Blog 7: Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert? 

 My mentor is Deputy Daley, he currently works at the Walnut Sheriff Station.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

1. How long have you been in law enforcement and have you worked in different departments?
2. Has the work environment changed from when you first started?
3. How has the job changed since you first started?
4. What has the experience been like in general?
5. Where did you train and for how long?
   

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

So far nothing about Senior Project has been extremely positive or negative. Most of it so far is going through the motions trying to see what does and does not work for me when it comes to the work for the project.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

At the current moment nothing is extremely difficult. I have most of how I am going to do my hours figured out, like how I will have to do them on the weekends because the only time I can meet with my mentor is during the morning from about 6am - 2pm which when my mentor is on shift at the Sheriff's station in Walnut. At this point in time I do not think the senior team can help with this particular situation since it is not a large concern of mine.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?  
I learned that having a setting where the interviewee is comfortable is a definite thing to make sure of. The more comfortable the person you are interviewing is the more likely they will be able to better answer your questions. I found that both interviews went well and I got a lot of useful information from both of the people I interviewed. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?
One of the people I interviewed suggested a few movies and books to look into like The Red Dot Club for instance. He also suggested looking at books and sources that are written by actual police officers rather than people that have never been a police officer. 


3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 
Both of my interviewees were officers. One from LADOT (Los Angeles Department of Transportation) which are the police officers that are known to direct traffic and have been referred to as "Meter Maids". The other interviewee has been a LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officer for about 29 years and has worked in many divisions in LAPD.

Blog 4: House Advisory Prep

What I am hoping to accomplish through my senior project is learning what it's like to work for certain departments of Law Enforcement and how it may differ for certain cities or even for certain states. I am also hoping to find out what the actual job is like rather than the romanticized version of law enforcement that usually portrayed in movies and television (in shows such as Blue Bloods for example). I am hoping to have a better understanding of how law enforcement works and if it is something I want to go into after college and if so what branch of law enforcement.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
I plan to interview a police officer from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) that is a friend of the family. I plan to interview him because I'm curious about what its like to work at his department and what its like for him to be a police officer that works in Los Angeles.

2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask? 

1. What caused you to want to be a police officer?
2. Where did you do your training for the job?
3. What has the experience been like so far?
4. Do you have a favorite moment or thing about the job? If so what is it?
5. Is there a physical toll on your body from this job?  If so what?
6. Have you had any surgery for injuries that you've gotten from this job? Is so then how many?