Saturday, August 31, 2019

Bystander Behavior and Concepts Essay

Research reveals that the feeling of guilt can spur on the behaviour of helping. For instance, a survivor of a terrorist attack may be guilty of going to assist others. Lack of Personal Relationship Ideally, bystanders are more likely to assist when the know the person. In the case of emergency, people in the problem people may make personalized response even if strangers are keeping a distance. The bystanders’ presence in the scene of emergency limits the likelihood of any person will display any response to assist in violence. Schöllnberger, Mitchel, Redpath, Crawford-Brown & Hofmann, (2007) notes that contrary to common sense, there is no safety in bystander in the presence of the bystander because they see and assume someone else will take responsibility. Both social norm and diffusion explanations predict a reduction in helping behaviour when a bystander is present. Pro-Social BehaviourThe psychological foundations of the pro-social behaviour are beneficial for doing my further research in my field of study. Besides, it can also assist me achieve my educational, criminal justice and social work in line of profession. More importantly, the theoretical understanding with practical implications can assist me in improving my health and philanthropy. The concept teaches the principles of help, sharing and giving that are all important for social relationships and assisting and being of benefit for one another in the society and finally feel good. Social Norms The principle of the social norm argues that people use other people’s actions to decide on when to help. Learning and understanding the social norms in the society will help me develop moral behaviour and learn how to make curate decisions. Making wiser choices is important for life developments and benefits of decisions. Humanism Humanistic psychology refers to a psychological perspective that major on the study of a person referred to as holism. The approach argues that the behavior of an individual is connected to his inner self-image and feelings. According to the humanistic perspective, every individual is unique and individual and is at liberty to change his or her lives at any moment. Because of the center view of the person or her or his personal, subjective perception and experiences of the world, the humanists argue that the scientific methods are inappropriate to study the behaviour. The most influential theory of holism is the cognitive theory (Schöllnberger, Mitchel, Redpath, Crawford-Brown & Hofmann, 2007). The theory is relevant to my current and future life. Besides, the theory revolves around the studying of the mental process of acquiring knowledge. Since it deals with the perception attention and memory, it will help me achieve and maintain general healthy lifestyle. The theory can be u sed to analyze mental illness hence providing healthy lifestyle. Behaviorist Perspective Behaviorists view people as controlled by the environment. Besides, it mentions that we are the result of what we have learnt in our environment. The perspective is important for learning how stimuli affect observable behaviour. The perspective highlights operant conditioning in which people learn from consequences and classical conditioning in which people learn by association. The perspective is beneficial for getting better academic and life grades. Understanding the concepts of learning will assist me achieve better learning procedures for justifying better grades. Reference Schöllnberger, H., Mitchel, R. E. J., Redpath, J. L., Crawford-Brown, D. J., & Hofmann, W. (November 01, 2007). Detrimental and Protective Bystander Effects: A Model Approach. Radiation Research, 168, 5, 614-626. Source document

Friday, August 30, 2019

A 20th Century Leader

‘Robert Kennedy: His Life’ is the autobiography of Robert F. Kennedy (popularly referred to as RFK). It was written by Evan Thomas, a former senior editor of Newsweek in Washington.He was the first biographer to have access to Kennedy’s personal papers as attorney general. Thought the book contains no shocking revelations, there is a lot of fresh information gathered from Robert’s surviving colleagues, files and other sources. In the book, Thomas gives an elucidation of the man’s strengths as well as failures, and discloses the complex web of relationships in the Kennedy family.Depicting RFK as a man whose ‘house had a lot of mansions’, Thomas refers to him as ‘the lucky one’. Throughout the book, Thomas brings out the many phases of Kennedy’s personality. He was a very rich individual who could act like a spoiled child one day, and show sympathy to the minorities the next. Though the book honors a man whose potential was cut short too soon, Thomas’ book focuses on a man, a family and an era about whom Americans will never fully understand.Robert was the younger brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Born on November 20, 1925, he was the seventh born of Rose Fitzgerald and Joseph P. Kennedy. After living in Brookline, Massachusetts for two years, Robert and his family moved severally to mansions located in different parts of New York such as Riversdale and Bronxville.Robert schooled at Riversdale and Bronxville elementary schools till 5th grade, and then moved to Riverdale Country School for 6th grade. In 1938 when 12 years old, Robert took his first trip abroad with his family to England, where his father was serving as an American envoy. After finishing high school in 1943, Robert was drafted into the U.S. Naval Reserve as a trainee seaman.Robert Kennedy’s involvement in politicsAccording to Brian (1996), when World War II broke out, Robert took a break from studies at Harvard and joined the U.S. Navy. After the war, he went on to complete his studies and graduated with a law degree from University of Virginia. In the 1950s, he served as a counsel to a US Senate committee probing labor unions, leading to his open feud with the Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa.Robert’s political career is more closely associated with his brother, JFK. He oversaw JFK’s successful campaigns for the US Senate in 1952 and the presidency in 1960, and then was appointed as Attorney General in John’s administration.He was at the forefront of enforcing civil rights measures in the South and became the president’s closest adviser on all issues, for example foreign policy matters such as the Cuban missile crisis. After his brother’s assassination in 1963, Robert continued to serve in the Lyndon Johnson government as Attorney General and was unhappy that Johnson overlooked him for vice-presidency in 1964.Robert ran successfully for senator of Ne w York. As senator, he was loved by African Americans and other minorities such as immigrant groups and Native Americans. He spoke convincingly in favor of the excluded, disaffected and impoverished, hence getting the support of social justice campaigners and leaders of the civil rights struggle.He backed President Johnson on domestic matters, particularly civil rights and the war on poverty, but did agree with him over the war in Vietnam. By 1968, he was one of the most vocal advocates against the American policy on Vietnam. On domestic policy however, he became more and more liberal and developed a soft spot for the dispossessed and the minorities.Robert declared his candidacy for the US presidency in early 1968. He was assassinated on June, 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after delivering a speech to his supporters upon capturing the California primary. He was pronounced dead the following morning.Attitudes and ApproachAccording to Brian (1996), Robert as a ch ild was frequently the target of his father’s domineering temperament. However as he got older, he won the admiration of his father and brothers through his competitiveness. During his brother’s campaigns, Robert was more tenacious, passionate and involved than the candidate himself, aggressively tackling every detail and fighting every battle.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

