The answer should be one page for each document attached.

No directly quoted material may be used in this project paper.

Project 1:Departmental Project: Strategic Plan

Project Assignment:

As a member of the Virtual Police Department’s Administrative Services Unit you have been called into a meeting with your supervisor, several other police commanders, and the Chief of the Virtual Police Department.  This is what you are told by the head of the Criminal Intelligence Unit.

Several jurisdictions in the vicinity of Virtual have experiences “Flash Robs”. These are groups of teenagers and young adults, both men and women, who descend on a commercial store and, on a given signal, grab as much merchandise as they can carry and flee the store in mass. The size of the group and the quickness of their action made apprehension almost impossible for the overwhelmed store employees. Targeted stores range from sporting goods outlets, and electronic shops, to pharmacies and liquor stores. There is some evidence that the mob is organized by codes using social media.  The Virtual Small Business Association is petitioning the Mayor for a plan to ensure these mobs to not attack the downtown business area. They are insisting on more police presence (particularly during peak business hours) and closer cooperation between the police and their own private security.  

The Chief has decided to form a  8-unit task force. This operation will be a collaborative effort involving both the Virtual Police Department and other appropriate “partner” agencies within the criminal justice system.  The Administrative Services Unit will draw up the proposal for the Chief to take to the Mayor.  Your supervisor gives this assignment to you.

1.    Identifying 6 and only 6 departmental units that will be included in some manner on the task force from the Virtual Police Department Table of Organization chart. (See Virtual Police Table of Organization.)

    NOTE: All of Patrol (Commanders A, B and C, Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants, COPs and Patrol Officers) is 1 single unit.  If patrol is selected as part of the task force the requirements in #2 below must be completed.

   ALSO: Selection of a “Commander” (e.g., Special Operations Commander) as a Unit includes the official and their immediate office staff.  It does not include each of the subordinate units.

2. For each of the 6 units selected from within the Virtual PD you are asked to:

a) Identify the unit and briefly describe its typical operational/administrative role and regular duties in a law enforcement agency b) Explain why the unit was chosen for this task force, what role it will play on the task force

If more than 6 units in the Virtual Police Department have a potential role on this task force, you must select the 6 units having the most impact and/or being most useful in achieving the reduction in violent crime goal.

3. Additionally, you will identify 4 units in the Virtual Police Departmental units that will NOT be part of the task force. For each of these units not selected, you are asked to:

a) Identify the unit and briefly describe its typical operational/administrative role and regular duties in a law enforcement agency

b) Explain why it was NOT chosen for this task force. 

4. To complete the 8 unit task force, you will also identify 2 non-departmental units from the criminal justice system that should be included in some manner on the task force

a) Identify the unit and briefly describe its typical operational/administrative role and regular duties in the criminal justice system

b) Explain why the unit was chosen for this task force, what role it will play on the task force

In order to present a convincing argument and demonstrate the depth of your research you must include supportive outside resources. You must acknowledge  the outside resources (or course materials) using appropriate American Psychological Association (APA) citation format.

 Again, the goal of this project is to give you an opportunity to determine, analyze and assess the role of various police department units, their relationship to other units, and how their skills can be applied to counter criminal activity. Therefore, each unit you discuss, must be supported by an appropriate reference, in APA format.

Format Requirements

• Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1” margins all around.
• All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). 
• You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information.  These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased

Instructions

You should write a flowing prose paper (NOT 1, 2, 3 etc..).  Your paper should have headings (Using APA 7th edition format style) that reflect each of the sections below (i.e. Introduction, opening statements, Establishing/Challenging a Prima Facie Case for Murder, evidence, closing arguments, outside factors, concluding thoughts).  Under each heading you will address each of the questions asked in flowing prose (NOT 1, 2, 3, etc..).

Aaron Hernandez was a professional athlete, having played for the New England Patriots.  In 2013, he was accused of murdering a mutual friend, Odin Lloyd.  In 2015, he was convicted of the Lloyd murder.

You may conduct your own research in answering the questions below, but also consider the following two links for support:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu2QGbGwpYU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jr0-A7PhLI

After reviewing the information provided, submit a paper using the format below and answering the following questions supported by specific authority from the links provided. 

A. Introduction

• Give a brief overview of the facts of the case, including an explanation of the specific statute(s) under which the defendant was charged and/or convicted and the ultimate outcome of the case
• Give a brief explanation of the burden of proof, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal prosecution.
• Give a brief explanation of why the Hernandez trial was so important to the prosecution of crimes in the United States.

B. Opening Statements

• Which attorney was most persuasive and why?
• Which attorney gave the jury more significant facts to consider and what were those facts?

C. Establishing/Challenging a Prima Facie Case for Murder

• Name one key witness who helped establish a prima facie case of homicide for the prosecution or challenged a prima facie case for the defense, and explain why he or she helped or hurt the prosecution of the case.

D. Evidence

• What other evidence (other than testimony) was significant in establishing or challenging a prima facie case of murder? Why was this significant?

E. Closing Arguments

• Describe why one argument was more persuasive than the other.
• Discuss what in particular may have persuaded the jury one way or the other based on the closing argument.

