Culmination blog

My capstone hours honestly was a big motivation for me. I did my project on how to eliminate stress for police officers and how it heavily effects there home life. I did my hours by taking a class and listening to speakers for all different aspects in the law enforcement career. The key thing I'm extremely happy with the capstone project is I took full advantage of networking with people who can help me in the long run in pursuing a career I have forever dreamed of. It is to be part of a police department .

I learned different careers not only a police officer but probation officer,DEA,park rangers,investigators and etc. I am not a shy person to begin with so it was important to me that I reached out to every speaker that came into class and talked to them and ask for there contact information. My mentor works for the San Mateo county jail as a correction officer and he has always been a great hand to reach out to. Someone else who helped me was Chief Massoni for the SSFPD and he introduced me to officer within the department .

 Throughout the capstone paper I did not come across any challenges beside just the essay it's self if anything I gained so much motivation and become a lot eager to pursue a career in Law Enforcement. Many kids have complained about this project but I feel it become a great advantage for me personally. Throughout this project I met many people who I've now looked up to as my mentors. They have opened up to me if I ever need any help along my way into pursuing a career as a police officer.Now it is up to me to chase my goals and continue to reach out to all these new mentors I've found along the way because of the capstone project. It has gave me a kick in the butt to keep chasing my goals in life and not to feel people will under estimate me. Now for my over view for my capstone project is that for my presentation a created a film that will be a view of our SSFPD and go into depth of our own police department. I hope my classmates and who I will be presenting to will find my topic interesting .

Recommend books to read

My mentor took me to a seminar it was based on a book called emotional survivor for law enforcement by Kevin M.Gilmartin. It was a eight hour seminar. My mentor recommended me to read the book and it came far along to help me out in my capstone paper and in my presentation. It simply just spoke about how to eliminate stress, and activities to help u reduce stress. I found it very helpful because it was based on only Law enforcement i felt the book was ment for me lol. It was interesting how this book explained they high divorce rates and the effects on family and as well as there children. I came along to finish reading Breaking the stress cycle by Judith Sachs that talked about women stress and found great statistics .

Time for this sessions 8 hours

Total time logged: 32

Ssfpd

After shadowing Chief Massoni I felt encouraged to contact him again because he made me feel welcomed enough to reach out to him if I ever needed anything and I sure did. I called him and asked if I could be welcomed back to the station to take pictures and interview a few officer to ask them questions of how they deal with there stress while being on duty. I took a friend with me to help me capture all the images and so on. This time I had the chance to continue to meet new officers from south city and ask them also funny questions like "how would I be able to get away from a ticket?". I feel I've stepped out my comfort zone and took consideration of going back toChief Massoni and he felt glad that I went back to him for help in my capstone project. Personally I feel a sense of joy knowing I've meet new officers in ssfpd and wasn't shy to introduce myself and ask for there contact information . It motivates me a lot more to wanting to be in this field .

Time for this session: 2 hours

Total time logged : 24

San Mateo county probation

Joe Leonor works with San Mateo County Probation in the Gang Intelligence unit. My first thoughts about him was that he looked extremely intimidating, and seems he does not take no bullsh*t. I thought wrong though because what he worked with was people in gangs and was in hope to change there life around. He has been working for probation for 18 years. The over view of his talk was about what it is to be in a gang and prison gang vs street gangs. What made the class understand more is that he brought a previous gang member into class and we where able to ask him questions ourselves like what you have to do to be In a gang, what inspired him to be a different man, and what he is doing now to change his life around. I have spoke with different probation officers and it has made me consider maybe finding it as an other option beside wanting to be a police officer. It has become important to me that i look into the different fields within law enforcement .