1% of Local Police Departments

Reflections from the One-Percent of Local Police Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements For New Hires: Are They Diamonds in the Rough? Diana Bruns Bacone College ***Contact information Diana Bruns, Ph. D. Department Chairperson and Professor, Criminal Justice Studies Bacone College 2299 Old Bacone Road Muskogee, OK 74403 [email  protected] edu cell: 918-781-7295 office: 918-781-7295 **Diana Bruns is the Department Chairperson and Professor of Criminal Justice Studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, OK.Reflections from the One-Percent of Local Police Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements For New Hires: Are They Diamonds in the Rough? Abstract Countless studies have permeated the literature regarding the utility of a bachelor’s degree for police officers. Local law enforcement agencies with mandatory four-year degree requirements serve as the population for this study relative to the current status of college degreed officers, as well as pop ulation demographics and commonalities among such departments.The utility of college degree requirements, choice of academic discipline and why four-year degree requirements nationwide are merely a preference, not a standard mandatory hiring requirement is discussed. Current minimum educational requirements for local and state police agencies and implications for the future of the college-degreed officers are explored. Hiring college-educated candidates in the law enforcement field does not guarantee they will be good officers.Being a police officer is hard and to be successful, you have to want to be a police officer. Individuals who receive the required degree in law enforcement have demonstrated their desire. Desire is something very hard to evaluate, but such an important trait. If all other qualities are equal—the college graduate with a four-year degree in criminal justice or related field should be hired as police officers before one who doesn’t have the degree. Police Chief from department with mandatory degree requirement Introduction and Background The relevance of a college degree for police officers has been debated for decades. Numerous studies have been conducted regarding the importance of the degreed officer, while others have described how a college degree is not an essential or important ingredient for success among police officers. That precise debate—the worth of the bachelor’s degree for police officers is not the focus of this endeavor.The focus here is central to three vital panels’ recommendations from 1967-1974 proclaiming that police officers obtain baccalaureate degree—the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, and the American Bar Association Project on Standards for Criminal Justice—and why so few local and state police departments have followed suit in requiring tha t police officers hold baccalaureate degrees, as less than 1% of such departments require a four-year degree (Hickman and Reeves, 2006).It is evident that leaders in law enforcement are hesitant to embrace the educational movement. Roberg and Bonn (2004) reiterated the nearly nonexistent numbers of police departments requiring degrees. Although leaders in law enforcement continue to hesitate the implementation of educational requirements (Carlan, 2007; Roberg and Bonn, 2004; Breci, 1997;Remington, 1990), recruitment for college graduates continues to increase. Carlan (2007) examined the worth of the criminal justice degree as valued by police officers and found that In this study, police officers (n=299) with varying levels of experience and riminal justice education revealed positive attitudes concerning the degree’s value with regard to conceptual development for employment purposes. The positive assertions in this study reflect well on the ability of criminal justice progr ams to prepare its clientele for meaningful employment challenges (p. 616). Johnston, Cheurprakobkit, and McKenzie (2002) revealed that law enforcement administrators stressed that the role of education should place importance in aiding police officers with knowledge of the legal aspects of policing as well as report writing, ethics, and procedures.The President’s Commission (1967) reported that without higher educational requirements, quality in police services could not be achieved or attained. However, over forty years later, in 2009, although most police agencies do report that they prefer a college-degreed officer, the majority of police agencies (local, state and special jurisdiction) do not require anything more than a high school diploma or equivalent. Upon reviewing 36 departments that require a four-year degree, this exploratory analysis attempts to reveal and explore the reasoning behind the small number of police departments actually requiring the degree.Results o f this analysis will describe the departments with four-year mandatory degree requirements and characteristics of such departments will include opinions of police chiefs regarding why a college degree is important to police. Qualitative explanations will yield information regarding how explemplary practices of a few departments should serve as role models and guides for departments across the nation in the one-hundred year quest to professionalize the policing field. As the literature suggests, police administrators do prefer police officers to hold a baccalaureate degree, but do not require it.Verrill (2007) called for the need to determine why the select one-percent of local police departments who require the degree actually do so. This study attempts to answer that question. As stated previously, debates pertaining to the usefulness and value of a college degree for police officers have been commonplace in criminal justice literature for decades. However, at the outset, it is unc lear how many police departments actually require a four-year degree and the location of such departments. This lack of clarity is further exemplified by ncertainty as to how many police officers and police agencies there actually are the in U. S. , leads to difficulty in counting police agencies (Maguire, Snipes, Uchida, and Townsend, 1998). Whatever the case, we can be assured that few police agencies (non-federal) actually require a bachelor’s degree. Is the Type of Degree Important? Verrill (2007) described the sparse amount of literature concerning the advantage or worth of a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and whether criminal justice employers give preferentiality to vocational over theoretical degrees or vice versa.Verrill’s study reviewed entry-level educational requirements for criminal justice agencies in Florida, where only two local police departments out of N=261 sampled required a bachelor’s degree. Realistically, Verrill’s sam ple is indicative of local police departments nationwide, as less than one-percent require a bachelor’s degree as a prerequisite for employment. It is unclear at this point, from the literature, whether those one-percent of police departments who require four-year degrees specify which discipline they prefer.This analysis reveals striking information regarding the few police departments that require the degree and their preferences regarding the discipline as well as if they prefer that police candidates have degrees pertaining to either vocational or theoretical orientations. Bostrom (2005) addressed differences in levels of performance and work habits among officers who had obtained Bachelor of Arts degrees and Bachelor of Science degrees, finding that officers with Bachelor of Arts degrees have better work habits (measured by sick time usage, traffic collisions, discipline) than officers with a Bachelor of Science degree.Although results were detailed with caution, as this was an exploratory study at one large police department, Bostrom called for future research in this area. Schafer and Castellano (2005) attempted to extricate the relationships that subsist among work experience, educational background and attitudes toward criminal justice education, once again finding, â€Å"the quality of police service will not significantly improve until higher educational requirements are established for its personnel† (p. 300). Research Questions 1. What is currently known about educational requirements for local and state police departments/agencies? 2.How many police departments (local) have a four-year degree requirement and where are those departments? Who makes up the one-percent of police departments that the literature refers to as requiring four-year degrees? What is the range in size of police departments that have the four-year degree requirement? Are they large departments or small departments? 3. How many departments that have the four-year degree requirement will waive the requirement, and under what conditions can the educational requirement be waived? 4. What are the education levels of chiefs of police in departments that have a four-year degree requirement? . What are the mean starting salaries for the departments that require a four-year degree? Are the starting salaries for police officers in police departments with four-year degree requirements higher than salaries for police officers in departments without four-year degree requirements? 6. Do police chiefs in departments with four-year degree requirements prefer that officers have a degree in criminal justice? 7. Do police chiefs in departments with four-year degree requirements have a preference of vocational (hands-on) orientation rather than an academic (theoretical) orientation? . Have applicant pools increased, decreased or stayed the same since their four-year degree requirement was mandated? 9. Do the police chiefs believe the degree requirement will c hange in time, or will it remain a mandate, with no exceptions? 10. Regarding police departments with the four-year degree requirement, why does their respective department require a four-year degree? 11. Regarding police departments with the four-year degree requirement, why do police chiefs believe so few departments across the nation actually require the degree?Current Knowledge About Educational Requirements for US Police Departments According to the U. S. Department of Justice (2004), there are 12,766 local police departments with 3,067 sheriff’s offices, 49 primary state law enforcement agencies, 1,481 special jurisdiction agencies, and 513 ‘other’ agencies totally 17,876 law enforcement agencies. As of 2003, in a sample of 3000 police departments, 98% of local police departments had an educational requirement for new recruits; 18% had ‘some type’ of college requirement; ine percent required a two-year degree and less than one-percent required a four-year degree (Hickman and Reaves, 2006). Another source, The International Association for Chiefs of Police (2008) announced that 16% of state police agencies require a two-year degree, while four-percent require a four-year degree; 13% of county police agencies require a two-year degree and an unknown percentage of county police agencies require a four-year degree. Nine percent of local police departments require a two-year degree and two-percent require a four-year degree.However, it was unclear the name and location of the departments that required a two or a four-year degree. Furthermore, it is unclear as to where that two-percent was derived. Overall, scarce information is available regarding which departments require a two or a four-year degree. By searching state police agency and state highway patrol websites, it is evident that only three state police departments require officers to hold four-year degrees—Illinois State Police, New Jersey State Police, and Nort h Dakota Highway Patrol. All three agencies, however, will waive educational requirements.Regarding the New Jersey State Police’s minimum qualifications, An applicant must have (1) a bachelor’s degree, signifying completion of the undergraduate curriculum and graduation from an accredited college or university or, (2) alternatively, an associate’s degree or have complete 60 college credits from an accredited college or university, plus at least two years of satisfactory employment, or (3) alternately, have completed 30 college credits from an accredited college or university, plus at least two years of active duty military service with an honorable discharge (http://www. jsp. org/recruit/qual. html). The Illinois State Police has the following minimum educational requirement: Option 1). An Associate of Arts Degree or equivalent coursework and must meet one of the following two job experience requirements: Three consecutive years of continuous, full-time service as a police officer, with the same police agency or three consecutive years of active military duty. Option 2). An Associate Degree of Science or equivalent coursework and meet one of the following two job experience requirements: three onsecutive years of continuous, full-time service, as a police officer, with the same agency or three consecutive years of active military duty. Option 3). An Associate of Applied Science Degree, only if the degree is in Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice and meet one of the following two job experience requirements: Three consecutive years of continuous, full-time service as a police officer, with the same agency, or three consecutive years of active military duty. Option 4). A Bachelor’s Degree (https://www. illinoisstatetrooper. om/requiremnents. html). Lastly, North Dakota Highway Patrol’s minimum educational requirements are: An Associate degree with two years of work-related experience or a Bachelor’s degree (http://nd. gov/n dhp/employment/qualifications. html). Upon review of each state police or state highway patrol website, the following requirements by state were revealed: presently, ten states require an Associate’s Degree or 60 hours of college credit (PA, TX, KY, MN, MO, OK, DE, CN, WI, LA). The remaining states require a high school diploma or equivalent.However, one state– Nevada, stipulates no educational requirement. Out of the 100 largest cities in the United States, only four police departments require a four-year degree (Jacksonville, FL, Arlington, TX. , St. Paul, MN, and Tulsa, OK). Upon looking at the 100 largest police departments in the United States by number of sworn officers (list provided by the Police Executive Research Forum), only 3 of the largest police departments require a four-year degree (New Jersey State Police, Illinois State Police, and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office).After reviewing each of the 100 largest cities websites, it was determined that 67% of such departments require a police officers to have a high school diploma or equivalent; 6% require a high school diploma plus 12 hours college credit; 4% require between 30-40 hours of college credit, 19% require an Associate’s degree or 60 hours of college credit, with 4% requiring a four-year degree.Again after searching agency websites regarding career opportunities, the percentages were similar upon reviewing the largest 100 departments by number of sworn officers: 68% required a high school diploma or equivalent; 4% required a high school diploma or equivalent plus 12 hours of college credit; 4% required between 30-54 hours of college credits; 21% required an Associate’s degree of 60 hours of college credit, and 3% of the 100 largest police departments (by number of sworn officers) currently require a four-year degree.Once again, even the few that require the degree; the majority will waive the requirement, with certain stipulation—which will be discuss ed. To estimate whether or not the one-percent of police departments with degree requirements were actually large or small departments necessitated reviewing the LEMAS report (2003), concluding that Seventy-four percent (74%) of all local police departments served fewer than 10,000 residents, these agencies employed just 14% of all offices. About half of all officers served a jurisdiction with 100,000 or more residents.While departments serving the largest cities had thousands of officers on average, those serving fewer than 2,500 residents have an average of just four full-time employees, including three sworn officers. The Arguments: Pros and Cons of the College-Educated Police Officer The idea surrounding the purpose of college-educated officers has stemmed from two sources: the alleged importance of professionalism for the police force and to change officer attitudes (Shernock, 1992). Friedmann (2006) made an excellent point,When police officers try to do their job today without a degree, their already difficult task is made more difficult. However, chiefs who mandate the degree requirement should be aware that the transition period—where the police department does not already have a clear majority of officers with degrees—could be difficult. Police officers sometimes resist higher education requirements. Despite this resistance, police officers need higher education for the good of the profession† (p. 23). Chief of Police Hawkins (2006) reiterated his department’s four-year requirement in Burnsville, MN. ,Burnsville’s four-year degree requirement helps recruit big-picture thinkers who are creative, culturally aware, and technically sound in constitutional law, and who look for the best solution to the multitudes of challenges they encounter. An officer’s well-rounded background enhances his or her ability and desire to partner with community members, use the vast resources both the residents and business owners pos sess, and make them part of the problem-solving process. The synergy created between the community and the officers is the basis foundation of Burnsville’s community policing efforts. Friedman, 2006, p. 28). As the debate over the need for an educated police officers has demonstrated contradictory evidence concerning college educated police officers—meaning that although many studies are supportive that officers need a college education, there is also conflicting evidence. Baro and Burlingame (1999) disputed recommendations that officers need a baccalaureate degree to increase levels of police professionalism, stating that officers need no more than a high school diploma or equivalency.Sherman and McLeod (1979) speculated that higher education for officers may be irrelevant because the education officers receive in higher educational institutions is quite similar to training officers receive in police academies. Critics of higher educations believe the â€Å"college-e ducated officers are more likely to become frustrated with their work, with restrictions imposed by supervisors, and with limited opportunities for advancement† (Worden, 1990, p. 567). Hudzick (1978) found that officers with an education place less value on obedience to supervisors and are less satisfied with their careers.Other are concerned that â€Å"college-educated officers will quickly tire of the irregular hours, constant pressures, and relative low pay of policing† (Varricchio, 1988, p. 11). Whetstone (2000) acknowledged that, â€Å"hiring candidates with improved credentials also invites eventual problems such as greater job dissatisfaction and personnel turnover† (p. 247). Kakar (1998) further demonstrated that a college education might decrease officer’s quality of service because police work does not offer opportunities to stimulate the college-educated mind.Furthermore, because police performance measures differ in studies, no real consensus e xists on exactly how police performance should be defined and measured. Carter and Sapp (1990) indicated that regardless of degree requirements, 23% of police officers had obtained a four-year degree and 65% of police officers had at least one year of college. Peterson (2001) gave somewhat higher estimates, in that 30% of police officers sampled from ten medium-sized departments in the Midwest had four-year degrees.Mayo (2006) estimates between 25-30% of police officers have a four-year degree, which realistically nearly mirrors the percentage of U. S. population over age 25 who have obtained a bachelor’s degree. According to the US Census Bureau (2005) 28% of the US population over the age of 25 has obtained a bachelor’s degree, which is an all-time high. Common sense dictates that those percentages of police officers with four-year degrees are representative of the education levels of the communities they serve, if we utilize such figures and that line of reasoning.H owever, the small number of departments requiring degrees necessitates attention to raise awareness to the fact that less than 100 police departments, including special jurisdiction police, state police, county and local police departments mandate degrees, and whether this will change in the future. Little information exists regarding the 1% of police departments that require the four-year degree. Mayo (2006) revealed several case studies of departments with four-year degrees regarding the question of the degree and its importance to the sites’ organizational success in the communities they serve.One of the departments that was highlighted, the Dover Police Department in N. J. , which is now the Toms River Police Department, has changed its language to relax its mandatory four-year requirement, the current ordinance: requires candidates to possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university or, the candidate must possess a minimum of 64 college credits combined with two (2) full years of military experience or full time work experience (http://www. rpolice. org/Recruitment. html). Other than a list of departments that require four-year degrees recently made available on-line by the Police Association for College Education, no other list is available to reveal the one-percent of police agencies that require the four-year degree. Unfortunately, many of the departments listed on that site that have a four-year degree requirement no longer have the requirement, but have relaxed it or waived it all together.After contacting all of the departments by email or phone, the following departments on PACE’s list no longer require a four-year degree: Vallejo, CA. ; Boulder, CO. ; Peach Tree, GA. ; Holden, MA. ; St. Cloud, MN. ; Eagan City, MN. ; Borough of Gettysburg, PA. ; Edinboro, PA. ; Appleton, WI. ; Flint, MI. ; Milford, MI. ; Montvale, NJ. ; University Park, TX; Whitefish Bay, WI; and Upper Moreland, NJ. The Chief of Police, Tho mas Nestle, III. , of Upper Moreland, NJ, responded via email that Upper Moreland only requires 60 hours of college credit.Nestel (2009) offered his opinion, via email, as to why the degree requirements was relaxed at his department, The applicant pool that is suited for this position frequently does not possess the educational pedigree you describe (a four-year degree). Law enforcement tends to draw military veterans and sons/daughters of existing officers. Neither group has a high rate of college graduates. Recruiting on college campuses has proven to be very unsuccessful. Policing doesn’t seem to be an appealing direction for the college graduate.In recent years, other departments (Memphis, TN, Plano, TX, Portland, OR) once known to have had a four-year degree requirement, further made national headlines regarding the choice to relax their respective educational requirement. Interestingly, many other police departments were found that were not included in the Police Associ ation for College Education’s (PACE) list regarding police departments that require four-year degrees as of 2006. A massive Internet search was undertaken to locate local police departments that currently require a four-year degree for new patrol officers.Additionally, numerous contacts via telephone to police chiefs and recruits were attempted to uncover additional police departments with four-year degree requirements. However, most of those attempts were unsuccessful for little knowledge exists as to whom the police departments requiring four-year degrees actually were in the U. S. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on departmental websites in attempts to discover who indeed mandated the baccalaureate degree requirement. Problematically, many departmental websites lacked clarity regarding educational requirements.Therefore, if relevant information could not be obtained via websites, many telephone contacts to police departments led to the discovery of 60 local police depar tments, including local police departments and county sheriff offices that require a four-year degree for police officers. However, there are several special jurisdiction police agencies that also require officers to hold a baccalaureate degree and will not waive educational requirements, including the Missouri Department of Conservation (law enforcement) and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.However, special jurisdiction police agency degree requirements are not the focus of this analysis. Sixty police agencies (local and county) were unearthed to indeed have the requirement–Illinois has the greatest number of police departments requiring a four-year degree, with eleven; New Jersey has seven; Ohio has eight; Pennsylvania has six; Michigan has 5; Texas has four; Wisconsin has 4; Colorado has 3; South Carolina has 2; Florida has 2; Minnesota has 2; Oregon, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Missouri each have one local police department that has a four-year degr ee requirement.Special jurisdiction police agencies aside, caution however, that of those 60 police departments, only 37 will not waive or relax their educational requirements for any exception. Therefore, there are 37 local police departments that will not waive their educational requirements on any grounds. Table 1 contains the 37 local departments that will not waive educational requirements. Population size, gathered from Sperling’s Best Places (www. bestplaces. net) follow to demonstrate the size of each city in which the respective department is located.Regarding county police departments, population size was not included. Table 1 Note: N=37. This may not be the complete list. However, no other such list is available. Simple computations reveal the Mean for the population size of local police departments with mandatory degree requirements is (X=61,911), with the Median (MD=31,891). Due to the reality that there are so few local police departments mandating degrees, it i s relevant to include examples of specific educational requirements for such departments regarding their policy regarding mandatory four-year degree education requirements in Table 2.Local Police Departments Requiring Four-Year Degrees, No Exceptions Police DepartmentLocationPopulation Size Arvada Police DepartmentCO104,838 Arlington Police DepartmentTX367,197 Bethel Park Police Department PA 31,891 Bloomfield Township Police Department MI 65,796 Canfield Police Department OH 7,061 Centerville Police Department OH 23,046 Cleveland Heights Police Department OH 47,097Deer Park Police Department TX 29,748 Burnsville Police Department MN 59,321 Eatontown Police Department NJ 14,022 Elgin Police Department IL 98,846 Gaston County Police Department NC Flint Township Police Department MI 32,753 Green Tree Borough Police Department PA 4,396 Lakewood Police DepartmentCO140,024 Leonia Police DepartmentNJ 8,799 Mahwah Police DepartmentNJ 24,560 Middleburg Heights Police DepartmentOH 15,237 Mt. Lebanon Police DepartmentPA 5,481 Multnomah County Sheriff’s DepartmentORNaperville Police DepartmentIL140,633 Norton Shores Police DepartmentMI 23,429 Novi Police DepartmentMI 52,621 Owasso Police DepartmentMI 15,388 Palatine Police DepartmentIL 66,596 Platteville Police DepartmentWI 9,748 Pueblo Police DepartmentCO103,730 Peters Township Police DepartmentPA 4,683 Richmond Heights Police DepartmentMO 9,228 Schaumburg Police DepartmentIL 73,890 Smithfield Police DepartmentRI 21,863 South Park Township Police DepartmentPA 14,647 Strongsville Police DepartmentOH 43,347 Sugar Land Police DepartmentTX 79,943 Tulsa Police DepartmentOK385,486 Wheaton Police Department IL 54,611Wilmette Police Department IL 26,737 Table 2 Examples of Educational Specification Per Department That Have Mandatory Four-year Degree Requirements PoliceEducational Requirement Specification Department Arvada PDâ€Å"Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university (final semester seniors are eligible). This requirement will not be waived for any reason† (http://arvadapd. org/join-our-team/requirements/. html). Arlington PDâ€Å"Possess a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Education is not waived for prior military service or prior experience† http://www. rlingtonpd. org/index. asp? nextpg=recruiting/require. asp). Centerville PDâ€Å"Bachelor’s Degree Required† (http://ci. centerville. oh. us/index. php? option=com). Deer Park PDâ€Å"Bachelor’s degree by hire date† (http://www. ci. deer-park. tx. us/department/index. php? fDD=15-0 Eatontown PDâ€Å"Effective September 1, 2008, applicant must have a bachelor’s degree, signifying completion of the undergraduate curriculum and graduation from an accredited college or university† (http://www. nj. com/police/careers. html).Lakewood PDâ€Å"Bachelor’s degree in any discipline—no exceptions† (http://www. ci. lakewo od. co. us/index. cfmp). Tulsa PDâ€Å"Applicants must have completed a Bachelor’s degree with a C+ average or better at an accredited college. No military hours or credits are acceptable unless they are received from or converted through an accredited college† (http:/www. tulsapd. ord/recruiting/requirements. htm Note. This is not an exhaustive list. Examples of Specific Educational Requirements Per Departments Regarding Mandatory Four-Year Degree Education Requirement, With Waiver ExceptionsAs stated previously, only 37 local police departments require a four-year degree with no exceptions allowed. However, 23 other local police departments require a four-year degree, but will waive the requirements with certain exceptions, as do the Illinois State Police and the New Jersey State Police. Therefore, those 23 departments with similar wording or language embedded in their respective specific job requirements or career opportunities containing ‘require a four-year degree, but will relax requirements,’ will be included in departments that require four-year degrees.The Toms River Police Department provides a good example of ‘waiver exceptions,’ The current ordinance requires candidates to possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university or the candidate must possess a minimum of 64 college credits combined with two (2) full years of military experience or full-time regular police experience† (http://www. trpolice. org/Recruitment. html). Other specific examples of police department requirements with waivers include: Charleston Police Department, Bachelor’s degree and above or Associate degree with four years of prior law enforcement experience or military experience† (http:www. charlestoncity. info/dept/content. aspx? nid=817&cid=9931). Coral Springs Police Department’s requirements are similar, â€Å"Applicant must possess: A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited c ollege or (4) years law enforcement experience and at least 60 credits from an accredited college, or (4) years military experience and at least 60 credits from an accredited college† (http://www. theblueline. com/feature/Flcoralsprings. html). Other examples include: 1.Highland Park Police Department â€Å"Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university—consideration may be given for applicants who possess at least 60 credit hours† (http://www. hptxorg/index. aspx? page=233). 2. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office â€Å"Must possess a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or possess an accredited Associate’s degree or equivalent (60 semester hours/90 quarter hours) with four (4) years prior active military or law enforcement experience or possess 90 semester/135 quarter hours with two (2) years prior active military or law enforcement experience† http:www. coj. net/Departments/Sheriffs+Office/About+ the+JSO/default. htm). 3. Livonia Police Department â€Å"Have been awarded an Associate Degree in Law Enforcement or Public Administration or a Bachelor Degree in any non-Criminal Justice discipline† (http://www. ci. livonia. mi. us/default. asp? area2=departments%2Fcivil+service) 4. Osh Kosh Police Department â€Å"Associate degree—In Criminal Justice/Police Science; Bachelor degree—in any field† (https://wilenet. org/html/employment/showopportunities. jsp). 5. Tinley Park Police Department All applicants must have completed 2 years satisfactory experience as a certified sworn law enforcement officer in the state of Illinois or posses an Associates Degree with at least a C average (or its equivalent) with an emphasis in criminal justice, or possess 60 college credit hours with at least a C average (or its equivalent) with an emphasis in criminal justice, or possess a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree from a four year college or university† (http:www. tinleyparkpolice. org/police. html).Haddon Township Police department is another that was included in the list of police departments that require a four-year degree, however, their exception has somewhat different specifications: â€Å"Applicants must make a pre-employment agreement to achieve a Baccalaureate Degree within eight years from the time of employment. † (http://www. haddontwppolice. com/). Table 3 includes Police Departments that require four-year degrees, with exceptions or waiver conditions. Table 3 Police Departments that Have Four-Year Degree Requirements, With ExceptionsPoliceLocation Departments Bath Police Department OH Bainbridge Township Police Department OH Charleston Police Department SC Cherry Hill Police Department NJ Coral Springs Police Department FL Haddon Township Police Department NJ Highland Park Police Department TX Hinsdale Police Department IL Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office FL Langlade County Sheriff’s Department WI Livonia Poli ce Department MI Kettering Police Department OH Montgomery Township Police Department NJ Osh Kosh Police Department WIPlano Police Department TX Richland County Sheriff’s Office SC River Forest Police Department IL Shaler Police Department PA St. Paul Police Department MN Tinley Park Police Department IL Toms River Police Department NJ (Formerly Dover PD) Vernon Hills Police Department IL Willowbrook Police Department IL Note. N=23. Methodology Regarding the 1% of local police departments that require a four-year degree at the time of hire, it was noted previously that little information exists about the location of such departments.Intensive Internet searches, email and telephone contacts with multitudes of police recruiters and chiefs yielded 60 departments with four-year degree requirements, although only 37 of such departments had mandatory educational requirements resulting in no educational waivers. As it was unclear which department had mandatory requirements at the ou tset, 45 questionnaires were mailed to police chiefs at departments, which were believed to have mandatory requirements.Of those 45 questionnaires mailed, 40 were completed and returned–which was an excellent overall response rate of nearly 89%. Four of those surveys revealed that the departments surveyed did not require the four-year degree requirement; therefore, the results were not utilized. Thirty-six (36) returned questionnaires remained, revealing both important and relevant information about departments with mandatory requirements and were the subjects for this study. Thirty-seven (37) departments overall were found with mandatory requirements.Items on the questionnaires pertained to a wide range of subjects including the year in which such departments implemented their degree requirement; number of sworn officers; the chief’s education level; mean starting salaries for police officers; whether or not police chiefs had a preference in degree discipline; whether the chiefs preferred their officers had degrees that were vocational or theoretical in nature; whether chiefs preferred bachelor or arts degrees over bachelor of science degree; if officers who were hired before the degree requirement was established were required to complete respective degrees; whether they believed the degree requirement would be altered in the future; if applicant pool had increased, decreased or remained the same since the establishment of the degree requirement; the requirement’s impact on minority recruiting, and whether police chiefs believed officers with a college degree perform better than officers without a college degree.Additionally, two questions qualitatively regarding why police chiefs believed their respective departments had the mandatory requirement and why police chiefs believe only 1% of other departments have followed suit in mandating the requirement. Although glaring limitations to this analysis stem from the fact the little informati on exists regarding the reality of those one-percent of police departments that mandate a four-year degree, this is an exploratory step enabling further exploration into this important issue. Ultimately, the future professionalism of the policing field does hinge on raising degree requirements across police departments in America. Although only 36 police chiefs were surveyed, their information speaks volumes as to the need for other departments to follow their lead.As one chief eloquently stated: It is evident that society has become more complex. Problem solving skills along with communication skills are even more important today for police officers. A college education gives a foundation and more importantly legitimizes police work as a profession The instrument utilized has not proven reliable. However, this began a process of raising issues regarding the importance and the future of the college-degreed officer. At the outset, many officers are obtaining four-year degrees regardl ess of whether the degree is required or not. Results Information regarding the analysis of data is organized according to the research questions.For each question, the results are followed by an explanation and discussion of the findings. Only descriptive statistics were utilized, as there was no need for making inferences in this analysis. Eleven research questions were addressed in attempts to determine how departments that require four-year degrees are different from departments that have the requirement, and will waive it, or do not have such requirements. Descriptive data from the surveys revealed that the first department implemented their mandatory degree requirement in 1963. One chief responded, Our degree requirement was implemented in 1990. We changed the entry-level minimum educational requirement from a high chool diploma to a bachelor’s degree over the course of seven years. Research indicates police agencies should require a four-year degree. Table 4 describes the year departments implemented their mandatory degree requirement, with a range from 1963-2008. Table 4 Frequencies and Percentages for the Year Degree Requirements were Implemented Year Degree Requirement Implemented f% 1963 12. 8 1969 38. 3 1975 25. 6 1976 12. 8 1981 12. 8 1984 12. 8 1986 38. 3 1987 12. 8 1990 4 11. 1 1991 12. 8 1992 1 2. 8 1993 12. 8 994 12. 8 1995 12. 8 1996 12. 8 1997 25. 6 1998 38. 3 2000 12. 8 2005 12. 8 2006 1 2. 8 2008 12. 8 Note. N=36 It was apparent from the literature that only three of the largest police departments (by sworn officer) required a four-year degree. Tulsa Police Department is the largest department in this study, with 844 sworn officers. However, Tulsa is not the norm regarding departments with degree requirements and number of sworn officers, as results will show that most police departments with degree requirements have less than 100 sworn officers.However, of the 36 respondents in this particular study, the range of number of sworn of ficers was 15 at the smallest department to 844 sworn officers at the largest department included. The mean number of sworn officers was 127. 20 (SD=171. 46, MD=70). Table 5 illustrates the frequencies and percentages of sworn officers in departments with mandatory degree requirements, demonstrating that most of the departments with the requirement have fewer than 100 sworn officers; 16 departments have fewer than 50 sworn officers. Table 5 Frequencies and Percentages of Number of Sworn Officers in Departments with Mandatory Degree Requirements Number of Sworn Officers f % 1512. 8 2025. 6 2112. 8 212. 8 2512. 8 2712. 8 2912. 8 3112. 8 3412. 8 3725. 6 4012. 8 4312. 8 4612. 8 4812. 8 5412. 8 7025. 6 7212. 8 7412. 8 7512. 8 9812. 8 10312. 8 11225. 6 13712. 8 16012. 8 16512. 8 18912. 8 20012. 8 20512. 8 28212. 8 34012. 8 61512. 8 84412. 8 Note. N=36. Regarding the police chief’s level of education, Table 6 contains the frequencies and percentages associated with levels of educati on broken down into five categories: Associate’s Degree, Bachelor’s Degree; One Master’s Degree; Multiple (2) Master’s Degree’s, and Doctorate Degree. One of the departments where the chief had an Associates degree, the mandatory requirement was implemented in 1981.Furthermore, in all 36 departments surveyed, no officer was on the force without a degree before the educational mandate has implemented was required to obtain a four-year degree. In essence, the grandfather clause was utilized. The same was true with the chief’s who did not meet the degree requirement, as they were not required to meet new degree requirements. Table 6 Police Chief’s Level of Education in Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements Degree Type Earnedf% Associate’s Degree25. 6 Bachelor’s Degree 10 27. 8 One Master’s Degree 22 61. 1 Two Master’s Degrees12. 8 Doctorate Degree12. 8 Note.N=36 Regarding the mean starting s alaries for the departments that require a four-year degree, the mean starting salaries for police officers in police departments with four-year degree requirements are higher than salaries for police officers in departments without four-year degree requirements. City data was additionally gathered (www. bestplaces. net) regarding median household income for the 37 original locations of departments with mandatory degree requirements. The median household income for city residents pertaining to this sample was $61,330. According to the U. S. Census Bureau (2008) the median household income reached $50,233 in 2007.Therefore, it was likely that mean starting salaries for police officers in these locations would also be higher. According to one police chief surveyed: It’s all about tradition, size of city and location. The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics On-line (2006) states that the mean starting salary for police officers ranging from populations from 10,000 to over 1,000,000 was $38,569. As shown in Table 7, the mean starting salaries for police officers in police departments with mandatory four-year degree requirements was quite higher. A striking example of this is illustrated in one chief’s words, Thirty-nine percent of our residents over the age of 25 have an advanced collegiate degree.Our population is 27,000. Our residents are university professors, attorneys, medical doctors, CEO’s. Our village is considered upper class economically and home values are quite high. Many well-known people live here. Our police officers are comfortable inter-acting in our residents’ homes, even on the most sensitive matters. We don’t feel inferior. We belong here. Our residents value us. The four-year degree requirement helps us significantly in recruiting. We provide an average of more than 100 hours of training annually to our officers. Our ‘brand’ is that we are the ‘education and training’ departmen t. This has been very effective for us. Table 7Means and Other Statistics Concerning Salaries for Police Officers in Departments With Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements Starting Salary Mean $47,222 Median $46,786 Mode $40,000 SD $6,024 Minimum $34,901 Maximum $58,931 Note. N=36. Only two of the departments surveyed required that officer possess a four-year degree in Criminal Justice or Law Enforcement. It is common that police departments requiring Associate’s degrees are specifically looking for their police candidates to have an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice or a closely related field. However, upon surveying police chiefs in departments with mandatory four-year degree requirements, only seven or 19. 4% preferred criminal justice or closely related degrees. Seventy-five ercent (75%) of police chiefs in this study believed that a four-year degree in any discipline was acceptable. Two police chiefs in this sample were uncertain as to whether they preferre d a criminal justice degree to a degree in any other discipline. When asked whether the police chiefs preferred a practical/vocational degree or a degree that was theoretical/academic in nature, or if they had no preference, the majority (63. 9%) of chiefs had no preference–either orientation was acceptable, stating that was precisely the four-year degree in itself that mattered. Table 8 illustrates the frequencies and percentages of practical versus theoretical orientations. Table 8Frequencies and Percentages of Degree Orientation Preference: Practical v. Theoretical Degree Orientation Preferencef% Prefer practical/vocational orientation822. 2 Prefer theoretical/academic orientation411. 1 No preference, either acceptable 2363. 9 Uncertain 1 2. 8 Note. N=36. The results of this study lend little support either way to Bostrom’s (2005) finding. Although several police chiefs could break down the percentage of their officers who had a Bachelor of Arts degree or Bachelor o f Science degree, only one respondent believed that officers with a Bachelor of Science perform better than officers with a Bachelor of Arts degree.Seventy-five (75%) or 27 police chiefs believed there is no difference in work habits or performance regarding whether an officer has a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. The remaining respondents (25%) were uncertain as to whether there was a true difference among the types of degree. Whatever the case, a common theme emerged, We believe the quality of our officers and the services provided are enhanced by a better-educated workforce. Policing is an extremely complex profession, requiring individuals who can apply abstract concepts within difficult situations. We can also assign more complex duties to our officers. Table 9 reviews the police chief’s opinions regarding the future of the degree requirement, and whether they believed it would be altered in the future.It was clearly apparent that in these departments, th e degree requirement is a fixed quality. Table 9 Chiefs’ Opinions Regarding the Future of Their Degree Requirement Future Expectations f% Expect to retain requirement Indefinitely3391. 7 Expect requirement to be altered In future 2 5. 6 Uncertain 1 2. 8 Note. N=36. We hope to keep our degree requirement forever. With the high percentage of college graduates in today’s society, I don’t believe this requirement is unreasonable. It’s our goal to continue to pursue the ‘most qualified’ applicants for our police department. Many police departments are hesitant to adopt a mandatory educational requirement due to fears that applicant pools will dwindle if requirement is enforced.According to this sample, nearly 64% of police chiefs reported that their respective applicant pools have indeed decreased due to their educational mandate. However, others felt different. The four-year degree requirement has served us well. We typically receive about 70 app licants for every 1-3 openings we try to fill. All of which have the four-year degree and either enrollment or completion of the police academy. Another responded in a way to overcome the issue of lower applicant pools, cautioning a reason why this will not happen at large, Yes, the requirement decreases this applicant pool. In my opinion, for a department to have an educational requirement such as ours, a strong recruitment effort is necessary.We recruit over 15 northern Ohio colleges that have law enforcement majors programs to get an adequate number of participants to take our civil service tests. That is an expensive endeavor, one that most cities won’t make. † Table 10 reviews police chief’s opinions regarding application pools and their particular educational requirement. Table 10 Stability of Application Pools in Police Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirement Level of Police Applicants f% Application pool has increased With degree requireme nt25. 6 Application pool has decreased With degree requirement 23 63. 9 Application pool has stayed the same 10 27. 8 Uncertain 12. 8 Note. N=36.One of the predominant reasons offered as to why more police departments do not have a mandatory degree requirement is that enforcing such a mandate would have a negative impact on recruiting. One chief replied, it’s ‘politically correct’ to lower education standards to avoid the wrath of the special interest-minority groups who wish to lower educational standards to increase the minority population in the applicant pool. Table 11 describes frequencies and percentages of police chiefs’ opinions regarding their requirement’s impact on minority recruiting. Interestingly, only 11% of respondents believed the requirement had a positive impact on recruiting minorities.Two interesting responses emerged regarding the process of calming the regarded negative impact on recruiting: If I can keep the requirement a few more years, we will have a majority of officers with degrees and there will be less internal pressure to lower standards. As long as we hire a significant percentage of minorities, there will be less claims of adverse impact—nine are female, five are Hispanic. We will evolve to the point that candidates for promotion with degrees are more likely to get the appointment. Lack of applicant pool and minorities. While this is true, it can be overcome. We have fewer applicants, but they are higher quality. Our recruitment methods continually change to reach our target audience. We work with many minority groups to reach out to minority populations. One respondent was adamant regarding this issue,The minority community that believes there would be an ‘adverse impact. ’ There isn’t. Table 11 Requirements Impact on Recruiting Minorities Level of Impact f % Requirement has had a positive Impact on recruitment of Minorities411. 1 Requirement has had a negative impac t on recruitment of minorities1027. 8 Requirement has had no impact on recruitment of minorities1130. 6 Uncertain 1130. 6 Note. N=36. Another important issue addressed concerns that highly relevant debate: Does a college degree make for a better police officer? The answer to that question among the 36 police chiefs was not unanimous, but the majority (80. 6%) indeed believed that officers with a degree perform better.In efforts to once again address this century-old debate, Table 12 describes the realities of police chiefs’ opinions on this theme. Table 12 Do Officers with a College Degree Perform Better? Police Chief’s Opinions f% Yes, officers with a degree perform better2980. 6 No, officers with a degree do not perform better 411. 1 Uncertain 3 8. 3 Note. N=36. In an attempt to dig deeper into the above issues and subjects, a qualitative approach was utilized to uncover themes predominant to this analysis. Although important descriptive information has been revealed , few attempts have been taken to qualitatively explore the two important issues relevant here—opinions of police chiefs from that one-percent of police departments with mandatory degree requirements.Herein, two final questions needed exploration: Why do their departments actually have their mandatory degree requirement and why they believe so few departments actually require the degree? After careful thought and consideration, they shared their opinions and beliefs—those of which should be held in high regard, as they are the select few who have shown to be pioneers in their concrete efforts to bring about professionalism to the policing field. Police Chief’s Explanations as to Why Their Respective Departments Have the Four-Year Degree Requirement Aside from stern recommendations encouraging police administrators and community leaders to adopt educational standards,Our department adopted the requirement based Carter, Sapp and Stephens findings and the recommend ations of the 1967 Presidential Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals that said that a four-year degree should be required by all law enforcement by 1981 six themes emerged from analyzing the data regarding why these departments actually have the degree requirement. 1. It is our tradition and part of our institutional, organizational and community culture and we are valued. It’s our tradition. We are the only agency in the state that still requires a four-year degree. We have always required this and I believe we hire exemplary people with more maturity and a strong sense of direction than those without the degree. It’s really a huge part of our culture. We hope to keep our four-year educational degree requirement forever.With the high percentage of college graduates in today’s society, I don’t believe this requirement is unreasonable. It’s our goal to continue to pursue the ‘most qualified’ applicants for our dep artment One of the best things I did 17 years ago was to convince the governing body to pass the four-year degree requirement. Since then the department has hired 140 of our 160 officers (bright, educated and professional). After becoming Chief in 1992, I felt strongly that this would have a very positive impact on the department and it has. Very well-respected, very few discipline problems or concerns. 2. The degree carries with it a level of expertise, knowledge and perseverance that represent us in our communities well.The requirement for a bachelor’s degree generally assures that an applicant can read and write; has been exposed to complex written materials requiring some level of analysis; has developed some level of critical thinking and communication skills, and has achieved at least some measurable relatively long-term goal in their lifetime. A bachelor’s degree limits the number of applicants who, most probably, would not be selected anyway. It also increases the quality of the applicant pool (education-level wise), which makes for a better police officer and increases the minimum age of the applicants, making them more experienced in life. It also shows that you have people at the very least, had the ‘stick-to-it-ivness’ to persevere through four years of college. It also eliminates the need for education reimbursement for officers pursuing bachelor’s degrees. We believe that it provides us with a more mature, well-rounded and worldly candidate who has more experience interacting with many different people from all walks of life† 3. Education levels of the police force should mirror the education level of the communities they serve. To reflect the demographics of the community we serve. According to the Census, Wilmette has one of the highest education levels in America. We want to be representative of those we serve in race, gender, education level and foreign language. This is also a successful strategy for m aintaining high salaries and benefits. We wanted to ensure our police officers’ education level closely mirrored the education level and demographics of our community. Over 70% of adult residents in our community have a bachelor’s degree. 4.A belief in excellence and quality—the degree makes a difference in performance. The department instituted this educational requirement in 1993 due to the belief that educated officers will be better decision makers and have better communication skills, both in oral and written form Department belief of excellence—higher quality of service to community, being leaders in profession Quality candidate, self-thinking and less supervision. Enhanced knowledge, skills and abilities as well as communications skills (oral and written); critical thinking and analytical skills; broader viewpoints; more tolerant; foundation of criminal justice concepts; self-discipline; and time management.We believe that a better educated work-fo rce is necessary in dealing with the public and are higher educated. We also believe that education enhances communication skills which are necessary in police work. A higher educated person is a more rounded individual, which leads to a better police officer To have a better qualified work force 5. A belief that the mandatory degree promotes professionalism both in their communities and for the entire police field. We believe that this should be the standard if we are to continue to develop and promote a professional police organization Academics have pushed our department to a new level of professionalism and innovationTo significantly improve the quality of police services via intelligent, articulate and professional personnel To establish professional standards at entry-level We are located in a city with a university with a strong criminal justice program. We have several members of our police and fire commission who are affiliated with the university. The four-year degree requ irement enhances our professionalism. 6. Officers with a college degree are more mature and have stronger goal- reaching abilities. I feel that a person demonstrates his/her desire to be a police officer by completing four year of study in criminal justice. They prove not only a strong desire to become a police officer, but possess the ability to set a goal and achieve it.It also demonstrates that ability to learn. That is why a four-year bachelors degree in criminal justice, criminology or law enforcement exists. It is specific to those who set a goal for law enforcement and achieve it. Increases odds of mature/smart candidate. Maturity, dedication, experience and age of applicants are more suitable for employment. Police Chief’s Explanations as to Why They Believe So Few Departments in the U. S. Actually Require a Four-Year Degree Only three out of the 36 police chiefs surveyed stated that they were not satisfied with their department’s educational policy. However, o ver 90% were satisfied with their departmental policies requiring college degrees.Aside from the following two realities many police leaders encounter–one being that the college degree is not mandated as a requirement by most licensing boards, and it may be prevented because of civil service regulations–five themes emerged regarding police chiefs explanations as to why they believe so few departments actually require degrees: 1. It’s all about money and over-all job satisfaction that one perceives a college-degree should bring. We have issues retaining officers and we frequently lose them to higher paying positions outside the field of policing. University instructors, technical school instructors, social work have all been attractive to our officers.Governments are reluctant to pay the higher wages for an applicant with a degree. Most agencies cannot pay adequate salaries for advanced degrees. Higher degreed people are not satisfied being a police officer. Mone y. Most departments cannot afford to start our a patrol officer at what a college graduate could make It certainly can hurt the applicant pool, depending on the salary Possibly they believe their pay-rates are not high enough to attract college graduates. Lack of pay for many smaller agencies 2. The degree requirement decreases applicant pools. Although some did not agree, the majority of police chiefs surveyed stated their department’s mandatory degree equirement has reduced applicant pools. It reduces the pool of potential applicants at a time when suitable applicants are hard to find. There remains a high percentage of law enforcement executives and government officials who believe a four-year degree is not a necessity in preparing an individual for a law enforcement career. Because of the difficulty in finding a sufficient number of qualified candidates Reduction in applicant pool is significant 3. The chiefs in this studied strongly valued education, however education ov erall is under-valued in policing. Most chiefs say they value education, but stop short of making it a requirement. Education is under-valued in policing.The four-year degree requirement make recruiting tougher and it creates challenges for retaining personnel. † I still believe that the majority of police leaders are, as a law-enforcement culture, anti-education for police officers 4. Police leaders who have not attained a college degree may not find one necessary. Therefore, this presents itself as a great challenge, one of increasing overall education standards. Administrators may not believe a college degree is necessary, especially if they have not earned one

