Rodowsky

Name: Ellen Rodowsky

Guiding Question:

//Would I want to work in a Police Department or in some related area of justice when I'm older? //

(optional) Use this space to list possible activities, tasks, experiences. Remember everything you do should help you answer your Guiding Question.

(Required) This plan is a “best guess” as to what you and your mentor think you will be doing. It is not meant to be a hard and fast schedule for your Exploration. The plan should illustrate how you intend to complete a minimum of 80 hours.

- // America’s Courts and the Criminal Justice System, 4th Ed. // by David W. Neubauer - // The Everything Guide to Careers in Law Enforcement // by Paul D. Bagley - // 100 Best Careers in Crime Fighting // by Mary Price Lee, Richard S. Lee, and Carol Beam - // Complete Test Prep: Police Officer Exam // - //The FBI Career Guide// by Joseph W. Koletar - //Practical Homicide Investigation// by ||=  ||
 * = Date ||= Location/Activity ||= Number of Hours ||
 * = 5/1 - 6/3 ||= Reading:
 * = 5/4 ||= Julie Rodowsky's class - Special Agent Jack Martinelli's visit ||= 2 ||
 * = 5/1 - 5/15 ||= reading/research ||= 10 ||
 * = 5/20 ||= library - looking for more books; reading ||= 5 ||
 * = 5/21-5/22 ||= reading/research ||= 5 ||
 * = 5/23 ||= WPD - touring office; getting fingerprinted; reading; drafting questions ||= 4 ||
 * = 5/24 ||= WPD - ex parte hearing; getting papers signed for CDCP; talking to Sgt. Gestwicki ||= 5 ||
 * = 5/25 ||= WPD - made plans to speak with people; spoke with Sgt. Wyatt in Internal Affairs; read new book ||= 6 ||
 * = 5/26 ||= WPD - filed papers; spoe with Sgt Gestwicki, Lt. Carolyn Henry, Det. Donna DiClemente ||= 9 ||
 * = 5/27 ||= WPD - spoke with Det. Scott Chaffin; read; went to a roll call; home - read ||= 6 ||
 * = 5/28 - 5/30 ||= read a lot ||= 10 ||
 * 5/31 || WPD - filed; read case file for '07 homicide; home - read || 6 ||
 * 6/1 || WPD - saw a walk-out ceremony; went to meeting with Victims Services, CDCP, and other similar organizations || 5 ||
 * 6/2 || Philadelphia - toured FBI office; spoke with Jack Martinelli about FBI || 4 ||
 * 6/3 || WPD/Courthouse - went to three different PFA hearings with Stephanie Hamilton || 6 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 83 ||

Journal:
 * Tuesday, May 17 **

So far, I've been reading to get background information to prepare for the more hands-on part of my exploration, which I should be starting next week. Right now, I'm working on reading David W. Neubauer's //America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System//. The first chapter was very interesting - it discussed the controversy surrounding the court systems in today's society; it discussed the tensions between various members or branches of the criminal justice system (like prosecutors and police officers) and the role of the court systems in society. The public's view of the criminal justice system is rather contradictory; the book discussed how Americans are concerned about crime and blame the courts for the issues with crime throughout the country, but still hold respect for judges and believe the system is fair. I found the relationship between the different members in the courtroom (called "actors" in this book) very interesting. One of the chapters discussed the interconnectedness of the judges, attorneys, DAs, etc., and how all benefit from speedy trials that don't contain any "surprises," and therefore, they all share a general set of expectations. I'm very curious to speak with different members of the criminal justice system and ask if they agree with what this textbook says about tensions between the various court participants. I especially want to ask the police officers if they feel that their work is sometimes overridden or ignored (for lack of a better term) because of plea bargaining, overload of cases in the DAs office, or overcrowding in jails, etc.


 * Friday, May 20 **

I went to the library today and got four new books! I'm very excited to start them. I've finished the chapters in //America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System// that my mentor said I should read, so I've started reading //The Everything Guide to Careers in Law Enforcement//. I've only read the first chapter, but I think it'll be really helpful in giving me a solid background understanding of what goes into police work/law enforcement.


