This training is meant for the Centervale's law enforcement officials. However, the training curriculum can be used within the county. All the Centervale's law enforcement officials are required to undergo the training.
- Purpose of the Training
This training has four main objectives or purposes. The purposes of the training include:
- The main purpose of the training is to equip Centervale's law enforcement officials with adequate information on crime victims (Karmen, 2012).
- The training is aimed at providing an understanding of criminology and victimology.
- In addition, this training covers both stranger violence and intimate violence.
- The training will supply trainers with information that would assist them in training new recruits, first responders, and detectives.
- General Training Prerequisites
For one to successfully attend the training, there are specific pre-requisites, which include:
- The training targets Centervale's law enforcement officials. Therefore, for one to attend the training, he/she must be a law enforcement official.
- Secondly, the main reason for the training is to supply trainers with information necessary for conducting recruitments. Therefore, the second prerequisite for the training is that the trainee should be a trainer within Centervale law enforcement agency.
- The third prerequisite is that the trainer, who is to become the trainee, should have been in service for a period that is long enough to have enabled him/her to understand the surrounding and other criminal activities.
- Training Approach
- Training Requirements
Training requirements include the following:
- Stationery; book and pens
- Official’s badge as well as training badge
- Chalk boards
- Manila papers with diagrams for analysis
- Roles and Responsibilities
The trainers and trainees will have various roles and responsibilities:
- Trainers will be involved in providing lectures, questions, and answers to various concerns revolving around criminology and victimology
- Trainees (in this case Centervale's law enforcement official) will have the responsibility of taking notes, asking questions where the information provided is not very clear, and answer questions asked by the trainers.
- Techniques and Tools
The training will use lecture methods, note taking, questions and answer technique. Practical will also be used to evaluate whether the trainees have incorporated or internalized the concepts. The tools are chalk board and stationery.
- Schedule
The training is scheduled to last for a period of 3 months especially in respect to the practical. For the in-class training, each session will last for 2 hours, three times every week.
- Curriculum
The curriculum is obtained from the country’s manual on training law officials regarding criminology and victimology.
- Scenarios for Training
- Scenario 1
Scenario 1 is about stalking. A person has been arrested for willfully, maliciously, and continually harassing one of the ladies that he works with. The lady has reported that under numerous occasions she has told the man that she is married yet the man continues to follow her in the name of wanting to be her lover.
- Possible Questions
- What is the definition of stalking in respect to criminology?
- How do you identify that the acts were malicious and harassing?
- Do you need further evidence or the testimony from the lady is enough?
- When does stalking become a criminal offense?
- Answers to the Questions
The following are the responses expected from the above questions:
- Stalking refers to the continuous, willful, and malicious harassing, following, or contacting a reasonable person in a way that makes the reasonable person to fear for their safety (Karmen, 2012).
- Identifying if the acts were malicious and harassing depend on the statements made by both the concerned parties (Karmen, 2012).
- No, the testimony from the lady is not enough. There is always a need to conduct further investigations on the allegations. The investigations should identify whether the suspect has had such tendencies before or whether the plaintiff has grudges with the suspect
- Stalking only becomes a criminal offense if the it is proved that the reasonable person had reason to fear for his/her safety following the following and advancements
- Scenario 2
Scenario 2 is on the intimate violence. Mary, a 45-year old lady walks in to report her husband, Patrick who has constantly been yelling and recently has hit her with a teakettle. The two, Mary and Patrick, do not have children and were drinking a lot on the day of the act. During the drinking, the two engaged in conversation that involved teasing, being sarcastic, crying, and playing. All of a sudden, Patrick got annoyed and hit Mary with a teakettle.
- Possible Questions
- How do you define intimate violence?
- What are the characteristics or aspects that one should look for in identifying intimate violence?
- How do you handle Mary’s case?
- Answers to the Questions
- Intimate violence can be defined as the act of inflicting physical pain or injury by one family member on another. Intimate violence may also be referred to as domestic abuse or domestic violence (Hall, 2011)
- The main characteristics of intimate violence are physical injury, physical pain, and the fact that the injury comes from one member of a household to the other member of the same household (Hall, 2011).
- Mary’s case should be handled with a lot of care especially considering that they were having good times. In addition, the violence might have been as a result of frustrations caused by not having children. In this respect there is a need to handle Mary’s case with a lot of care and diligence.
- Scenario 3
Scenario 3 is on the stranger violence. Tom reports that while he was walking home from work, Jacob, who has been a friend for some time, jumped out from a hiding place and attacked him with some strange weapons. Tom struggled to defend himself and in the process sustained serious injuries.
- Possible Questions
- What is the definition of stranger violence?
- Jacob was Tom’s friend; do we still call this a strange violence?
- How would you handle the above case as a law enforcement official?
- Answers to the Questions
- Stranger violence is defined as the intentional use of physical force or power in a bid to obtain something from the victim thus leading to physical injuries (Bessette, 2011).
- Yes, even though Jacob has been Tom’s friend for a long time, the act amounted to a stranger violence since Jacob attacked Tom unknowingly (Bessette, 2011).
- The case should be investigated to find reasons as to why there was such an attack. Jacob should then be charged with assault.
- Summary of the Training
- Criminology versus victimology
- Difference
Whereas criminology refers to the study of crime with respect to both social and individual perspectives, victimology is the study of victimization, which entails the relationship between victims and offenders (Hall, 2011). Notably, criminology revolves around social impacts and reactions towards criminal activities and not on the causes or preventions of such crimes.
- Significance of the knowledge
It is important for one to have adequate knowledge on both criminology and victimology. Such information and knowledge will help in identifying social impacts and possible reactions towards the said crime. In addition, the knowledge and information obtained on criminology and victimology will assist the law enforcement officials to know how to handle criminals and victims of such criminal acts (Bessette, 2011).
- Evaluation
The evaluation will be on the basis of tests as well as practical in a bid to identify whether the trainee has grasped or incorporated the knowledge of criminology and victimology.
References
Bessette, J. M. (2011). Teaching Criminology: Socio-Anthropology of Crime. Cases on Technologies for Teaching Criminology and Victimology: Methodologies and Practices, 22.
Hall, M. (2011). Environmental victims: challenges for criminology and victimology in the 21st century. Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, (4), 371-391.
Karmen, A. (2012). Crime victims: An introduction to victimology. wadsworth publishing company.