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Human Resource Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Human Resource Managment - Essay Example 9).4 It will stimulate the HR officer at GS Plumbing to don a professional perspective and will accord a formal recognition and motivation to the HR officer that is Alan Arrowsmith (Bragerstock, 2000, p. 524).5 HR audit will also lead to the identification of the problems marring GS Plumbing, resulting in an appropriate strategy aimed at resolving these problems (Hartsfield, 1990, p. 31).6 This endeavour will also lead to a systematic job analysis of all the employees at GS Plumbing and will help the company in designing appropriate performance management and appraisal systems (Hartsfield, 1990, p. 37).7 HR audit is also about basically recognizing the need for change and initiating and managing change (Stemple, 2006, p. 14).8 So far the top management at GS Plumbing is noncommittal about the issues hampering the smooth working of the organization, as is evident by the approach of Greg Smith, the owner of the company. So, an HR function audit by GS Plumbing will facilitate a smooth a doption and initiation of the change mindset on the part of the management and the employees. To assure the effectiveness of the proposed HR audit, it will be really helpful if the team drafted for conducting this audit involves a cross section of the staff working at varied levels at GS Plumbing (Moore, 2007, p. 53).9 This should include the owner, Greg Smith, the HR manager Alan Arrowsmith, the middle managers, particularly Gail White and at least one representative each of full-time and part-time plumbers. If possible and financially viable, the company can also hire an HR consultant to help and assist in this audit. Another big problem diluting the efficiency at GS Plumbing is the unplanned absence of employees. It is a fact that some of the employees may be resorting to... This paper approves that a formal and effective employee retention policy is pivotal for the long term success and sustenance of GS Plumbing. The success in retaining employees will add to customer satisfaction, will mitigate dissent amidst the staff, will allow for the achievement of a pool of experienced and skilled employees who could act as mentors or could be eventually absorbed in the management, and assure that the knowledge and experience that the employees have gained over time remains embedded within the company’s resource base. The management could come out with a lucrative bonus policy to prevent employees from working freelance after hours. The talent and contribution of the junior employees should be promptly recognized by extending promotions and salary raises. The top managers should spend more time interacting and mixing with the plumbers. Overall, care should be taken to make all the plumbers feel that they are respected and recognized. GS Plumbing being a sm all concern, it will get ample word of mouth publicity by initiating such policies. This essay makes a conclusion that at present, the managerial policies towards HR function at GS Plumbing are noncommittal and non formal. A great deal of this has to do with the lack of interest and initiative on the part of the top management. The dearth of employee retention, recruitment, compensation and review policies are taking a heavy toll on the long term sustenance of the company. Communication gap between the employees and the management is one other sore factor.

