Deck 15: Being a Good Officer

Question 1

The call for police officers with higher education was heard often during the 1920s.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Driven by lower-middle-class black rage, the police of the '60s were disorganized and unprofessional.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A course in political science might teach a student about

A) how change occurs in the law
B) the place of the courts, legislatures, and the police in our system of governance
C) American institutions
D) all of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The liberal arts education focuses upon developing the student's capabilities of

A) rational thought
B) cogent analysis
C) writing or communications abilities
D) all of the above

Question 5

Modern college programs in criminal justice studies expose students to practical knowledge including classes on forensics, interrogation, search and seizure, and law.

Question 6

Studying the liberal arts involves experiencing a curriculum including the fields of literature, language, philosophy, government, history, mathematics, and science.

Question 7

Benefits of police officers going to college include that they will interact with different types of people, points of view, ideas and ideals, and practice questioning their own perspective.

Question 8

Modern college-level criminal justice courses may include

A) forensics
B) search and seizure
C) law
D) all of the above

Question 9

Kohlberg talked about how conscious work toward expanding one's practical knowledge and intellectual horizons can enhance one's ability to deal with the moral dilemmas of police work.

Question 10

When confronting antiwar protesters in the 1960s, the police were driven by racially focused hatred and in unsophisticated rage focused against

A) immigrants
B) politicians
C) middle class college students
D) none of the above

Question 11

_________________ all speak about American ideals that offer important insights into being a police officer.

A) The Declaration of Independence
B) The Constitution and Bill of Rights
C) The Gettysburg Address
D) all of the above

Question 12

Reasons for police officers to go to college include

A) to experience interactions with people who hold similar points of view
B) to solidify their subcultural perspectives on life
C) to narrow their personal perspective
D) none of the above

Question 13

Muir talked about three ways in which professionalism could be nurtured: language, learning, and leadership.

Question 14

Kohlberg specifically referred to both college and police officers in his studies.

Question 15

In terms of substantive learning, modern college courses in criminal justice and law

A) expose students to practical knowledge that is of great importance
B) are a good substitute for attendance at police academy
C) can allow an individual to go straight from college onto a police force as an active officer
D) are a waste of time

Question 16

Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg found that people go through certain stages in putting together an increasingly sophisticated understanding of morals.

Question 17

Any good, hard-working, honest person with the requisite physical abilities and intelligence can become a competent professional if he or she is willing to work at it.

Question 18

The call for police officers with higher education was heard often during the

A) 1960s
B) 1940s
C) 1920s
D) 1980s

Question 19

If one seeks to develop a well-rounded education that will help in a law enforcement career, one should consider courses like

A) history
B) psychology
C) sociology and political science
D) all of the above

Question 20

Psychology courses may include

A) abnormal psychology
B) personality development and disorders
C) adolescent psychology
D) all of the above

Question 21

Kohlberg found that people

A) have the same understanding of morals throughout their lifetime
B) have morals that degrade over their lifetime
C) go through certain stages as they put together an increasingly sophisticated understanding of morals
D) none of the above

Question 22

According to Muir, police should engender professionalism through language because police work requires

A) being sociable
B) being persuasive
C) enjoying conversation
D) all of the above

Question 23

In college one interacts with people of

A) different races
B) different religions
C) different ethnic backgrounds
D) all of the above

Question 24

For the last writing assignment of the book, construct an essay that engages two questions. First, discuss what "good character" is for a police officer. Given what Aristotle and Kant and Mill and Muir and Kohlberg have written, what are your conclusions with regard to what makes a good officer? To wit, what are the elements of good police officer character? Second, how do you now respond to the idea from the beginning of our discussions that suggests that competence and ethical behavior are directly linked with each other? Explain what is meant by the central thesis of the book: that it is in fact impossible to be a good police officer without being an ethical one.

Question 25

A competent police officer must possess

A) a large amount of procedural expertise about how to be a cop in the practical sense
B) substantive knowledge about the law
C) substantive knowledge about crime causation
D) all of the above

Question 26

Consider the authors' argument that a college education is important for all police officers. Discuss how the theory of the classroom can be applied to the practical realities of life on the street. What do you think of the axiom that a college education is not necessary because "you can't learn police work from a book"?

Question 27

Spending most of one's time with members of a single-minded group

A) makes us well-rounded
B) exposes us to new thoughts
C) can make an individual's view of life narrow
D) can broaden an individual's view of life

Question 28

A critical part of developing professionalism is

A) working in a profession
B) going through the kind of intellectual experience college involves
C) refusing to consider others' ideas
D) going through the police academy

Question 29

Muir believed that communication teaches intelligent police officers

A) about specific people
B) about groups of people
C) about people's expectations of police
D) all of the above

Question 30

Beneficence means

A) always do good
B) never do harm
C) prevent or remove harm
D) all of the above

Question 31

Kohlberg says that moral growth can be achieved by

A) seeing things from others' points of view
B) engaging in illogical thinking
C) avoiding exposure to moral controversy
D) all of the above

Question 32

Other than taking some college classes, what types of non-police-related experiences, hobbies, and avocations might help to make a police officer develop, grow, and become more competent? Discuss why it is so important to stay in touch with "other-than-police-subcultural" ways of thinking and to cultivate civilians as friends.

Question 33

Justice means

A) equality of substantive treatment
B) equality before the law
C) equality of opportunity
D) all of the above

Question 34

Muir talked about three ways in which professionalism could be nurtured:

A) training, teaching, and touching
B) language, learning, and leadership
C) seeing, hearing, and believing
D) schooling, work, and culture

Question 35

Refer to Box 15.4 and Muir's reflections on how to "make" a competent, professional officer. When discussing language, he wrote that teaching and persuading people was a big part of the job. Discuss how being the "strong, silent type" of police officer is a mistake as it alienates the officer from people and from life on the beat.

Question 36

Consider Kohlberg's ideas about how people obtain their understanding of morality. What do you think is missing? Is it remarkable (something about which an intelligent person should "remark") that his list is so secular, and doesn't even imply that religion, for example, is important? What do you think? Does religion actually fit in (on) this list, and Kohlberg just doesn't label it as being divorced from other experiences that develop a moral sense?

Question 37

Kohlberg advocates engendering an appreciation of moral thinking by

A) taking other peoples' points of view
B) confronting ethical dilemmas
C) questioning one's own way of thinking
D) all of the above

Question 38

According to Kohlberg, people who experience college are

A) preventing the expansion of their perspectives on life
B) maintaining their personal ethical frames of reference
C) participating in the ongoing creation of their own increasingly sophisticated points of view
D) none of the above

Question 39

According to Muir, conscious work toward expanding one's practical knowledge and intellectual horizons

A) can enhance one's ability to deal with the moral dilemmas of police work
B) is irrelevant to the day-to-day job of police work
C) can hinder one's ability to deal with the moral dilemmas of police work
D) should be avoided if one intends to advance in the field of police work

Question 40

Kohlberg suggests that a college education is good for police officers for reasons that are

A) procedural and substantive
B) progress-oriented and substance-oriented
C) process-oriented and substance-oriented
D) process-oriented and institutionally oriented