Interviewing a Criminal Justice Professional

For the past twenty-four years, Deputy Karen J. Miller has work for the Harris County Sherriff’s Department. She worked on the beat for her first six months, than the rest of her career years at the Harris County Sherriff’s Community Store Front. The store front is a place where the deputies provide a safe environment for those who live, work or commute within the precincts.

For the last three years, Deputy Miller’s job title has been “Media Liaison” officer. The role of a police liaison officer is to promote trust and understanding by assisting the community, police and media through the process of reducing and preventing crimes and maintaining community partnerships. She also strives to divert people from entering the criminal justice system. Deputy Miller is responsible for making consistent, periodic contact with assigned groups to stay informed about community concerns and unresolved issues.

Her goal is to provide accurate information in a timely manner utilizing technology to improve communication between the office of the sheriff’s department, the media and the public. Deputy Miller’s daily activity entails sending emails, writing releases and reports to the local area paper (Northeast News). In Deputy Miller’s district reports, she gives information such as mug shots (if permitted), description about the incident, names of the people involved, the location, time and date.

Deputy Miller thinks that new technologies, such as the internet are a good tool for law enforcement and the criminal justice system because more avenues have opened up because of the internet. Deputy Miller came from a descent family, but growing up; she was always getting into trouble in school. Her parents had to place her in a catholic school in the fifth grade because of fighting. During her years at the catholic school, Deputy Miller convinced her parents that she was able to behave herself, so they put her back in the public school (Barbara Jordan). She attended Barbara Jordan from the tenth thru the twelfth grade were she graduated.

Deputy Miller attended Texas Southern University majoring in Criminal Justice. A friend had informed her about a job posting for the sheriff’s department. She applied and was given the job as a deputy sheriff. After learning from friends about her boyfriend being busted on the news for drugs, she knew being in this profession, she had to pick and choose who she hung around. In other words, change out friends; you have to keep yourself clean; not having a criminal record. They also do not want someone with a lot of debts. Deputy Miller had to pull her weapon, but never used deadly force.

In her career, Deputy Miller has seen deputies killed. The effect of seeing her comrades killed sets her back. Deputy Miller stated, “Being a deputy, you build a close relationship with your partner. You are depending on that person with your life; to have your back”. Deputy Miller and her peers motto is what to eat, stay dry and GO HOME. Being in the law enforcement profession, ethics is the core value on the job and off the job. Ethics in the field of law enforcement is very important and significant because ethics is used in this field every day. Law enforcement officers encounter difficult decisions that will involve ethical thinking.

They will have to deal with different ethnicities, languages, religions and will have to use ethical thinking to deal with them. The officer will come into contact with a variety of people from different cultures. Situations will also occur often in which morals and ethics need to be taken into consideration. Deputy Miller has also witness corruption in her career. One time, she was ordered to return a patrol car for a DNA check. Turned out, a deputy that used the patrol car before her had forced intercourse with a female in exchange for not writing her a ticket in the back seat of that vehicle.

Without leadership and ethics, we would not have trustworthy officers on the street. Officers take an oath to protect and serve the people, not to go out and commit a crime against them. Deputy Miller’s career choice had some affect on her family. Her first marriage ended in divorce because her husband could not cope with her chosen profession. Her two daughters’ ages eight and twelve supports her, but do not want to follow in her footsteps. She is now married to her best friend, who is also a deputy, who loves and understands her career and her position. She is planning on retiring, but not for another six to eight years.

What Deputy Miller love the most about being a media liaison is working alone and not answering to anyone; the least is “being misquoted”. Afterthoughts In interviewing Deputy Miller, I learned that a “media liaison officer” has to work in a high pressure environment while maintaining composure. The officer has to be self-directed, detail-oriented, and able to multi-task under time constraints. The officer is also required to have strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills. I also learned that being in this line of profession, may cause a strain in your personal life.

It is important to have an understanding partner that can swallow their disappointment when the officer is absent from family functions. In this profession, you will miss important occasions and holidays such as anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas’…etc. To put it nicely, criminals do not take the holidays off, neither do those that protects us. What I like the most about Deputy Miller’s career title is the interactions with the media and the community. She gets to write stories from the police point of view so that the public can read about what’s going on in their community.

Some offices will even be present at a homeowner’s association meeting, asking a lot of questions and taking detail notes to find out about the community concerns, crime or quality-of-life issues in the neighborhood. I was very surprised to find out that Deputy Miller never had to use deadly force out of her twenty-four years as a deputy sheriff. A very small percentage of officers have used deadly force. Upbringing has a profound impact on the level of tolerance you have for bad behavior. If you had strict parents, than your tolerance for bad behavior is low. If your arents are liberal, your tolerance is probably much higher. Having a strong sense of morals and ethics can guide you for a lifetime. Being a law enforcement officer, family life, morals, ethics, and culture mold an individual’s ability to make a decision to use deadly force along with having confidence.

References Deputy Karen J. Miller (personal interview), (Jan. 29,2010). Liaison Officer Job Description: http://www. ehow. com/facts_5559182_liaison-officer-job-description. html Your Personal Deadly force Policy: Operations & Tactics at Office. com, http://www. officer. com/article/article. jsp? siteSection=3&id=32241.