Shauna Cranford
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
My Internship at Ocean Township Police Department
My name is Shauna Cranford. This semester I completed my field experience requirement at Ocean Township Police Department.
During my internship I shadowed patrol officers on ride-alongs in the police car, worked alongside the criminal investigative bureau, and observed dispatch. I really liked that every day was different. I was able to observe a wide variety of events from burglaries, car accidents, EMS calls, arrests, child and domestic violence cases, as well as drug raids.
Police officers play an important role in helping children and families. One interesting case I observed involved a juvenile who was arrested for being in possession of illegal substances. I was touched to see that the police officer demonstrated care for the teenager and took the time to talk to him about substance use before releasing him to his parents.
Children are also involved in abuse cases. In these cases, they are sent with a social worker and a detective to the Freehold Child Advocacy Center where they are interviewed by a child forensic investigator. During my internship I witnessed a case of alleged child abuse that was reported by a school counselor. I learned how the detective bureau handles cases to avoid influencing the child victim and tainting an investigation.
An important, yet underrepresented part of the department is female officers. In the Ocean Township Police Department, there are only two female officers out of 59. Also, I learned that in each graduating class of the state police academy, only one or two graduates are women out of about 60 graduates. If a female officer is not on duty or in the department when needed to perform strip searches or assist rape, domestic violence or child victims who feel more comfortable with females, a female officer must be borrowed from another town which is detrimental to both the victim and the department loaning the officer.
During my internship, I learned that the department started a twitter account to increase police-community relations, but they did not have many followers. For my little piece project, I researched the successful use of social media by police departments around the nation and authored a “tips for success” document related to the frequency and content of tweets to increase the Department’s number of twitter followers.
During my internship I learned so much about not only the law, but also how much emphasis is put on forensics to solve a case. This experience with the police department has allowed me to commit to pursuing a graduate degree and career in forensic psychology.
I will now turn the presentation over to Angelica who will tell about her experience in forensic assessment.
My name is Shauna Cranford. This semester I completed my field experience requirement at Ocean Township Police Department.
During my internship I shadowed patrol officers on ride-alongs in the police car, worked alongside the criminal investigative bureau, and observed dispatch. I really liked that every day was different. I was able to observe a wide variety of events from burglaries, car accidents, EMS calls, arrests, child and domestic violence cases, as well as drug raids.
Police officers play an important role in helping children and families. One interesting case I observed involved a juvenile who was arrested for being in possession of illegal substances. I was touched to see that the police officer demonstrated care for the teenager and took the time to talk to him about substance use before releasing him to his parents.
Children are also involved in abuse cases. In these cases, they are sent with a social worker and a detective to the Freehold Child Advocacy Center where they are interviewed by a child forensic investigator. During my internship I witnessed a case of alleged child abuse that was reported by a school counselor. I learned how the detective bureau handles cases to avoid influencing the child victim and tainting an investigation.
An important, yet underrepresented part of the department is female officers. In the Ocean Township Police Department, there are only two female officers out of 59. Also, I learned that in each graduating class of the state police academy, only one or two graduates are women out of about 60 graduates. If a female officer is not on duty or in the department when needed to perform strip searches or assist rape, domestic violence or child victims who feel more comfortable with females, a female officer must be borrowed from another town which is detrimental to both the victim and the department loaning the officer.
During my internship, I learned that the department started a twitter account to increase police-community relations, but they did not have many followers. For my little piece project, I researched the successful use of social media by police departments around the nation and authored a “tips for success” document related to the frequency and content of tweets to increase the Department’s number of twitter followers.
During my internship I learned so much about not only the law, but also how much emphasis is put on forensics to solve a case. This experience with the police department has allowed me to commit to pursuing a graduate degree and career in forensic psychology.
I will now turn the presentation over to Angelica who will tell about her experience in forensic assessment.