dee Semester Project: Part A – The Gap

Semester Project: Part A – The Gap Due by 11:59pm on September 19 [32% of Project Grade – 80 points] The first part of the project contains the hardest part of the project – deciding on your ‘topic.’ Once again, in sum, the point of this project is to have you, the researcher/expert, propose and put into place a community program and/or police training that you believe can improve police effectiveness in a community of your choice. So…a reform idea to improve some aspect of police effectiveness in the chosen community. NOTE: You may not use programs/training that are extensively discussed in the textbook. For example, body-worn cameras and Operation Ceasefire, to name a couple. What do you need to do?

1. To help you narrow down an idea for reform, go to the Police Executive Research Forum site. Read a little bit about who PERF is, then peruse the topics under the yellow tabs at the top. Be sure to at least read through the information under PERF in the News, Publications, and Resources. There are hundreds of topics to choose from, so don’t waste any time reading through the information.

2. Once you have decided what program/training (p/t from now on) you would like to learn more about – aka, research – then begin gathering information on this p/t as you would if you were doing a literature review for a research topic.

3. Identify a city/community/jurisdiction that you believe could benefit from such a p/t, then do a little digging to find out if such p/t already exist. [This is where the PERF site will be useful.]

a. If the p/t does exist and appears effective in that area, then choose a different area (or choose a different p/t). Repeat.

b. If the p/t exists and appears ineffective, then your purpose for the project will be to determine how to modify the p/t to improve police effectiveness. This will require that you learn as much as you can about the city/community/jurisdiction (for example crime rates, types of crimes, demographics of the population in the area, etc.).

c. If the p/t does not exist in that area, then determine why it would be a good p/t to develop in that area. Then learn about the area as indicated in ‘b’ above.

4. After you have completed the above, you are ready to generate a memo to the Chief of Police (or other title depending on the type of area you choose). See the format with directions for each part on the following pages.

Avoid incomplete sentences, spelling errors, and grammatical errors. If you exceed more than three errors of these types, you will receive a zero on this part of the project. So, proofread.

< insert date here > To: < insert name and title of who you choose to send this to > Fr: < insert your name and title – you can create a title of your liking > Re: Request to discuss possible implementation/modification (choose one based on point 3 above) [10 points] In this first paragraph you will (1) introduce yourself, including your name, title; and (2) clearly state your reason for sending the memo, including the name of the p/t you are proposing to implement or modify. [30 points] For the second paragraph, you will overview your specific expertise in police effectiveness and/or evidence-based policing. Stress how you understand the importance of research reflecting the realities of policing (see the first page of Chapter 1). Elaborate a little on how your research does this. Again, this will be fiction, but what you say should tie back to what you have learned about the ‘relationship’ between academic research and policing. NOTE: You can make up the title and expertise – important…you are NOT a student for this project. You are an academic researcher. So, jazz up your expertise and experience to impress. Do not forget to cite the textbook when needed. Provide the full citation on the last page of the memo. [34 points] Clearly state, once again, the name of the p/t to implement/modify. Clearly state why you believe this program could increase police effectiveness in the area, OR how the modifications you propose can improve police effectiveness. This should include some points about the p/t complemented with information about the community. Provide at least three [supported] reasons for your claim. These should come from your research of the p/t you chose. For this part of the project, the sources can all be from PERF. Provide the full citations on the last page of the memo. [6 points] Conclude by overviewing your purpose for the memo and requesting a meeting to discuss your ideas. Length and Formatting:

• Your final memo should be between 1-1/2 to 3 pages. Stay within this range. • Use 1.5 line spacing. • Use one-inch margins. • Use 11- or 12-point font (use a ‘normal’ font like Arial or Times New Roman).

NOTE:

• No, this is not a typical use of a memo, but it is the format we are using. The information from this memo will be used as part of the ‘white paper’ you will generate for Part C.

• Citations can be in the format of your choice. The more common is APA. But use what you are familiar with, just be consistent.

• If you have questions or need clarification, reach out to me.