Criminal Justice Theories

Criminal Justice 10-10

Lilia Vargas

12/3/18
 In order to begin I first want to address that this was a long and eye-opening

experience that I am extremely grateful for. I was able to meet and speak to people that

do great things for others by the choice in their career and I was able to experience

things from a new perspective. When I walked through the classroom doors my first day

to class, I wasn't expecting to see a former police officer who I’ve had the privilege to

work with before. I have gained so much new knowledge that I actually use outside of

the classroom and for that I am honored and lucky to have been apart of this

experience.

When I was began thinking of what I wanted to do for my project I knew that I

wanted to do get out there and be hands on. I decided that I would do a ride along. I

was hoping that I could do that with a relatively newer officer, one that only had been in

law enforcement for a year or less. The reason being was, I wanted to see law

enforcement, as well as the justice system, through numerous angles. I wanted to

speak to a newer officer that still feels the excitement in calls, who is still wet behind the

ears so he hasn’t formed any bad habits, as well as still having every law and infraction

still embedded in his head. As for my next activity, I wanted to interview an officer who

was now retired or no longer in law enforcement. I felt that this was essential because

now the individual has gained experience and learned things they didn’t know before,

they now know the ins and outs. I believe that this individual will have acquired a new
perspective on life and they know the way the law works as well as know how society

works. It will be a good way to compare and contrast the two. And lastly, I wanted to

speak with someone who was not fond of, or a fan of, the law. It would only be fair to

get each side. A person who has seen the ugly side of law enforcement and has been

on the receiving end. I wanted to speak with a convicted criminal who was currently

incarcerated. I want to understand why some people have no regard for the law and

what exactly has lead them to the decisions they made. I feel that these activities will

allow me to see the full spectrum and really listen to every side.

On September 13, 2018 I decided to get a hold of an officer from West Jordan

that I greatly admired, his name is Ian Adams. Ian was a former K9 officer for West

Jordan but due to certain circumstances was no longer an officer. As a police officer, I

remembered Ian to be stern and very vocal about his ideas. He was the type of police

officer that nothing would get passed him and he was very in your face, honest type of

person .I met with Ian at a coffee shop where he explained to me his experience while

working in law enforcement. As we began talking, Ian told me about himself before

becoming an officer. He worked in a halfway home and then became an agent

supervising parolees. He then worked on the Sex Offenders Unit and was not adamant

to promote like his co-workers. At this time he was heavily involved in the Fraternal

Order of Police and was convinced by Travis Brower to become a K9 officer and was

offered the position. His responsibilities were to still be in proactive patrols and arrests.

His dog Pyro was trained for both human apprehensions and drug detection which

meant he was dealing with more dangerous crimes.

 Among my list of questions, there was one I was extremely interested for him to

answer. I wanted to know whether or not police officers had the resources if the

situation arrived where they witnessed a very sensitive case whether that be a murder,

crimes against children or even suicides. Was there help being offered to these officers

who witness such heinous crimes, was there a way to cope with this and is the

department doing enough to make sure that the officers are mentally stable? Ian said

there were certainly days when he saw crazy things and when he came home there

would be no one was awake to talk to, but sometimes your family and friends didn't

necessarily understand what he was going through.

Ian was a great person for the interview because there wasn’t a question he

didn’t have an answer for. As I continued to interview him, I asked him what crime he

felt goes unreported the most, his response was sex crimes against children. The

majority of these crimes go unreported because children are unaware that this is not

alright and he mentioned that most times these acts are done by relatives. We talked

about the influence of media and how nowadays it is easy to get body cam footage, I

asked him what his thoughts were on body cams. To my surprise he was one of the first

to have a body camera. “Body cameras are good because it exposes the realities, but

on the other hand, I think, the public can’t handle the reality.”

Of course, Ian was a perfect example of this because I had watched his body

camera footage. He and Pyro responded to a call about an arson and the suspect was

being uncooperative. Ian and Pyro entered the home and asked the suspect numerous

times to come out with his hands up to which the suspect failed to do so. It was when
Ian release the dog to find the suspect and upon doing so he bites the suspects face. In

my eyes, just as a viewer, it was painful to watch. My initial thought was “why did the

dog bite the face?” Ian answered that as well. Dogs are trained to bite and contrast to

what most people watch in videos they see dogs bite the arm, that rarely happens.

