What are the three most important things you learned from the materials in modules 4-6? Discuss these issues, and why they are important to you.

Reflection Paper #2
Prompt:
What are the three most important things you learned from the materials in modules 4-6? Discuss these issues, and why they are important to you.
Writing Suggestions Writing Suggestions – Alternative Formats
Read “How to Write a Good (or even Excellent) Paper” in the syllabus.
Read “Guide to Writing Discussion Posts & Reflection Papers” on our class homepage and, in particular, read “Avoid Plagiarism.”
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Submit only as a document using MS-WORD.
Double space, using 1-inch margins, and size 14 font.
At the top of your paper write your name and the class you are in.
Papers must be between 500-600 words.
You must provide a word count at the end of your paper (-5 points).
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Do not use any quotes (-5 points per instance).
Spelling and grammatical errors will result in lost points (-1 point per error).
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WEEK FOUR MODULE
Open Date: Sunday July 25 at 12:01am
Close Date: Saturday July 31 at 11:59pm (plus the automatic 24-hour grace period)
Required Readings
Police Innovation textbook: Third-Party Policing (pp 251-290)
Police Innovation textbook: Hot Spots (pp 291-346)
Module 4 mini-lecture
Required Videos
16 Shots (2019, 100 min) Hulu, also available on Showtime & Amazon
Like the song 16 Shots listed below, this video is about the murder of La Quan Mc Donald by a Chicago police officer and the CPD’s efforts to cover up the crime. See the description for the song below for more info.
Counter-Insurgency Cops (2013, 13 min.) (Youtube)
Although this 60 Minutes segment is called “counterinsurgency cops”, it is really about community policing and other innovative tactics.
Songs
Vic Mensa – 16 shots
A counterpart to one of this week’s videos, this powerful song is about the police killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by a Chicago Police officer while walking down the middle of a street high on drugs. The police went on to attempt to cover up this incident, but the video was all too clear. Surprisingly, the officer was convicted of second-degree murder and major reforms of the Chicago Police Department were implemented. Read more about this case here.
Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought the Law
An old-fashioned video and an old-fashioned song. From the 1950s, this song speaks to an imagined time where society was more wholesome, and law-breaking meant certain apprehension by the police and, one supposes, the opportunity to pay one’s debts to society and move on to become a productive citizen.
Graded Assignments
Quiz 4
Discussion Board Posts
WEEK FIVE MODULE
Open Date: Sunday Aug 1 at 12:01am
Close Date: Saturday Aug 7 at 11:59pm (plus the automatic 24-hour grace period)
Required Readings
Police Innovation textbook: Predictive Policing (pp 347-398)
Police Innovation textbook: Compstat (pp 399-438)
Module 5 mini-lecture
Required Videos
Whose Streets (2017, 101 min) YouTube
This video is about the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri. Although investigations by both the State of Missouri and the federal government, as well as multiple eyewitness testimonies, concluded that this was a lawful killing on the part of police, it occurred in a context of many years of abusive policing practices in this community, and set off days of protest that were harshly reacted to by police. It is important to realize that even though this particular case of the use of deadly force may have been justified and legal, it was nonetheless the spark that ignited protests locally and around the country. Importantly, this case also led to the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Stop and Frisk: Racial Profiling or Proactive Policing? (2013; 11 min) YouTube
This is a very short video about the highly controversial practice of “stop, question, and frisk” used in New York City, and around the country in the early 2000s. This practice, as it was used by the NYPD, was later found to be unconstitutional. SQF was also associated with a large decrease in crime when it was being used and, as a result, proponents loudly argued that abandoning it after it was found to be unconstitutional would lead to a rapid increase in crime. However, what was ignored by SQF proponents is that crime in NYC had been declining for years before SQF was adopted. So, what happened after the practice of SQF was ended? Crime continued to go down for several more years in NYC.
Songs
Chase Curl – Stay in the Fight
Moving forward, I am going to attempt to pair a “pro-police” song with one that is critical of the police. I do this because I want to present a balanced class. And I feel that music, as an artistic reflection of society, is a highly valid way to understand, and learn about, crime and police. However, while songs excoriating the police abound, it is a challenge to find songs that are supportive or pro-police. So, some of my selections, like this one, is as much a mash-up of video images as it is a song.
The Equals – Police on My Back
From London in the 1960s, and later given an awesome cover by the Clash, this excellent song has a real message, although much of the video
Graded Assignments
Quiz 5
Discussion Board Posts
WEEK SIX MODULE
Open Date: Sunday Aug 8 at 12:01am
Close Date: Saturday Aug 14 at 11:59pm (plus the automatic 24-hour grace period)
Required Readings
Police Innovation textbook: Evidence-Based/ Risk-Focused Policing (pp 439-484)
Police Innovation textbook: Technology Policing (pp 485-543)
Police Innovation textbook: Conclusion (pp 544-563)
Module 6 mini-lecture
Required Videos
Oscar One: The Kensington Corridor Overdoes Response Study (2021; 42 min)
This is video is a very realistic look at what policing often consists of. Not responding to crimes in progress, chasing bad guys, or engaging in dramatic life or death shootouts (although all of these things happen of course). But rather dealing with a serious and pervasive increase in drug overdoses. As first responders, police are often first on the scene when a drug overdose results in a 911 call and, as a result, they are called on to perform life-saving medical treatment. This is an example of how the police are the social agency of last resort for society, and how they deal with massive amounts of human misery on a daily basis.
Songs
Born for This This video is so laudatory of police that it could be used for recruitment. But note that what is missing from these scenes of violence and gun play, car chases, and dramatic shots of men in starched uniforms, are images that portray police as actually helping people, or dealing with realistic problems that are all too often encountered.
KRS-One – Sound of da Police On the flip side of my observations for the “Born for This” video, the images used in “Sound of da Police” are in some cases footage of police abusing civil rights protesters in the 1960s in the South. Some might argue that these images are from a different time and place and no longer represent policing in America today. However, responses by the police to recent protests about violence used by the police have resulted in investigations very critical to a number of police departments. For example, see the report about the LAPD here.
Graded Assignments
Quiz 6
Discussion Board Posts
Reflection Paper #2

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