Brookdale Community College COMPSTAT and American Police Paper Purpose: The purpose of this paper project is for students to explore and document a segmen

Brookdale Community College COMPSTAT and American Police Paper Purpose: The purpose of this paper project is for students to explore and document a

segment of the world of policing. This will be done mainly in the form of a Literature

Review. A literature review is a text of scholarly/empirical papers, which includes the

current knowledge on a topic, its substantive findings, as well as theoretical and

methodological contributions to this particular topic. Literature reviews are secondary

sources that can and will be found in our library, and you do/will not report new or

original experimental work. The overall focus of a literature review is simply to

summarize and synthesize the articles and ideas of others without adding new

contributions.

For this paper you will be highlighting prominent studies that others have completed.

This is not an opinion paper. The following list of potential topics and areas are

appropriate and may help you get started with developing the final project paper.

Potential Topics that may be turned into a Literature Review

Police policy, practices and evaluations

-Problem-oriented policing

-Community policing

-Zero-tolerance policing

-COMPSTAT

-Hot Spots policing

-Task forces

-Crime mapping

-Hot spot policing

-Police injunctions

-Procedural justice

-Community justice

Police experiences and work culture

Police perceptions

Citizens perceptions of police

Police and patrol-vehicle, by foot, by bike, etc.

Police impact on fear of crime and incivility

Police in the media and/or social media

Police and body cameras

Police and racial minorities

Police and gender

Police and education research

Police and LGBT

Police and hate crime

Police accountability

Police and gangs/extremist and supremacist groups

Police and terrorism

Police and the military

Police and PTSD

Police and the community (or police and other organizations)

Police and technology (personal/body cameras, taser guns, police science/forensics, etc.)

Comparisons of American police and International police (Africa, Asia, India, Turkey, S.

America, etc.)

Private police or private security

Final project paper topics are due in class. See below for the final project paper

requirements.

Article Search Instructions: Go to Rowan University Library webpage. At the near top

select “Databases.” Go to the letter “J” and click on it. Select at the bottom “JSTOR.”

JSTOR is a database for journal and/or empirical articles that will be needed for the

Literature Review. You may want to Narrow your search by Articles and Research

Reports and even by years at some point. For the most up-to-date information and

knowledge please work to find articles within the past ten years (2006-2017). You may

use some more historical articles if the concept stems prior to these dates. However, and

again, please proceed to find the most current research.

Requirements: This final paper must be 5-7 pages in length, double spaced, and include

in-text citations and a full reference section. The double-spaced paper should be in APA

format and is expected to be based on current research, not opinion. To organize your

paper you will need an introduction, history section, literature review subsections, and

conclusions.

Structure:

-Introduction

-Background or History

-Empirical Research and Findings

-Summary and Conclusions

-References (both in-text and a references section)

Things to Keep in Mind: No last minute read throughs and no emailed papers. The

writing center is located in Campbell Library on the first floor. Remember: start early!

Empirical Articles: What were their methods, sampling frame, analysis procedures, and

did they find support? You want to be sure to summarize the previous research on a

subject. Sometimes there are theories and sometimes not involved in this portion of the

paper. At the end of this section summarize the whole section for the reader. This section

of the paper should be around 2 to 3 pages in length.

While there are a number of unique approaches one may take to fulfill the requirements

of this final project paper, the student must show an understanding and knowledge of

their topic through readings that go beyond the in-class textbook such as historic writings,

news reports, and, of course, at least 2 to 3 academic journals/articles. This is not an

opinion paper. Please see the select list of potential topics and areas that may be

appropriate and may help you get started with developing the final project paper:

You can choose one topic to use and the minimum length is 5 pages and max is 7