remove their freedom by taking them into custody, the officer must properly document the probable cause that lead to the arrest. The same goes for if an officer uses force on ay suspect. You wouldn't be able to just write "during a conversation with john doe, I placed him in handcuffs to talk to him." If you were to read this statement you would have no idea why the officer believed it was necessary to place the individual in handcuffs. To be more efficient you would say something like "during my conversation with John Doe about a recent robbery involving a knife that had just occurred in the area by a man matching his description, Doe began to shift his body weight and clench his fists as if he was ready to fight. For my safety as well as that of Doe, I placed him in handcuffs to detain him to search for weapons and for further investigation of the robbery.' The amount of detail in both statements is noticeably different. You know exactly what happened and why the officer took the actions he took.
In summary, to be a good peace officer one must possess excellent writing skills in order to properly perform his/her duties.
A peace officer is responsible for being as detailed as possible in his reports including the times and locations of events, accurate reporting of statements taken, observations of the scene or injuries if relevant. Police reports need to be accurate and thorough because it could be years before the officer is called to a stand to testify on a case and the only thing he has to remember the incident is the report he wrote. Another reason reports are so important is that they document the justification of an officers actions. If an officer is going to arrest someone and in essence remove their freedom by taking them into custody, the officer must properly document the probable cause that lead to the arrest. The same goes for if an officer uses force on ay suspect. You wouldn't be able to just write "during a conversation with john doe, I placed him in handcuffs to talk to him." If you were to read this statement you would have no idea why the officer believed it was necessary to place the individual in handcuffs. To be more efficient you would say something like "during my conversation with John Doe about a recent robbery involving a knife that had just occurred in the area by a man matching his description, Doe began to shift his body weight and clench his fists as if he was ready to fight. For my safety as well as that of Doe, I placed him in handcuffs to detain him to search for weapons and for further investigation of the robbery.' The amount of detail in both statements is noticeably different. You know exactly what happened and why the officer took the actions he took.
In summary, to be a good peace officer one must possess excellent writing skills in order to properly perform his/her duties.
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