CPR

Last week in class me and the rest of group A began CPR and First Aid training for OPOTA. The class was split up into two groups to make instructing the course easier and Group B will start taking it in a couple of weeks. The course consists of videos teaching us what to do along with Mr. Douglas, our instrutor also explaining and showing us the things we need to do. After its taught we practice what we learn and have to show Mr. Douglas that we are capable doing what is asked of us. Examples of what we did include, practicing CPR on manicans both adult and baby, practicing bandaging and splinting on eachother and we learned how to use an AED. We learned about the different hazards that surround each day including weather hazards like extreme heat and cold, things like poisonious bites and stings and how to treat them. Also how to help someone who has an allergy to something. I am really looking forward to the rest of the class and hope learning the rest of the material will be as easy as it was last week.

Prevention of Crowd Violence

We as Americans have our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and police officers being the protectors of our rights are expected to guarantee us these freedoms and to protect the people who participate in these freedoms along with preventing violence from occurring in these cases. Everyone has witnessed a riot, event, demonstration whether it be on TV or in person that there have been large crowds who can be unruly. Police are expected to attend these events and be ready at any time to fight against people who decide to make the situation go from peaceful and fun, to violence and a nightmare.
Sporting events are major examples of this where rival fans and the selling of alcohol can contribute to dangerous situations coming about. Police must be ready to use special equipment and tactics to tame the crowd and gain control back before serious injury is sustained by anyone. All over the world forces are beginning to discuss and share different tactics with each other to ensure the best possible counter action to crowd violence everywhere.
A lot of times in these situations the most simple steps in preventing crowd violence are missed and this leads to a bigger mess, that it why this book describes right down to the last detail what is needed to know about preventing crowd violence. It ultimately comes down to police officers fully understanding a person’s rights and if they are within them or not while having a demonstration or event in which a crowd is involved. It is good to stay communicated with the crowd and allow each other to fully understand where both sides are coming from and for an officer it is always good not to have over aggressive police behavior when addressing a crowd that could be on edge or even fine in general.
I believe that there is still a lot for police officers around the world to learn about how to control crowds and prevent violence. Almost every day on the news you see how a mishandling of a situation led a once peaceful game or demonstration into a violence filled riot where many innocent people could end up hurt. Officers need to learn how to head off the situation before it even has a possibility of getting started maybe by bumping up numbers of officers or by making the officers so aware of the situation it’s like having more officers there than there really is

OPOTA

Lately in class we have done a variety of different things. We've covered topics in OPOTA ranging from criminal law all the way to communications. On two seperate occasions we have swapped teachers with the other criminal justice class so that their instructor Mr. Traine could teach us cultural sensitivity and sexual harrassment. Both of these are essential to have a career as someone of the criminal justice profession because they teach discipline and how to get along with everyone you may come in contact with. In cultural sensitivity we learned where our names derived from and what they mean, not to judge someones ethnicity by their name or looks, and that overall culteral sensitivity plays a major role in our society. The sexual harrassment course taught us that you have to be careful with what you say in the workplace and in public in general. It taught me that even though something could be meant to be a joke, someone may find it offensive and distasteful. Sexual harrassment can lead to severe consequences whether it is in the workplace or not.

One day in class, Mr. Robertson came in and began talking about self defense with us. It was mostly classroom stuff at first but towards the end of class we went in and did a few different holds.

This past week my class and I began our OPOTA certification. In the weeks leading up to this I was dreading starting OPOTA because i figured it would be really boring and difficult to follow. We covered two topics the first week, them being Role Of Private Security and Overview Of The Legal System. Mr. Lavery makes it really easy to follow the course by making the power points less dull and by giving us lectures that make the material more understandable. I feel now that OPOTA is not going to be as bad as I thought but am still nervous about the actual exam at the end of the course.

911 Dispatch

In class we completed our 911 dispatch certification. Our instructor took us through the course in two weeks as we learned all we need to know to be a dispatcher. Every day we would go through 1-3 chapters and take a quiz after completing each chapter. The quizzes had all the questions that were gonna be on the final exam. Our final exam was 100 questions, 50 multiple choice and 50 true and false. All of my classmates and I passed the exam on the first try where you needed atleast an 80% to pass. The class was tough but also fun, our instructor made it easier to understand and follow by telling stories she has heard about or experienced herself.

Week 3 Criminal Justice

Our class started this week by reviewing. We talked about the material we learned last week which was revolved around terrorism since the tenth anniversary of 9/11 was this past Saturday. On the subject of 9/11, we looked at the memorials website and checked out all the features of the new Apple app for the memorial. We recalled how there were many missed oppurtunities to prevent the attack and went into detail on the eight signs of terrorism. We learned the history of terrorism and how its mainly over religious views.
The last two days of class we spent watching the tv show "Surviving Disaster". The first episode we watched Navy Seal Cade Courtley showed us how to react and handle the situation if you were on a plane being hijacked. He went step by step in the scenerio showing us how to first react, take out the terrorists, gain back control of the plane, treat injuries and land the plane. I think that this was really good way to learn because it doesnt just tell you how to but also shows you in a realistic scenerio.
The next episode we watched was about a terrorist group entering a mall and launching a very strategic attack. We were shown to handle this when all your emergency exits are blocked and your up against assault rifles. We learned how to treat a gunshot wound when you dont have proper first aid supplies. Lastly in the video we learned how to approach the SWAT team when your able to escape so that do not think you are a foe.
We are gonna finish off the week tomorrow by taking a test on all the things we learned about terrorism. After that were gonna do flight simulations to learn how to fly and land a plane, I'm really excited to do this.

Week 2

This week we started out on Tuesday by having a substitute and taking a test on the information we learned on terrorism the week before. The test was ten questions and they were mostly multiple choice with a bonus short response question at the end. After taking the test our class was given an assignment. We were to search the many different websites on the sheet that were agency sites and describe them. All the agencies we covered were anti-terrorism and all covered different parts of protecting our country.

On Wednesday we finished and went over the different agencies that were on the sheet given to us on tuesday. Our class compared and contrasted the different agencies and went into detail about each like when they were founded and why. After doing that we began to watch a documentary titled 9/11. It was intended to just be about a rookie fire fighter going through his probationary period and show what was expected of him during it. It showed life in the fire house and how all the fire fighters were like one big family. This documentary became a testament of how heroic and brave many can be in the face of hell and absolute terror and destruction. It showed a point of view look at what it was like to be on the street and even in the building as people jumped to their deaths and as the buildings collasped and everything around them was covered in dust. Sadly it was for some, the last time they saw their family members who were rescuers in the buildings and lost their lives doing so.

On Thursday we began the day by finishing up watching the documentary. After doing this we had a class discussion on what we thought of it and what we felt. Next came alot of typing, we were given an assignment to write down what we remember from 9/11 like where we were and what we were doing when we found out what had happened. We were asked to describe what we felt when we found out and how we and others around us reacted. After doing this we listened to the first radio broadcast on Officer.com as our teacher Mr. Lavery was a guest on the show and described his knowledge being an anti-terrorism instructor and what was going through his head on that day.

Finally on Friday we began the day by taking notes and watching a video on the "Eight Signs of Terrorism" surveillence, ellicitation, test of security, funding, acquiring supplies, impersonation, rehersal and deployment. After learning these we were told to read through The 11 September Hijacker Cell Model and determine if any of the signs were missed by the government before 9/11.