. We then began to discuss his decision to leave the police department and what

were his finals days leading to it. On July 10, Ian had been involved in a shooting with a

suspect known as Timothy Peterson, with a lengthy criminal background and claimed

he wanted to die suicide by cop or he would shoot police officers. Ian knew his

encounter with this suspect would go south very quickly. He had approached Peterson

with caution and a few moments later Peterson took off running. Peterson had a metal

rod that was bent and had a laser on top and Ian’s initial response was to safely

assume it was a gun or weapon. Ian shot Peterson that day. Although this shooting was

justified, it is what came immediately after that became the issue. The chief at the time

had never been involved in a shooting or investigated a shooting. Ian said that when the

chief arrived on scene he asked Ian to do what's called a “walk through” this is when

they are asked to watch the video and try to explain what happened. He felt that the

brain in a traumatic situation like that cannot process and needs a couple of days to

understand what really happened or it can result in untrue statements. As a result of

their fall out, the chief would send any issue he had with him to Internal Affairs and

even asked Ian to leave the FOP. Ian loved policing but was not fond of the

administration. Although grateful now, he did not feel like he could sucessfully continue

to work and that atmosphere and it ulitmatly forced him to leave the police department.
 As our conversation ended it was as if I knew nothing about anything police

officers actually do. I had a preconceived notion of what he was going to say but it’s like

he changed my whole idea about not just himself but the job workload and the type of

people who do this. It was a highly educational conversation and sufficiently helped me

prepare for what I had next for this assignment.

A few day later, on September 15, 2018, I scheduled a ride along with Officer

Hunt. Josh Hunt is a 24-year-old officer who has been a police officer for the Murray

Police department for a little over a year. His childhood was already vastly different from

that of Ian, His father was a police officer as well and was now retired and currently

serves as Temple Security. Growing u,p Hunt never did drugs, never drank alcohol and

was an active member of the LDS church. Hunt mentioned to me various times that he

became a law enforcement officer because his fathers influence as well as due to his

personality. He felt that being a police officer was exactly fitting for him. We went on a

ride along from 5-10pm in Murray City. We pulled over a few vehicles, did a perimeter

check on an abandoned location where the homeless hang out and took a man to jail

for intoxication. Most of the night went very smooth. Most of the time he was responding

to non-emergency calls. I wasn’t expecting foot pursuits or responding to a shooting but

I did think I would see a tiny bit more altercations. I quickly learned there was a lot of

paperwork that actually happens that most movies do not include.

During the ride, there were so many little things that as a civilian I didn’t pay

much attention to. Hunt drove with his windows down in order to hear if anyone called

out for help and most times that he would run someone’s license plates he wouldn’t pull
them over. Hunt claimed that if he pulled over everyone for simple traffic violations he

would be writing tickets all day. Honestly, I really felt that was exactly what cops enjoyed

doing. He was extremely kind and lenient towards people, I didn’t see what I expected

from a police officer. The reality of the job is that they are more visual deterrents

because as we all know we all behave on our best behaviors when we know there is a

cop nearby. Hunt also expressed that he was never power hungry and most times every

case can be solved with a logical resolution and people should be held responsible and

that is the purpose of his job.

I went home that night even more confused than the night before. I knew for one

that my respect and admiration for the men and women in law enforcement grew and

not all of them are out to get you as we would think. In reality, most officers would rather

help people and not even deal with the paperwork. And as grateful I was for this new

understanding I still had one last activity I wanted to do, in order to understand the full

spectrum.

I had now learned the job responsibilities of police officers. They are trained to

protect civilians and enforce the law. They work 10-hour shifts in cold or hot weather

and are hold certain standards. The protect and serve but just as they do this there are

others who do not agree or feel a disregard for the laws that have been set in place to

keep ourselves and others safe. Criminal activity is everywhere, most times the crime

rates increase and decrease per capita but whether it is drug use, gangs or even drug

trafficking each are their own crime and handled seperatly. Without criminal activities or

law-breaking citizens, law enforcement officers wouldn't have a job. I had experienced
first hand the jobs they do but just as this is a police officers jobs there are people out

there that consider selling drugs and committing robberies their full-time jobs.

I knew that in order to be unbiased and fully understand both sides I would need

to also speak with a convicted felon and understand why he or she felt that the laws set

in place did not apply to them and why although there were consequences they

disregarded them.

My sister, Miriam Vargas, is 25 years old with a 3-year-old daughter named

Shaniya Davis. My sister’s daughter father is Ismeal Davis. Ismael is a 25-year-old and

is African American with tattoos covering most of his extremities and has a history of

drug use and almost little to no job experience. He also has six children and three

different mothers. Mostly convicted of misdemeanors, Ismael has always seen law

enforcement in a negative perspective. He had been to jail 8 times and most recently,

Ismeal was booked into jail on September 5, 2018, for “theft by receiving stolen

property” and was sent to Salt Lake County Jail. Before visiting Ismeal in jail I had never

been to a prison or to a jail. I had seen several documentaries on prison life and all the

awful things that occur behind bars. Not only what the inmates do to each other but the

lifestyle and environment that has been established.

I began by writing a list of questions as I had done before and then made my way

to the jail. When I arrived, I was not allowed to take any of my belongings in with me.