F. Outside Factors

• What, if any, outside factors (media, public opinion, etc.) affected the trial and/or the outcome of the case and how did they do so? (What book?)

G. Concluding thoughts

• Discuss why this case is important to the study of criminal justice and criminal prosecution, and how reading primary documentation about it has changed your own perspective on the case.

Format Requirements

• Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1” margins all around.
• All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). Refer to APA/UMGC – learning resources found in the content page of this course.
• You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information.  These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased.

Assignment 1

Instructions

No directly quoted material may be used in this project paper.

Resources should be summarized or paraphrased with appropriate in-text and Resource page citations.

A little background:  One of the most important aspects of finding out more about crime and “why people do what they do” is to understand what Criminologists have already determined. Research raises our awareness of the things that we should pay close attention to.  It creates a photo of what has happened, what may happen and what we can do to prevent things from happening (from a policy perspective).

Criminologists, and other scholars, tell us these things by publishing their research findings in academic peer reviewed journals.  The idea is to know what research exists and to find gaps in the content areas that are in need of further research in an effort to conduct research to help create yet an even more comprehensive picture of a crime, criminal behavior, policy, and to suggest a policy!

For this assignment, you will start the process of research and identifying a gap in the literature (i.e. an area in need of further research)!  Your goal is to synthesize information that exists about a topic and then identify a research question that would help a Criminologist to explore the topic further. You will carry this topic throughout this course – so be sure to pick a topic that interests you!

You are to do the following for this assignment:

1.    Pick a broad topic area about crime that interests you (for example, homicide)

2.    Pick a demographic variable that you think may affect that topic (for example, where one lives)

3.    Identify 2 variables (one independent variable (IV) and one dependent variable (DV)).One of the variables will be the demographic variable that you chose in the question above.  For example, in the example above, Homicide would be my dependent variable and where one lives would be my independent variable.  You can think of a “cause and effect” relationship to determine which is your independent and which is your dependent variable.

4.    Now create a research question.  Research questions are frequently used in  Criminology.  This is because we often cannot “prove” anything, but we can suggest relationships.  Research questions assess the possible relationship between variables. They are often in the format of: “To what extent, if any, is X related to Y.”  Of course, the wording may be a little different, but hopefully you get the idea!

5.    Log into the UMGC library and pick a data base (Sage, for example) to start researching what research exists about your topic and the other variable you have chosen. You are to use academic peer reviewed articles only.

6.    Choose 3 peer reviewed academic articles for each of your variables (you will have six articles total- 3 for your IV and 3 for your DV).  Write an annotated bibliography for each of your articles.  Pay special attention to the similarities and differences in regards to what they are saying about your topic. Provide a brief summary of the article, and spend at least a paragraph discussing the similarities and differences between the topical articles.

 Format Requirements

• Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1”margins all around.
• All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). Refer to APA/UMGC – learning resources found in the content page of this course.
• You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information.  These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased.

Instructions       

A little background:  You have learned about many aspects of the criminal justice system that have an affect on cases going to court and court proceedings. It is important that the CJ system is viewed in its totality in an effort to see how different factors affect the outcome and ultimately the quest for justice.

1. Makeup with a synopsis of a criminal act.  This should be no longer than a paragraph.  It should include the elements needed to answer the following questions.

2.            Identify the crime(s) committed and the response by the police (this should detail the probable cause element for an arrest), suggest the charges for this individual (refer to the revised statutes in the state (Maryland) that you live to identify what crime(s) they may be charge with).  You may have to do some additional outside research (besides the revised statutes in your state)

3.            Pretend that you are the District Attorney for this case.  Explain your role in the prosecution of this case. Detail the information and steps that will be taken to take this case to trial. Explain the elements that must be necessary in order for the suspect to be convicted in the U.S. court system.

Format Directions:

•             Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1”margins all around.

•             All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). Refer to APA/UMGC – learning resources found in the content page of this course.

•             You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information.  These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased.

•             Answered in 1., 2., 3 format

Instructions

You learned about the various ways in which we are made aware of crime and the different strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods of gathering crime statistics.  You have also learned about how crime is defined can impact the overall perception and knowledge of crime.

Directions: With the readings from week 1 and 2 in mind, answer each of the following questions.  Be sure to fully answer each part of every question.

1.  Discuss the different views (I.e., interactionist, consensus, conflict) that influence how crime is defined.  Which do you think is the best definition and why?  Your “why” should be supported with facts.

2.  Discuss two strengths and two weaknesses of each of the various measures of crime.  Which method do you think is best and why?

3.  Discuss two ways in which you think we can lessen the dark figure of crime.

4.  Based on your answers to questions 1-3, propose a new way in which you think crime data should be collected. * note- this question involves critical thinking and should be your unique idea.  You should, however, use course material to back up your thoughts.

Format Directions:

Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1”margins all around.

All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). Refer to APA/UMGC – learning resources found in the content page of this course.

You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information.  These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased.

This should NOT be in flowing prose- you should answer in 1, 2, 3, 4 format