Discussion Post

An employer temporarily suspended a police officer without pay on the ground that he saw his picture on a friend's Facebook page drinking alcohol while wearing his police uniform. The employee denied that it was him in the picture and alleged that somebody digitally changed his face in order to defame him. Forensic experts were unable to ascertain whether the picture was tampered with. The employee already had a reputation of drinking excessively. At the last Christmas party he was noticeably intoxicated and had to be driven home by his coworkers. As an administrator, you are concerned with minimizing liability. You want to assure that employees are treated fairly, yet, at the same time, you cannot afford to have an officer who is out of control and is dishonest. Please point to various aspects of the assigned readings for this week to support your point of view. Next, please point to one aspect of the assigned readings that you found to be of particular interest. Be sure to explain why you found the point to be salient to the topic at hand. Please try to discuss aspects of the readings that have not already been alluded to by your peers. Finally, please come up with one original critical thinking question for your classmates. It should be evident from reading the question that you have a solid understanding of the course material for this week. Be sure to answer at least one of the questions posed by one of your peers. * Reading: book Aitchison, Will (2015). The rights of law enforcement officers (7th ed.). LRIS: Portland, OR. Chapter 3, 4 and 5. Inappropriate relationships and boundary violations that occur between correctional employees and inmates can be detrimental to inmate rehabilitation and undermine institutional security. In your opinion, should researchers be permitted to conduct applied criminal justice research for the purposes of developing profiles of employees who might be prone to engaging in boundary violations with offenders before these violations actually occur? Please take a position either way and fully elaborate. Also, if such research was conducted, what, if anything could a prison administrator do with the findings? For example, would there be legal/ethical obstacles which might preclude the findings from being used in a meaningful way? Elaborate. Next, after reading all three articles this week, what do you believe a prison staff member has to gain from engaging in an inappropriate relationship with an inmate? In other words, why some prison employees cross the line with inmates and end their careers in disgrace? Also, in most cases, who do you believe initiates inappropriate relationships: the inmate or the employee? Again, fully elaborate. Next, if a female correctional officer continuously has inmates expose themselves inappropriately and brings this to her supervisors' attention, should she permitted to sue the correctional agency she is employed with for sexual harrassment? Take a position either way and defend it. Also, which neutralization strategy do you believe best explains why some inmates persist in engaging in acts of public autoerotism. Also, please point to one aspect of Worley's (2016) autoethnography that you found to be of interest. In your opinion, is the autoethnographic method sufficiently rigorous or does it fail to live up to solid standards recognized in the scientific community? Elaborate. Finally, please pose a critical thinking question to your peers. *Using articles: James W. Marquart , Maldine B. Barnhill & Kathy Balshaw-Biddle (2001). "Fatal attraction," Justice Quarterly, 18:4, 877-910 Robert M. Worley (2016). "Memoirs of a Guard-Researcher," Deviant Behavior, 37, 1215-1226. Robert M. Worley & Vidisha B. Worley (2013). "Inmate Public Autoerotism Uncovered," 34, 855-868.