I recently spoke to my colleague, Les Stern, about the importance of teaching information and computer literacy in the criminal justice curriculum. Training our future law enforcement officers the fundamentals of computing, information access, and related criminal justice systems ought to be an essential part of the curriculum - we both agree.
I offered to help him develop this curriculum for the Post-Secondary Adult Vocational program at SJRCC. I am not sure this will go anywhere, but I do believe it is an interesting area and research problem. I do not know much about law enforcement, but I do know that our police officers have to make tough decisions everyday in their life. And we all know people must use information and good judgement to make decisions. So where does computing fit in a broad curriculum for training students to be corrections officers, police officers, highway patrol officers, and the future of our domestic saftey.
My friend and future research colleague is completing her PhD in criminal justice also expressed an interest in this initiative. Perhaps we can develop a collaborative grant to pursue the initiative. I am in Tampa tonight to speak with her about it. I think this will be a winner! Well, back to studying for my qualifying exams.