 * Friday, June 3**

The last two weeks have been overwhelmingly busy. Cramming in all of my non-reading parts of my exploration definitely has made the past fourteen days chock-full of information about police work. Most of my time in the station was spent in my mentor's office - reading, filing papers, and picking up on what cases were going on as various cops and detectives came in to speak with the Victim Service staff. The second biggest chunk of time in the station was spent interviewing patrol officers, detectives, and other law enforcement officials. Hearing personal testimonies about the job, the dangers, rewards, etc was a really great way to get a more accurate picture of police work than I do by watching Dexter or Law & Order. One woman that I spoke with was a patrol officer (who later became a detective) and she was pretty small (like me!) - it was helpful to talk to someone who could give me a decent idea of how I might fare in the Police Academy, etc. One man that I spoke with is the department's intelligence officer - his job was definitely the most interesting to me! He conducts background investigations for people applying to work at the WPD (he also did my background investigation...awkward!), polygraphs applicants and suspects in certain investigations, serves as the liaison between the WPD and other local police departments, the FBI, DEA, etc, and also handles the databases on gangs and gang members in the area. After my interview with him, I told my mentor that I definitely found his job the most interesting, and she was quick to remind me that he spent 5+ years as a patrol officer, and years after that as a detective :]

The past three days have been especially interesting. On Wednesday, I got to see a walk-out ceremony for a retiring officer. There were bagpipes and saluting and other kinds of policemen-traditions. After that, I sat in on a meeting with my mentor and her coworkers - it was a joint meeting between the WPD Victim Service unit, the CDCP (Community Partnership for Child Development), and a few other organizations that work to help children who are involved or witness crimes. (That is a very general and poor explanation, but you get the gist..). The meeting itself was slow and occasionally boring, but it blew me away to see just how much work these people put in to protecting and helping the children of the city of Wilmington. (Unfortunately, because of the confidentiality of the cases they were discussion, I can't share details, however) one woman even volunteered to drive a young teenager to Planned Parenthood workshops about self-esteem and safe sex a few nights over the next couple weeks, because the girl's mother was not as cooperative or supportive as one would hope.

Yesterday, I visited the FBI office in Philadelphia with my mom - a parent of one of the students in her class works there, and he volunteered to talk with us and tour us around the building. The building itself (or at least his floor) was nothing like the offices I see on Criminal Minds - in lieu of glass walls and ultra hi-tech computers, there were normal cubicles and stacks upon stacks of files. However, all of the things he talked to us about sounded incredible - I was surprised to find that it actually made me more interested in trying to get a job in the FBI when I'm older.

Today, I went to court with one of my mentor's coworkers (Stephanie) who handles the cases of domestic violence (DV) for the PFA hearings (Protection From Abuse). The first case that went before I judge involved a trial. It was really, really sad - the young woman filed for a lifetime PFA against her ex-boyfriend. Since she filed for a lifetime PFA, the ex-boyfriend wasn't willing to sign a consent form (and the woman didn't want to settle for a two- or five-year agreement) so the judge heard the witnesses, etc. I had been sitting with her and her current boyfriend while they waited for a judge to be available, so I got to chat with them about school, etc, which made it more difficult to sit in on the trial when she cried on the stand when she relived what her ex-boyfriend put her through the past six years she's known him. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have to work with cases like this day in and day out, especially if the outcome of the trial isn't what the victim had hoped. Luckily, the judge granted her the lifetime PFA. According to Stephanie, not all judges are as sympathetic as this woman was. She told me that one of the judges sometimes yells at the victims during their testimony or tells them that he wouldn't have granted their PFA if (for example...I can't remember the specific story) there hadn't been photographs depicting that DV had occurred. I wonder how much the gender of the judge affects the decision made.

6/6/11 POL successfully completed. Mentor not present. (She needs to prompt mentor for an evaluation.) Thank you written and already delivered..

R. Bernard.