Brand Personality Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Brand Personality - Personal Statement Example I need the first two chapters to review in three days, with journal reference. It is because, I make sure we do the right direction and we can discuss for the further. This will convenience for cooperate. Then keep going to develop the other. Of course, I need what topic you are going to do immediately. Pls, do not use too old journal except the original theory. In the first choice, I mainly study in how does brand personality affecting the purchasing intention or focus on the buying intention of consumer behaviour and attitude. All this idea is come from the journal Franz- Rudolf Esch and Tobias Langner 2006, "Are Brand forever How brand knowledge and relationships affect current and future purchases." Traci H. Freling and Lukas P. Forbes 2005, " An examination of brand personality through methodological triangulation, Traci H. Freling and Lukas P. Forbes 2005, "An empirical analysis of the brand personality effect" and Ulrich R.Orth and Renata De Marchi 2007, "Understanding the relationships between functional, symbolic, and experiential brand beliefs, product experiential attributes, and product schema: Advertising - trial interactions revisited." Refer to the attachment. In addition, it needs to explain why I use the digital or electric product to test it. It should needs to do one more same product category to compare with it, or to te st with different category. For the structure of the dissertation, I need t... d 1.2 the research context, 1.3 Objectives and Research question, 1.4 Motivation for the research, 1.5 Significance of the research, 1.6 Structure of the dissertation. It would be around 1000 words. In this chapter, I need strongly to point out why I go to do this project and what is the significance of this project by using the present theory or have theoretical/conceptual background. The most important thing is point out the gap in this paper. This is an argument dissertation. For the Hypothesis setting, it should be use the basics of Multi regression to process only. e.g. co-efficiency analysis, simple regression model or more complex regression model. Refer to the attachment. There is only we can use in this stage. In the objective and research question, the clearly flow chart to represent the relationship is required. In the chapter two, the literature review, the format would be 2.1 Introduction. 2.22.2.1.2.2.22.2.32.3.2.42.4.1...2.4.22.4.3and so onand the last one must have the summary or conclusion. In addition, they MUST have relationship and should relate to the topicit need systematically to develop it. I need the clearly flow chart to represent the relationship. And Why THOSE LITERATURES are related Words requirement around 3000. Chapter 3 of the methodology. I need the very simple and easy to understand for measure of the personality of buyer intent. (Deductive research) Just a simple, clear and logic step by step to measure (very common method for this measurement will be ok; of course it SHOULD BE the right method for this topic as we all know many method for different topic of different measurement). It will require such like 3.1 introductions, 3.2. research design, 3.3 data collects tools - Questionnaire/ interview, 3.4 data analysis and

