I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Behavioral Science for Peace Officers

2. Course Prefix & Number:
CRJU 2140

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This course examines the professional ethical aspects of being a peace officer. This course will also examine the negative effects of stress on both the professional and personal lives of peace officers, and steps that may be taken by an officer to minimize these effects. The student will explore corruption, deviancy, and criminality found within police departments nationally, and discuss how it impacts upon relations within poor and minority citizens.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

CRJU 1130 Human Behavior and Stress, Riverland Community College
CRJU 1120 Law Enforcement and Human Behavior, Northland Community College
CRJU 1540 Law Enforcement and Human Behavior
Law 1549 Police and Human Behavior, Hibbing Community College

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Criminal Justice AAS
Criminal Justice Certificate
Natural Resources Law Enforcement AAS

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Apply ethical principles in decision-making	Demonstrate ethical decision making in the context of being a Minnesota Peace Officer

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Discuss the ethical and moral dilemmas faced by peace officers in the field.
• Assess both the causes of stress and burnout and preventative strategies that may be utilized to reduce the negative emotional impact of that comes with wearing a badge.
• Identify how rather than a “Rotten Apple,” or a few “Rotten Apples,” police deviance may be the result of an organizational structure that tolerates deviant behavior.
• Discuss large scale acts of peace officer misconduct that have occurred in the United States and specifically in the state of Minnesota.
• Evaluate and explain how peace officer misconduct may not only result in negative perception of the officer or officers involved but may also cause damage to the public’s perception of all peace officers.
• Identify and understand the importance of both Peels Nine Principles and the Peace Officer Code of Ethics as they apply to being both an ethical and a moral peace officer.

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. The Idea of Police Deviance Definitions, Perceptions and Concerns
• Public Perception of Police Misconduct
• Deviance as a Theoretical Construct
• Normative Systems
• Variants of Police Deviance
2. A History of Police Deviance: The Forging of an Occupation
• The Historical Roots of Policing
• Policing in England
• Policing in the United States
3. The Working Environment Organizing and Structuring Police Deviance
• Deviance Opportunity Structure
• Organizational Structure
• Internally and Externally Structured Deviance
4. Breeding Deviant Conformity: The Ideology and Culture of Police
• Perspectives on the Development of Police Character
• The Police Worldview
5. Learning to Deviate: Motive and Justification for Breaking Normative Bonds
• Motive and Motivation
• Justifying Police Deviance
• Audience Acceptance of Justification for Deviance
• Negotiating Boundaries of the Normative System
6. Police Brutality and Abuse of Authority: Making Sense of the Senseless Beating of Rodney King
• The Police Beating of Rodney King
• The Aftermath of the Beating
• The LAPD’S Working Environment
7. Police Prejudice and Discrimination: The Investigation of Jeffrey Dahmer
• Dimensions of Police Prejudice and Discrimination
• Investigation of the Sexual Abuse of Konerak
• The MPD’S Working Environment
8. Drug Related Police Deviance: The Buddy Boys Case
• The Buddy Boys Case
• The Unfolding of the Buddy Boys Case
• The NYPD’S Working Environment
• Targeting Victims for Police Ripoffs
9. Varieties of Police Deviance: The District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police
• Abuse of Authority
• Misuse of Confidential Information
• Deception and Dishonesty
• Political Cover-Ups
10. Influencing Police Deviance and Corruption: Internal and External Controls
• Formal Methods of Internal Control
• Informal Influences
• External Controls and Influence
11. Prospects for Controlling Deviance: Forging the Boundaries of Police Behavior
• Functions of Deviance
• Negotiating the Bounds of Behavior
• The Improbability of Controlling Police Deviance
12. Influencing Police Deviance and Corruption Two Minnesota Cases           
• The Metro Gang Strike Force
• George Floyd
13. Peace Officer Discipline
• How peace officer discipline is maintained by agencies
• Steps taken by management and administration to encourage ethical behavior.
• Administrative methods of addressing deviant behavior from oral reprimands to termination.
14. Peace Officer Stress
• Understanding the causes of stress and how it affects the body over the course of a career.
• Knowing the purpose of critical incident stress debriefings and how the process of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) can be used to minimize the effects of experiencing a critical incident.
• Learning techniques to relieve the effects of acute stress experienced throughout the day, and methods that may be applied to lessen the effects of chronic stress over the course of a peace officer career.