The officer said I was supplying the offender a weapon if I took it in with me, which was

the last thing on my mind. I handed my identification and waited in a room while they

checked our backgrounds. Finally, I entered through a number of hallways until I went to
his holding block. Although Ismeal is my niece’s father I have not associated myself with

him very much probably due to the fact that he was only involved in my niece's life for a

short period of time. In a sense, I really knew nothing about him.

I sat down on a silver bench and waited as the doors opened automatically and

he walked towards the window which was extremely thick and had holes in order for us

to communicate. Over his shoulder, I could see the cells and bars which as I said, I had

never seen before besides on television. I began by asking him about his childhood and

his family. I asked him about where he lived and how he was treated as a child. Ismeal

said that he never cared for school, he had 6 siblings and his mother was a drug user

as well as his father. He was raised in West Valley but they would move around a lot

due to financial problems. I asked him to explain to me when he first started committing

crimes and what they were. He said he remembered smoking marijuana with his

brothers and leaving school but being really good at it. He also stated that at the age of

8 years old he had lost his virginity to his baby-sitter and it never occurred to him that he

was being taken advantage of.

In the summer of 2010, Ishmael's brothers went to a convenient store and

committed a robbery. As the getaway driver and the robber, his brothers were both

sentenced to prison for 3 years. This only made his animosity towards police officers

grow. When I asked him why he hated the police so much he said: “because I’m black”.

Ismeal explained that being black made him guilty no matter what and that he would

always be on their radar. I mentioned that laws were there for a reason and if he felt that

there were some laws that he wished were legal I would like to know and his reason
behind them. For instance, if he felt that marijuana should be legalized I wanted an

explanation for his thoughts. He brought up the fact that he knew that drugs are bad but

he said he just couldn’t get himself to stop and there was always a demand for it. I

wondered if he felt empathy for his actions which he responded with, no.

After hearing him I told him that if he didn’t stop he would end up in prison and

lose his freedom completely, Ismeal said that he knew that was a consequence but was

not afraid. I was so shocked, typically we fear consequences especially jail or prison.

These consequences are established so that the crimes are not committed but he did

not care. I was so confused still. Even knowing you could end up in prison or worse,

dead, it didn’t stop him from doing crimes at all.

Days after Ismeal was released, he went on to steal my sister’s car. She reported

the car stolen and it still did not motivate him to return the vehicle. It was astonishing

that I felt like although we are offered a beneficial alternative he would not take it. A few

days later we found the car abandoned in some apartments. Ismeal was using the

vehicle to move drugs and once the car had no more gasoline, he left it abandoned.

I realized that this would be his job, a professional criminal. We send people to jail or

prison as a consequence and serve their time and then they are released back into

society but they can’t really move on, can they.

After each activity, I learned more about the criminal justice system and society

and it was as if I learned something and then gained another question. I wanted to

understand the jobs of the police officers and I wanted to understand the criminals. I

respect police officers and I am grateful for what they do. Also not every person who
breaks the law are bad under certain circumstances and the severity matters as well.

Just because you jaywalk doesn’t make you a bad person but we aren’t contributing

either. As I see it we each contribut eto society good or bad. We put ourselves out in to

the world and recieve a reaction as a result.

In conclusion, I interviewed an honored ex-police officer, I went on my first

ride-along, and visited the jail to see an inmate. All these three events changed my mind

a hundred times over. I went to each one with an open mind and intended to be as

unbiased and understanding for each role these people play in the world. The first

individual taught me that we must stand up for what we believe in, even if it means

having to walk away from something we love to do. The second taught me that there

are rational ways to handle a situation and each individual has the potential to actually

teach us something. And lastly, we do not fully understand what others are going

through and we cannot judge them for their past instead we should look at how they are

willing to change their future.

This class and the activities that I did put things in a different perspective and it

has encouraged me to further pursue my career in criminal justice. Helping people

understand why these laws are set in place and all through the world might not change

all of a sudden, we can come to understand that sometimes things are not what they

seem. The media is not always truthful and they only show us what they want us to see.

The mass shooting has become trends and more and more children are committing

these crimes. I hope to use what I’ve learned in this class in my everyday life and make

beneficial decisions.
 Bibliography

● Ian Adams, ex-police officer, September 13, 2018, 10:35 am, High Pointe Coffee

● Ismeal Davis, a convicted criminal, October 2018, 8:15 pm, Salt Lake County Jail

● Joshua Hunt, Murray Police Officer, September 15, 2018, 5:00 pm, Murray City

● Criminal Justice USA,( 2018), How to Become A Police Officer, Retrieved

September 26, 2018, from ​http://www.criminaljustice.com/police-officer/

● Youtube, Utah Man Files Lawsuit After Police Dog Attacks his Face, published

May 7, 2015