Unit Web Activity Lesson Plans

Unit 2: Criminal Law and Juvenile Justice
Officer, Officer!

Overview

This lesson is designed to help students learn about the requirements for becoming a police officer in your state.

Correlation to Textbook

This lesson correlates to several chapters in Unit Two in the Street Law textbook—including Chapter 7: Crime in America and Chapter 12: The Criminal Justice Process: The Investigation.

Correlation to the National Standards for Civics and Government

II.C.2. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the relationships between state and local governments and citizen access to those governments.

II.C.3. Students should be able to identify the major responsibilities of their state and local governments and evaluate how well they are being fulfilled.

V.D.4. Students should be able to evaluate the usefulness of the following traits in facilitating thoughtful and effective participation in public affairs: respect for law, honesty, open mindedness, critical mindedness, civic mindedness.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. Describe the purposes of police officers in protecting citizens and enforcing law.
2. Prioritize the characteristics they think are important for police officers.
3. Explain the requirements for police officers in their state.
4. Express an opinion about the adequacy of the requirements in their state.

Before You Teach This Lesson

1. Before you take your students to the computer lab or assign this lesson for independent research, go through it yourself to make sure that it suits your purposes and that the links all work.
2. Decide if you want your students to look at the requirements for your state alone or compare them to other states.
3. Note: Missouri’s state highway patrol Web site did not offer the requirements for employment at the time of publication. If you live in Missouri, check the Missouri State Highway Patrol Web site (http://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/MSHPWeb/Root/index.html) to see if it has been updated, or do a Web search for local jurisdictions.
4. This lesson is designed to address the requirements to become a state police officer. If you want your students to look up the qualifications for local police, use a search engine to find the Web site that addresses your area.
5. This lesson is designed for use in a computer lab, to enable all students to gather their own information. You may decide to make it a pairs or group activity, so that students work together to answer the questions.

Lesson Plan

1. Review the lesson outcomes with students.
2. If a Resource Person is helping to co-teach this lesson, introduce him or her and explain how you will work together.
3. Ask students to think about a time they or someone they know needed help from a police officer or that they have observed the police at work. What do they think police officers are responsible for? Ask students to discuss: What do you imagine is a typical day in the life of an officer? (If you choose, you could have the students write what they think would be an appropriate job description of a police officer.)
4. Have students begin the lesson and proceed through the steps.
5. If you want the students to look up your local police, give them the appropriate URL or have them search for that information.
6. When they have gathered their information, conduct a whole group discussion and ask for feedback from the students. During this discussion, help them to shape their ideas so that they can support their opinions when they write to the governor. For example, as they discover that police officers need certain education or training, ask them if they think that is an appropriate requirement. If the applicants undergo psychological screening, ask the students to imagine why that is so. Encourage them to question each requirement, asking both “Is it enough?” and “Should it be more?”
7. Have students start their letters to the governor in class, then finish them for homework. If you intend for the students to mail the letters, you may want to spend a little time on formal letter-writing format and provide the address of your governor's office.

Suggestions for Using Resource People

Ask an officer or trainer from your state police, police academy, local police department, and/or your School Resource Officer to co-teach this lesson with you and to speak to your students about qualifications for police officers and what the job entails.

Timing of Lesson

You can complete this lesson in one 45-minute class period. Depending on how much discussion you want before the students start their letters, you may need extra time.