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Staff Motivation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Staff Motivation - Assignment Example For higher incomers, such as managers, job promotion and recognition are more important than money. In the contrast, low incomers are motivated be financial factors such as salary and bonus. Hertzberg (1968) two factors theory determines the motivation factors and hygiene factors do not motivate but create dissatisfaction if they are not present. In certain period of time, employees feel financially secured and better off financially; hygiene factor can be an effective motivator. Money loses its attractive as if motivational factors among managers. Managers may be not motivated by money, but by job promotion through achievement. They can be considered to be at the highest level of "motivational need". What's more, according to Hertzberg, working conditions is a hygiene factor, offering people unique incentives and morale boosters that contribute to a changing, exciting, and motivation work environment. Excellent work conditions would give them more job satisfaction and motivation. McClelland (1987) identified three major needs, which are achievement, power and affiliation. The findings from this study show that money is the most important motivator for workers at Jury's Inn, especially for low-income workers. Furthermore, the findings indicate that job promotion and recognition are important factors to motivate workers at Jury's Inn because job promotion and recognition are related tight to financial rewards. In addition, salaries and benefits, interpersonal relationships and offering incentives and morale boosters have been found as the main effective motivators. In order to support the aim, this working paper provided literature review, which including motivation theories, the critically analysis of motivation and reward system on workplace culture and work value. Moreover, for the sake of investigating the effective motivation; the relevant research methodology has been used. Studies of some of the best United States and Australian hotels (Gray, 1992) also suggest that the cement which binds skilled and motivated employees to their organization, who are thus more enthusiastic, more committed and potentially more productive than their competitors' employees, is clear and ongoing communication between hotel managers and their employees. The management of the Jury's Inn should also take the advantage of the communication process in order achieve the higher level of performance from the employees. A modern and a more permanent approach to motivation are through job enrichment (Wright, 2004). This involves putting meaning into jobs. In other words, it is putting Herzberg's two-factor theory into effect by building motivators into the job. These motivators include achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. This approach can also work for Jury's Inn staff. According to the approach the hotel should plan to change the job contents of the employees in order to motivate them as explained by Ross (1998) in his article A practical theory of motivation applied to hotels. A number of research studies (Rothbard, 2001; Niehoff , Moorman, Blakely & Fuller, 2001; Bloom, Yorges & Ruhl, 2000) have indicated that the job content is an important factor in motivating people. So the content of a routine or repetitive task must be restructured to provide motivation to the performer of that job.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Spotless Laundry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Spotless Laundry - Essay Example This implies that new customers can be created. These new customers would be people previously doing their own laundry or using services of conventional laundry shops. The capital employed would come from personal equity and a very small portion will consist of loans. This is because in the initial stages of operations, it’s almost impossible to get financing from financial intermediaries. Our mission is to provide high quality, fast and reliable laundry and pressing services that would give the customer the value of their time and money. We will strive for the complete satisfaction of our clients and work on building long-lasting relationships with them. The Laundry and Cleaning industry in Dubai, UAE is more prices focused and gives importance to quality and service than was some years back. The current laundry industry in UAE has the potential of about 0.5 billion USD per year1. New projects are coming up in the next two years, i.e. 2010 and 2011, with better technologically advanced equipment. The hotels in Dubai have mostly outsourced their laundry services to small companies specializing in this. Laundry industry costs have risen over the years due to high labor and utilities (water, fuel, power) costs. Hence, efficient machinery is crucial for laundry companies so they can reduce these recurring costs and charge low prices to customers. Based on the descriptors in Annexure 1- Industry Maturity Guide, the Laundry and Cleaning Industry can be analyzed as to which stage in the Industry Maturity Cycle it belongs to. As per our analysis, it falls in between the late growth and very early maturity stage (Annexure 2 –Industry Maturity Cycle). Strengths: The start-up firm’s fast, door-step service with a polite and well mannered ‘way’ of giving the service is what will be the differentiating point for Spotless Laundry. The vans of the

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Applied Immunology...subunit vaccines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Applied Immunology...subunit vaccines - Essay Example In Subunit Vaccines, as the name suggest, only the specific fragment of a microbe or an infectious agent (Thecochranelibrary.com, 2014). These fragments might be epitopes which are specific parts of an antigen that are easily recognizable to the antibodies or T cells. Subunit vaccines consist of about 1-20 or sometimes even more antigens, whereas it is an intense task to specify which antigen would prove the most efficient stimulator (Flower and Perrie, 2013). There are two ways of manufacturing these vaccines once the appropriate antigen has been identified: All vaccines go through careful evaluation to make sure that they are safe for consumption; however, there are some flaws in the structure of traditional vaccines that were illuminated with the creation of subunit vaccines. Usually, inactive pathogens are introduced into the immune system of a human being as a vaccine; being inactive means that the pathogen can no longer cause a disease because the viral fragment has been deactivated. The one problem with this procedure is the chance or reversion. Reversion is the process by which a microbe undergoes genetic changes, converting it into an even deadlier threat to the human body (Vaccine-safety-training.org, 2014). This risk if eradicated in the case of subunit vaccines because only the structural fragments of a pathogen are used, which means that there can be no genetic changes, hence no damage to the human body may occur (Stratton, Wilson, and McCormick, 2002). Another shortcoming of traditional live vaccines is that they cannot be used by certain groups of people, such as the elderly above 65 or even pregnant women. This is because even attenuated viruses can pose a threat to the health of these people, making it fatal for them to use these vaccines. Similar to the case before, subunit vaccines are introduced in the body as small fragments rather than a whole microbe so

Saturday, August 24, 2019

9-3b LOGISTIC CASE STUDY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

9-3b LOGISTIC - Case Study Example roduction, it is on demand, 100’s of request changes for every day, low carbon foot shaped impression and waste finally it has no base request amounts (Qg.com, 2015). In a mechanical setting, it can possibly change packaging design, stock management, and has the ability to react quickly to evolving the design, brand administration, and regulatory requirements. In 2008, various business visionaries from different foundations met up with a perspective to exploring this potential. They set up Mediaware Digital LTD that gave business provision of reconfiguring their inventory network and displaying the capacity to upgrade effectiveness and responsiveness through new and dynamic creative methodologies. This model of mediaware determined the packaging as an affair, which came out to be on demand as a procedure that clients got to a virtual system for packaging via an exceptional interface (Qg.com, 2015). Digital technology has been known to eliminate the surplus stock and overruns, reduces waste, enhances budget, reduces headcount, spares space and eliminates pre-processes like plate generation. The following are improvements to the supply chain; make for ordering zero inventory levels and model, the original factors for safety, product incapability, make sales to make exact approach towards the developed products, the product mix, the programs that foster sustainability, reduction of the freight together with storage costs (Pods.com, 2015). Mediaware has collaborated with Xerox equipment manufacturing to produce Xerox Gallop digital packaging with digital packaging with customized workflows. Its framework could acknowledge orders through a scope of computerized interfaces, print in numerous dialects, rapidly switch dialects and deliver small batches with significant purchaser information. This decreases least request quantities. Using its modified work process, Mediaware integrated with supply chain to convey what was required when required, and exact amount

Friday, August 23, 2019

Creative writing skills used by Silvia Plath in her work Essay

Creative writing skills used by Silvia Plath in her work - Essay Example From then, she exuded creativity that she blended with her writing skills, a rare gift she maximizes that gave forth the coveted write-ups that still flood the literary arena to date. However, her early and entire life is blanketed by sorrow and misery. A psychological problem eventually compels her to commit suicide. This essay will tackle some of the skills she managed to use as a writer in the process of doing her work. The bell- jar, one of Plath’s novel to a large extent is autobiographical. The tribulations that Plath goes through in life are chronologies reflected in this novel. By tactfully changing the identity of the characters and places in the novel, she skillfully takes care of the message she wanted to pass across as it unfolded. Her creativity and Witt comes out very clearly in the manner in which she uses Ester, the protagonist in the story to speak about herself indirectly (Karen 130). In her story, Ester becomes mentally ill after going through a thorny life. This compelled her to commit suicide when she sees no hope a head of her. .We are not surprised later, when Plath commits suicide because of the twin reasons that are similar to those that pushed Ester to cut short her life. We therefore conclude that, Plath wrote her life in the novel and she was able to lead her readers to knowing the reasons she finally took her life. In addition, the novel contains many people and events in Plaths’ real life all being a product of her fiction. ... She writes this poem as the only way of â€Å"vomiting† the bad past encounters her life had just gone through. She used a third party narration to distance herself to avoid being associated to the circumstance that had unfolded (Rebecca79). Plath portrays herself as strong-hearted and ready to bury the bygones of her life and move on. She uses poetry as the only mouthpiece to pour her personal issues without the slightest fear and in the process, alleviate her emotions. The tone she used in this poem is reminiscent of her depressive episodes and indeed, Plath takes her audience in her poem through her the painful wounds in life. The aggressive tone she used in the short stanzas of her the poem â€Å"Mystic† leaves the readers with feelings of physical pain as they read her poem â€Å"Mystic†, which is climaxed by the wise use of imagery, like hooks that are sharp and a stinging kiss makes the readers traumatized. Plaths’ selective use of rhetorical questi ons, â€Å"Where is remedy† is intentional, as she inwardly knows the answer is death (Edward 116). Plath also uses satire in her poem to mirror the rot in the society. Plath’s poem â€Å"The applicant,† which is a complete satire surrounding marriage and domestic- related issues. She carefully uses dramatic monologue and third person narration as a powerful tool in manipulating language and in this regard, critically exposes events bedeviling women in the society. Plath’s two poems â€Å"Ariel† and â€Å"Daddy† are autobiography in nature. She intentionally used details of her everyday life as a raw material for her art. She skillfully twisted real references and images within her footsteps in writing her poems. This created an avenue for her fans to

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Health and Social Care Essay Example for Free

Health and Social Care Essay We acknowledge with sincere thanks the many people who gave generously of their time to help us with this work. We particularly appreciate the expertise and advice o? ered by Arnon Bentovim, Richard Velleman, Lorna Templeton, Carolyn Davies and Sheena Prentice. The work has been funded by the Department for Education and we thank sta? in the department, particularly Jenny Gray who supported us throughout the work with her interest and valuable comments. The work was assisted by an advisory group whose membership was: Isabella Craig and Jenny Gray (Department for Education); Christine Humphrey (Department of Health) and Sian Rees (NICE); Arnon Bentovim (consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Tavistock Clinic); Marian Brandon (reader in social work, University of East Anglia); Carolyn Davies  (research advisor, Institute of Education, University of London); Jo Fox (social work consultant, Child-Centred Practice); David Jones (consultant child and family psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford); Sue McGaw (specialist in learning disabilities, Cornwall Partnership Trust); Sheena Prentice (specialist midwife in substance misuse, Nottingham City PCT); Wendy Rose (The Open University); Lorna Templeton (manager of the Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Research Programme, University of Bath); and Richard Velleman (University of Bath and director of development and research, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust). Introduction This second edition of Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity provides an update on the impact of parental problems, such as substance misuse, domestic violence, learning disability and mental illness, on children’s welfare. Research, and in particular the biennial overview reports of serious case reviews (Brandon et al 2008; 2009; 2010), have continued to emphasise the importance of understanding and acting on concerns about children’s safety and welfare when living in households where these types of parental problems are present. Almost three quarters of the children in both this and the 2003-05 study had been living with past or current domestic violence and or parental mental ill health and or substance misuse – often in combination. (Brandon et al 2010, p. 112) These concerns were very similar to those that prompted the ? rst edition of this book, which was commissioned following the emergence of these themes from the Department of Health’s programme of child protection research studies (Department of Health 1995a). These studies had demonstrated that a high level of parental mental illness, problem alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence were present in families of children who become involved in the child protection system. Research context The 2010 Government statistics for England demonstrate that, as in the 1990s, only a very small proportion of children referred to children’s social care become the subject of a child protection plan (Department for Education 2010b). However, the types of parental problems outlined above are not con? ned to families where a child is the subject of a child protection plan (Brandon et al. 2008, 2009, 2010; Rose and Barnes 2008). In many families children’s health and development are being a? ected by the di? culties their parents are experiencing. The ? ndings from research, however, suggest that services are not always forthcoming. Practically a quarter of referrals to children’s social care resulted in no action being taken (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004). Lord Laming’s progress report (2009) also expressed concerns that referrals to children’s services from other professionals did not always lead to an initial assessment and that ‘much more needs to be done to ensure that the services are as e? ective as possible at working together to achieve positive outcomes for children’ (Lord Laming 2009, p. 9, paragraph 1. 1). Practitioners’ fear of failing to identify a child in need of protection is also a factor driving up the numbers of referrals to children’s social care services which result in no provision of help. ‘This is creating a skewed system that is paying so much attention to identifying cases of abuse 2 Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity and neglect that it is draining time and resource away from families’ (Munro 2010, p. 6). Munro’s Interim Report (2011) draws attention once again to the highly traumatic experience for children and families who are drawn into the Child Protection system where maltreatment is not found, which leaves them with a fear of asking for help in the future. A ? nding which was identi? ed by earlier research on child protection (Cleaver and Freeman 1995). Evidence from the 1995 child protection research (Department of Health 1995a) indicated that when parents have problems of their own, these may adversely a? ect their capacity to respond to the needs of their children. For example, Cleaver and Freeman (1995) found in their study of suspected child abuse that in more than half of the cases, families were experiencing a number of problems including mental illness or learning disability, problem drinking and drug use, or domestic violence. A similar picture of the di? culties facing families who have been referred to children’s social care services emerges from more recent research (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004). It is estimated that there are 120,000 families experiencing multiple problems, including poor mental health, alcohol and drug misuse, and domestic violence. ‘Over a third of these families have children subject to child protection procedures’ (Munro 2011, p. 30, paragraph 2. 30). Children’s services have the task of identifying children who may need additional services in order to improve their well-being as relating to their: (a) physical and mental health and emotional well-being; (b) protection from harm and neglect; (c) education, training and recreation; (d) the contribution made by them to society; and (e) social and economic well-being. (Section 10(2) of the Children Act 2004) The Common Assessment Framework (Children’s Workforce Development Council 2010) and the Assessment Framework (Department of Health et al. 2000) enable frontline professionals working with children to gain an holistic picture of the child’s world and identify more easily the di? culties children and families may be experiencing. Although research suggests that social workers (Cleaver et al. 2007) and health professionals are equipped to recognise and respond to indications that a child is being, or is likely to be, abused or neglected, there is less evidence in relation to teachers and the police (Daniel et al. 2009). The identi? cation of children’s needs may have improved, but understanding how parental mental illness, learning disabilities, substance misuse and domestic violence a? ect children and families still requires more attention. For example, a small in-depth study found less than half (46%) of the managers in children’s social care, health and the police rated as ‘good’ their understanding of the impact on children of parental substance misuse, although this rose to 61% in relation to the impact of domestic violence (Cleaver et al. 2007). The need for more training on assessing the likelihood of harm to children of parental drug and alcohol misuse.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Cyclermate Report Group Essay Example for Free

Cyclermate Report Group Essay Many striking features of Cyclermate Company are shown clearly through its expertise workforce. It has skillful engineers gathered together to meet the volume on time. Besides, the high quality of the hand-made product is another crucial reason making its business expand. In addition, the word-of-mouth reputation is another major factors help this business succeeds. Furthermore, it takes advantages of the relatively low prices of commercial and industrial property. B. WEAKNESSES It is obvious that shambolic production process has heavily damaged the sales and profits gained. Unsuitable roles and duties division can be blamed for this problem. Some have to manage so many duties and tasks while others own so much spare time. Furthermore, the aging workforce endangers the productivity level. Another obstacle worsens the condition is the weak  training system. Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new worker in the field so it takes so much time to train him which also harms the production recently. Also, old machinery such as traditional spaying technique, painting and low-quality stock control technology needs updating as soon as possible if the business hopes to improve the production and sales in the coming time. Moreover, decline in sales show that marketing strategy of this company has problems. Apparently, it should be considered to be changed to online selling or online promotion immediately because globalization is widespread and making use of cyberspace is not a bad idea at all, in fact, many companies mostly succeed thanks to effective marketing campaign and successful advertising methods. Traditional adverts on national papers are no longer popular in our modern times. Besides, the managerial system also has matters. The managerial system inside the company such as company cultures, employee behavior, etc requires strict control, however, Lewis Llewellyn focus more on production issues and Dai on external relations. Obviously, the company is in serious shortage of labor and executive managers. Lastly, financial matters such as loss of profitability and rising overdraft are causing bad reputation and rapid fall in the share price. C. OPPORTUNITIES The product they selected was a â€Å"traditional† upright cycle, following a design typical of the 1940’s and 1950’s which created a strong niche market for this such product and would be given the upsurge in interest in cycling and the increasing consumer interest in â€Å"retro† styles. Another opportunity is that there would be a strong growth in their business because of the decrease in the number of people using cars. The opportunity created from the meeting between Amstrong and Owen helps him to have some expertise in new technologies that might be an interesting way to develop product. The upcoming changes in human resource, followed by Mr Jones who interjected that the quality problems could probably all be solved if the directors would allow the employment of more staffs in the factory and the plans for future directions, including development of the product range, and the introduction of new ways of working, new materials and possible outsourcin g of manufacture parts of the product manufacture point out the new development of their business. D. THREATS It can be seen that the biggest trouble Cyclermate is facing is their bad credits toward the bank. In 2010, the business is in trouble, the demand keeps going down despite the price reduction. This significant decrease in sales together with the increase in costs may last for the coming year. Therefore, Cyclermate’s overdraft is now becoming the major concern of the bank manager. So far, it is not easy for them to borrow money and this cause a lot of problem especially when they really need money to save their business. Besides, they also need to deal with their sales. Their customers demand high quality products and to meet this, they have to upgrade their producing system which will cost a lot. But, as the fact that they almost depend on their world-of-mouth reputation so it may be completely strange and challenging for them at first. 2. PEST analysis A. POLITICAL FACTORS Strict safety standard and consumer protection laws are Cyclermate’s priority. By 2010, their products continuously cause accidents. Customers keep complaining about the quality and faults in the products. One even got risk and intends to sue the company due to an accident purportedly caused by incorrectly assembled front brake. These mistakes made Cyclermate become a target of health and safety agencies. They have to improve the quality or else they can be stuck in authorized issues. On the other hand, they also need to achieve higher standard in manufacturing to meet requirements of the market, especially foreign markets. B. ECONOMIC FACTORS In a condition of high petrol prices recent years, many entrepreneurs find difficulties in producing and running their own business. Electricity is not an exception. Moreover, with the high cost in during manufacturing such as materials, facilities, the cost of products in the market does not avoid increasing. That is also the essential reason explaining the consumption in the world is in downward trend High costs also influence on delivery of this company, it prevents to expand the brand name and products to customers who live far away. Furthermore, it also interfere the import or export process because of tax, and ship costs. Finally, after wasting much money to purchase materials, or investing facilities and technology, spending on  marketing or delivery and paying salaries for their workers, the last profits of Cyclermate Ltd cannot be good and high. If the sales of this company are not able to improve, the worst case will happen is to go bankrupt, seriously. Cyclermate Ltd receives high competition from market because many rivals open more and more factory to produce bicycles in England, such as Carrera, Charter Lea. The competitiveness is higher and higher when there are new styles, color and reasonable price from competitors. The customers have lots of choices to select and purchase a bicycle which is stylish and suitable price. Another factor in economics that affects to the development of Cyclermate Ltd is labor. The unemployment rate is increasing, therefore, this is a good chance for this company to choose worker more easily, and employ them easily with affordable price. C. SOCIAL FACTORS High-speed innovation as well as the increasing demands of consumers requires Cyclermate to change and improve every day. Firstly, living standard of clients can affect to their choices. The higher income distribution they get, the higher demands they require. For example rich people want to ride an expansive and showy retro bicycle, but another client with medium wages just want to ride a nice quality bicycle. This point makes Cycler mate to diversify their price which is suitable for everyone in this communication. Besides price, design and color could be elements would make people to buy Cyclermate bicycle. The variation in design as well as color will attract children and teenager and give clients more options. Moreover, helpful accessories and functions are also important things that will affect to the survival of Cyclermate. A useful bicycle which is light and keep money in or save space in house will be the best choice for everyone. In addition, a friendly-environment Cyclerma te bicycle will be more popular and keep up with the friendly-environment trend in the world. D. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS In parallel of development of economics, high technology involves specifically the Internet. The Internet is used worldwide and it becomes a necessary tool for many customers to order online. It is extremely convenient and quick to book or order in the Internet instead of calling or going directly to offices. Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to  advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. They can post products, events, activities of company in to that page in order to customers following easily. Facebook is the possible choice of any entrepreneurs, because the customers can catch the new trend in this page. Moreover, the Internet is the cheapest method for advertising. More and more clients require high quality of products. Therefore motivation or investment money on modern manufacturing system is extremely important. It reflects not only the assura nce about quality but also confirm the level position of company. With high level and the most modern machinery, the company will surely create trust to customers. 3. Financial Ratios Analysis A. THE DIFFICULTIES: Liquidity and debt ratios: †¢ Current ratio = Current assets/Current liabilities =0.85 †¢ Quick ratio = (Current assets – Inventories) / Current liabilities = 0.76 †¢ Debt ratio = Total debt / Total assets = 0.38 By analyzing the financial ratios, it is easy to recognize that the quick ratio is less than one, which means the chance that the company can pay off its debt by using most liquid assets is quite low. Besides, it shows that the majority of inventories are stored and not effectively managed, that is why current ratio is at such high level, which also means low sales and low revenue gained. Moreover, the company relies on the bank loan as the main monetary support. B. SOLUTIONS: First of all, there is one obvious answer to the financial difficulty is that Cyclemate Ltd can lease or mortgage their freehold land costing $160,000 to gain more money and solve the situation right away. Therefore, it can prove their strength to survive in the future so the company gain more trust from the bank for future investment. Secondly, the company is in severe lack of cash (only $675 left) so of course any borrowing loan from the bank could easily turned down. The solution to this issue is that they should strictly resolve and for the trade debtors to repay the loans as soon as possible. The amount of $200,571 would help the financial situation better in the  coming time. Once their assets are raised through and their liquidity are proved to be valuable enough to afford the loan, it will be beneficial for them to borrow money from the banks. Additionally, cost in selling and distribution could be possible declined to save more money for the company such as cutting cost for postage and courier charges by substituting by cheaper service, as well as the travelling and hospitality. Those indirect costs contribute such high cost to the manufacturing of the cycles, restricting them would help boost the sales with cheaper price. Last but not least, the aging workforce is also another worry. If we can lay off some workers and hire cheaper labor for cleaning and other odd activities, it could save money for paying wages. In the meantime, experienced workers still remain the same with appropriate amount of salary; no necessary change should be applied. 4. Manufacturing procedure and improvements A. IMPROPER WORKFORCE IN MANUFACTURING: Unreasonable workforce division is one of the most serious problems of Cyclermate Ltd. Besides, lack of experienced employees and the aging workforce are worrying the production process and raising a big question for a more effective training system. First of all, the inappropriate division of duties obviously had made such a burden on many workers. In particular, Dai Armstrong has to deal with many tasks such as making all the frames, factory manager and business director at the same time. He himself also finds it hard to keep up the level of production (approximately 8 frames/day) because it requires the harsh physical demands. Moreover, assembly is a complex process, which takes 2 or 3 hours for one person. Janice Jones and Ffred Gregory often have to work overtime to catch up with the progress. As a result, their health and time issue could be heavily damaged. Also, packaging is not responsibility of certain worker, anyone who has spare time can do that. If nobody has to complete their own part, without any time to do this, the packaging won’t be accomplished on time. ↠ A good answer for this problem is that the company should require clear division to who is able to undertake and separate arrangement of duties. Specifically, assigning other qualified person on frame-making position so that Mr. Dai could concentrate and dedicate himself to external relations business only. Assuming that the financial situation of the company gets  better, the company should consider hiring more experienced labor for assemble line and frame-making because Mr Dai can no longer put up with the physical requirement of the task. With those simple tasks like packaging, it is acceptable for free hand employees to help out, but only when they finished all their tasks. Besides, the fact that workforce is getting older is also causing big troubles for the company because the manufacturing requires adaptation to changes and new demands every single day. Meanwhile, some workers are close to retired age. For example, