Blog 21 - Fourth Interview Reflection

Learning will be better understood when the mind is clear and open to it.

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

• The most important thing that I learned from the interview is to never believe that every single call for service will be the same because not everyone will be able to predict what will happen next. Out in the field a Police Officer should always reflect back to their training when encountering a high pressure situation. One should always remain calm and keep in mind the goal of the situation. Police Officers are hired to serve and protect the community as well as their property. They are also needed in times of keeping the peace between to parties involved in an incident. No single police officer can say that they are excellent at what they do because eventually they will make a mistake and sometimes newer police officers perform better than those who have been in the field longer. Every police officer has their preference in the different calls for service that they much rather do because they can say they are good at it. Officer Pagtakhan at the end mentioned that new police officers should keep an open mind because even though they receive training on certain things they will not know everything or see everything first hand. Experiences comes with the amount of times a police officer has assisted on calls for service because that is the only way they will get better at assisting and performing.

2. How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• What I learned will affect my final lesson by improving it because the interview did tie in nicely with my senior project question. Officer Pagtakhan provided his own personal opinion which made me look a things differently than before. Now for my final lesson I can talk about something's he said that in my opinion hold a great value. I can also add to my presentation some examples that I came up with because the interview gave me a different perspective on things such as training, experience, learning, and stress.

Interview 4 audio.
Please start at 8:48. 

Blog 20 - Interview 4 Preparation

Coming up with good questions can be difficult for some, like me.

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?

• The person who I plan to interview for the upcoming interview is, Officer Pagtakhan. He has been a Police Officer for more than 15 years and has worked in several different tasks. Some tasks are as followed; Gangs, narcotics, and patrol. Officer Pagtakhan has worked with Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department in assisting with narcotics and gangs task force. Officer Pagtakhan has more experience than some of the Officers in his squad, he has been exposed to several critical calls for service as well as assisting with community services.  

2. Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your Essential Question.

• To start off, state some background information and your current line of work?
• Being a Police Officer can be very stressful for some. So, on a daily basis how do you deal with stress when being exposed to it?
• How do you tend to perform in stressful situations? Like active shooters, high risk vehicle stops, vehicle pursuits, man with a gun, etc.
• My essential question is, "How can a Police Officer make safe and ethical calls in high pressure situations?" How would you answer the previous stated question?
• What is your current perspective on my essential question and how do you interpret it. So, once again my essential question is, "How can a police officer make safe and ethical calls in high pressure situations?"
• Do you know of any research sources that would benefit me in my senior project?
• Do you know of any research sources that would help me in answering my essential question?
•  Have you witnessed a police officer who was in a stressful situation that they could not handle?
• What comes to your mind when I ask you to define "safe and ethical"?
• When performing under stress what do you rely on? Any tactics?
• How can police officers perform well in high pressure situations?
• How do you go about your training simulations?
• Do you think all the training you undergo has helped you one way or another? If so, why? If not, why?
• Character defines a person. So, do you think that depending on the type of person one is that is how they will perform?
• What is the most high pressure/stressful call for service you have assisted on? How did you go about your performance?
• Reflecting back to the beginning of your career as a Police Officer. How is your performance from then compared to your performance as of now? By that I mean the way you act under pressure, deal with several calls for service, have you improved on something's, etc.
• Do you recommend anybody that I can talk to for further research on my project?
• What are something's that has improved Law Enforcement as of today?
• What are some activities that I can have my audience do so they can understand my answers to my essential question? My answers are; training, experience, and character.
• What is some advice that you would give an inexperienced police officer?

Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

Good communication leads to better understanding and amazing interviews. 

Please copy these questions and answer them in your own blog. Attach a link to your video or sound file (at least 5 minutes of what you feel is your best portion). As usual, you'll want an appropriate image to lead this.  


1. What is the most important things that I learned form the interview?

• I learned several important things in from the interview with Officer Cooper. Something that stuck with me throughout the whole interview is how passionate he is when answering all the questions that I asked him. From that I learned that in order to be successful one must love their career and be willing to do anything that is necessary. Officer Cooper has a lot of heart and motivation to what he does. I also learned to always expect the unexpected and everyday one will learn something new. Officer Cooper told me that everyday he works and goes home he leaves with learning something new that will benefit him and prepare him for future incidents or events that may come his way. 
• In order to cope with stress one must keep a clear mind and always reflect back on all the training and hard work that was done in preparation for the real thing. There are many officers who will lose their heads because they cannot deal with the amount of stress they are exposed to. But there will always be those officers who will help their partners in any way possible. In this type of career no one is alone because there will always be that one person who has your back no matter what. It is like a family that one builds over time because you are constantly working with them and completing several tasks with them. 