Time logged:3
Total time logged: 22

SSFPD Chief Massoni

I spent a day with SSFPD chief Massonni . For me it was something extremely memorable , and beneficial. We began early in the morning. One of the interesting fun facts I was fascinated by was when he picked me up he was in what it seemed to be a regular car, but it wasn't . Cops now use under cover cop cars that may to seem to be a ordinary vehcile. It has the same equipment has a police officer ideal car. We went to the police station after and there i sat down in a 24-hour recap daily meeting. What it is that each person from a head department has a meeting every morning for a summary of what occurred with in the past 24-hours. At first I felt a bit intimidated only because I was sitting in a meeting with important police officers from the SSFPD. What made me feel comfortable was that they where extremely welcoming, and they gave me the best advice of further an education in order to get hired to become a police officer because it has become competitive over the years. I felt it was important for me to ask questions and take advantage of sitting in a meeting with this department because I can contact them for future references. I felt this motivation or this emotion of being more eager then every when Chief Massoni told me that our department had the largest number of women Police Officer in San Mateo County.. it's six. I questioned myself largest number six? Well that's not a large number at all i thought to myself. Six female officers are considered to be the largest number of women police officers in the San Mateo County. Six out of the 120 staffed SSFPD. Right off the bat I told Chief Massoni i wanted to become a police officer, and I want to make the change of not making the a male domain career. With all honesty he told me the only reason women don't pass the Police officer exam it is because of the physical part. I just need to put in a lot of work with getting in shape, and even joining jiujitsu class for reflexes. My overall day consisted of spending a mutual time in each department. From the 4 hour jail they have before the suspect gets transferred to the San mateo Jail, the 911 operator that also has took over Pacifica calls, the gun range(pretty cool),Gym, etc. Even treated me out to lunch. lol. My overall experience was amazing and beneficial to me and keep in contact with Chief Massoni as he gave me that extra confidence to do so.

Time logged for this session: 7 hours
Total time logged: 19 hours

Sheriff Fernando Realyvasquez

  Sheriff Realyvasquez is part of the Pacifica Police Department.  In class he spoke about the most important key into wanting to be part of this career and its, “One thing that will take you down is your past history. Staying out of trouble is the key of becoming and officer.” I believe that is true because in any career field you go into it is important to understand that any action you do at work or outside in your social life is that not only do you represent yourself but also the career you are representing.  The enjoying parts about class are that every speaker that comes in talk about a memorable event in there while on the job. Whether it’s from murder cases, car chases, near death experiences, etc they make sure you know what you are getting into but only because it is the career you consider pursing.  Personally for me the class is extremely helpful because I always make sure I talk to the officer who attends class after he is done speaking, and getting contact information because it is always important to network with people who can help me down in the future.

Time clocked in: 3 hours

Total Hours: 12 Hours

Steve Hendal SMC Sheriff

I listened to the speaker Steve Hendal San Mateo County Sheriff. What I learned was the approaching of how to get into Law Enforcement. It is important to me to know what qualifications I need to get into this career. To avoid not getting hired you need to have a clean record, and not smoke marijuana knowing it is a main concern for people in this generation. The requirements are to have a college degree in Administration of Criminal Justice, complete 6 hour written test, psychological test, and have good memorization. I learned the three things about this career is that it involves a emotional disorder, high rates of divorce, and alcoholism can cause serious death. Listening to these speakers help me because it advise me how to be prepared for an interview for a job in Law enforcement specifically for the Police Department.



time logged in: 3 HOUR
total: 9

Probation officer Victor Aguilar

 Victor Aguilar works for the San Mateo County in the adult probation department. He began at the age of 20 at the Juvenille Hall while attending college. Has been with the San Mateo County since 2002. My experience sitting in class while listening to him speak was that I might want to consider going into the Juvenile Hall as a probation officer. This has made me look into different fields in the Law Enforcement career. Not only to become a cop but consider becoming a Probation officer for the Juvenille . I have grown up in South city my entire life and I have seen kids I have grown up with turn to wanting to live out in the streets. Whether it was for selling drugs, joining gangs, or becoming pregnant I have witnessed it all. It is crazy to think how kids turn out to be as they hit their teen age years. It is why i will consider the job as a Probation officer for the Juvenille because I don't want to continue seeing kids who I am surrounded by go down the wrong path when they can become something grander in life.






Time logged in: 3hours

Total time logged: 6hours

Speaker Mr.Rite (DEA) 3/4

Speaker Mr. Rite San Mateo DEA

On Tuesday March 4 our speaker in my Introduction of Adminstration class wa Mr. Rite and has been a DEA since August 1979. He started off his careeer in Palo Alto. He spoke about past experiences in his career. I felt that the more knowledge you have on your job, the better you are at it. I feel you can always progress in the field of Law Enforcement. He also spoke about the last time he used a weapon was June 1989 inn a horror experience on the Job. Weapon are not used everyday the are only used in a time of danger.






Time logged in: 3
Total hours: 3