First and foremost, before we begin discussing other important issues, we would like to take a short pause and address serious social issues we feel is prevalent and worthy of in-depth conversation. Let's get real. The nation is in social unrest. The community has little faith and trust in law enforcement and yet despite the conflict; have an expectation for law enforcement to continue confronting perilous situations day in and day out. Social media and the news highlight tragic incidents gone wrong at the hands of police. The dreadful encounters between subject and cop have brought dishonor to a profession held to a higher standard. Are some of the gone wrong scenarios motivated? Accidental? Intentional? ... Maybe yes...Maybe no.The authors take pride and honor when wearing their badge as they protect and serve. Are there bad apples in every barrel? The answer is yes, this analogy is the same for all professions including law enforcement. However, as law enforcement professionals, our perspective is there are more good officers than the media publishes than the bad ones. The onset starting the authors' education began in Criminal justice primarily because we are in law enforcement. Yet upon completion of the Associate of Arts, we were left feeling as though the information (while significant) really did not play an active role directly related to our profession. We wanted to understand behavior. We hoped by taking psychology courses we could understand why people act and behave in the manner they do. So, we pursued our Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and continued with our Master of Science degree in Psychology. As we evolved and grew through our coursework, we began to have a new perspective and respect human behavior. The knowledge provided us with a new approach when responding to consumers afflicted with mental disorders, behavioral issues, addictive patterns and cultural sensitivity occurring daily in our job. Formal training specifically for Forensic Science is great if you looking to solve crimes, but it does not really help when dealing with the people coming in off the streets housed in the jail environment. We found by taking the various psychology curriculums over the course of years, provided us with a different set of glasses to wear, as opposed to thinking how I believe "normal" people should act and behave. It was like one day we got it, understanding the mind does not unfold itself in a normal manner, if it has been influenced from an array of biological, sociological, or addictions causing his or her way of thinking to be damaged. We stopped going in thinking as a law enforcement does on a day to day basis such as "my way or the highway". Once we realized there were realistic facts that cause people to act in certain ways, we then began to empathize. We began to listen and try to understand the way they thought before the way we reacted. Our way of approaching mental crises, behavioral issues, or cultural conflict within various populations has changed in a complete 360. Don't get us wrong, we do not have a warm a fuzzy approach, but we realize we have to be mindful how we approach different individuals once we learn to recognize symptoms and signs associated to mental illness. Traditional police academy training did not teach or prepare us how to properly engage or approach people in mental crises. We learned from years of on the job experience and our quest for higher knowledge to understand behavior as it relates to law enforcement. Law Enforcement-Based Psychology 101- Inside the Human Mind provides the basic history related to psychology and the influences that cause behavior. Our insight is the information police cadets should know before they ever graduate from the academy, put on a police uniform, and issued a gun but don't. However, it is never too late to learn, understand, and then respect the influences that mold the manner people later relate to society.
- | Author: Jessica Goings
- | Publisher: Independently published
- | Publication Date: Oct 24, 2018
- | Number of Pages: 123 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 1729299059
- | ISBN-13: 9781729299050