2. How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

• Over the course of the interviews for my senior project I believe that I have improved in the way I the questions that I have, I communicate better, I will ask follow up questions if necessary, I am a bit less shy. Having good communication or bettering my communication skills throughout the interviews has made my interviews flow smoothly from one question to the other and actually be able to comprehend what the interviewee is saying when he/she is answering my questions. A smooth flow is very important because it makes the interview sound  and look more professional and there will be no awkward pauses. As I do more interviews with different people I will learn more and improve on interviewing people better. 

Learning is food for the brain.

 Please start at 7:51 minutes  


The text of this interview should be turned in to turnitin.com. A verification form for Interview 3 can be printed out from the Senior Project Packet link on the side of the blog. Do not forget to justify your mentor as an expert in your specific topic. 

Blog 14 - Interview 3 Preparation

Making open-ended questions can be a struggle but in the end it is all about the quality not the quantity. 

For this interview, you will prepare a 10 open-ended questions that focus on your newly approved EQ (in fact your first question can be your EQ). Remember,  all interviews must be done in person unless they are specifically approved by your house teacher. Additionally, one person  may be interviewed a maximum of two times.

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?

• The person who I plan to interview is Officer Cooper from the Pomona Police Department. Officer Cooper has worked many years in the Law Enforcement Field and a few years in the United States Marine Corps.  He has dealt with many calls for service and is also one of the few part of the SWAT Team. Officer Cooper was also a tactical flight officer who flew in a helicopter. He worked in two different departments which washould the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in several different cities and now the Pomona Police Department. 

2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview. What is the date and time of the interview?

• The date of the interview is January  30, 2016. The time would be whenever we have time available. Meaning, I will be riding with the officer so whenever we have free time. If there is no free time then I will stay after or during our lunch break. If neither work then I will have to reschedule just to meet with him. 

3. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources and that would help to answer the EQ?

• My essential question is "how can a Police officer make safe and ethical calls in high pressure situations?". How would you answer that question? And do you know of any research resources that would benefit me in my Senior Project which is Law Enforcement. By research resources it can be any books, articles, journals, etc that relate to Law Enforcement which is my senior project topic. 

4.Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc). 

• Would you recommend anyone for me to talk to as in being an expert at what they do and they show something that makes them stand out?
•  Do you know of any activities that would help me answer my essential question in the best way possible and make sure that my audience understands?

5. Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's  perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

• What is your current perspective on my essential question which is "How can a Police Officer make safe and ethical calls in high pressure situations? "
• How do you interpret the questions of "How can a Police Officer make safe and ethical calls in high pressure situations? ". 

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

Some Officers who take time out of their free time to train us, the explorers, and prepare us for whatever we may encounter in the near future. 

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (is it at a workplace of somewhere else?) Are you shadowing? Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic? If so, what? Are there other people who are experts in the location? 
• My mentorship consists of ride alongs which is being in patrol for 10 or 12 hours a day. There are several tasks that my mentor allows me to do while on patrol. Some tasks are as follows; talking on the radio, communicating with dispatch, using the MDT, checking individuals criminal history, filling out field interview cards, writing short and brief reports on some calls for service, talking to individuals, translating Spanish to English, and interact with other officers when our help is needed. 
• What I do can be consider shadowing my mentor which is following him. Everywhere he goes I go and whatever he tells me to do I do it right away. The several tasks that I do relate to my Senior Project because that is what a Law Enforcement Officer has to do when out in the field. 
• There are other people who can be considered experts in this field. Most officers who have 5+ years can be said to be experts in the field but they are always improving themselves unlike Officer who have been working for 30+ years. The many Officers that i have encountered by far would be considered experts because they do have many years working as an officer. Some officers have even worked in different departments therefore, they know the different perspectives of one agency to another.  
2. How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?
• I am an Explorer for the Pomona Police Explorers Program Post 160. I currently hold the ranking position of Sergeant. I've been in the program for about 3 years and ever since i graduated form the Explorer Academy I have been going on ride alongs with various officers. The way i encountered my current mentor is by going on ride alongs with him. He is an Explorer Adviser and one of the many officers that i have had the pleasure of working with during my ride alongs. 
• I was one of the many explorers who rode with Officer Rodriguez and every time I would ride with him I would talk to him about my upcoming Senior Project that I have to do. I would also ask him if he would be willing to be my mentor. Officer Rodriguez agreed to be my mentor so I've had a set mentor months before Senior Year began. 
3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at a mentorship/with this person?
• At this point of the relationship my comfort level with my mentor would be a 10 on a scale of 0-10. I've gone on many ride alongs that I've lost count. What also helped me be more comfortable with my mentor is that he is an Adviser in the Explorer's Program as well as being a Former Explorer. Being comfortable with my mentor is very important because i don't hold back on asking questions after questions. I also get to have normal conversations instead of being quiet the whole time. 
4. What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it? 
• In my opinion what went well in the interview was the way he answered my questions which was with honesty and straight to the point. Honesty is a great factor when it comes to this type of career because if you lie one way or another somebody is going to find out and consequences will be made. Being straight to the point helped me because i was able to understand his answer instead of listening to like 5 minutes so one question can be answered. I think i need to improve on asking follow up questions because when he would finish answering I would move on to the next question. I can also improve on making better questions where he would have to think much harder about the answer and they manner he should answer the question. Asking better questions will lead to gaining better knowledge or having better and interesting discussions. 

Please start at 4:06 minutes 

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

Law Enforcement Officers put their lives on the line for others to live.

The purpose of the second interview is to justify your mentor as an expert in the field. You will be asking them at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?
• My mentor is Adrian Rodriguez and he works in the Pomona Police Department. He's been a Police Officer since 2008 and has encountered several life or death situations while being on patrol. The Pomona Police Department stands out from other surrounding agencies for the reason being that the city of Pomona is known for the high crime rates that occur on a daily basis.
2. What five questions will you ask them about their background?
• Why did you pursue a Law Enforcement career?
• What are something's that have helped you in becoming successful?
• Do you feel like you've made a difference in peoples' lives? If so, why? If not, why?
• How do you deal with calls for service on a daily basis?
• What can you tell me about yourself that has helped you throughout your career?

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

The picture above was taken long before my interviewee who is on the right side, Jeffrey Cox, retired.

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
• There are several things that I learned throughout the interview but something that stood out the most was the change in Law Enforcement back then to now and the way it's viewed by the outside world. Mr. Cox stated that people now have a tendency of using their cellphones to either take picture or record the scene when officer are responding to a call for service. The action that those people take are making the life of an officer much more difficult due to being viewed in various ways. One common error that is done by citizens is that if a police officer is seen going hands on a suspect it is right away determined as "Police Brutality" therefore laws and regulations are being changed and enforced. Today's technology is much more advanced than technology from 20 years ago and that is mainly because the world we live in is constantly innovating everything. It does make communication much more easier, but it also makes the internet a much more useful tool which in some cases is not needed when used in the wrong way.
• I would ask more questions and try to have better communication with the person I'm interviewing. I would also relax a bit more so that the interview flow much more smoothly.
2. Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?
• In the interview itself I did not get any additional contacts that would benefit me but I did receive a recommendation of people who I should interview next for further information about Law Enforcement. Mr. Cox informed me about retired or active police officers that write books, one being Joseph Wambaugh who wrote "The Onion Field" based on a true story. Before starting the interview Mr. Cox had informed me of several connections he has who are retired Officers, FBI Agents, detectives, Captains, etc. that would benefit me in my Senior Project.
3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?
• My interviewee is a retired officer who worked for two different Police Departments in his short career time. Mr. Cox has experience with K9, detective work, patrol officer, Explorer Advisor, and performing the task of a Corporal as well as Sergeant. Due to Mr. Cox's background affiliation with Law Enforcement and the countless hours he put in work for his career it can be said that he was successful in that field of choice. Although he retired at an early age he shows knowledge of effective techniques that are implemented in his daily life and has also helped him become the person who he is today. 
   

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview? Why?
• The person who I plan to interview is my mentor, Officer Rodriguez. The reason being would be the experience he's had while being in patrol as well as being part of the rigorous SWAT Tactics Force team. Like I've stated in my previous blog, Officer Rodriguez has been exposed to all sorts of call for service which makes him the best person to be interviewed.
2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions.
• How did you prepare yourself for this type of career?
• What are somethings that has helped you the most while being on patrol?
• Why did you choose to follow this pathway as your career?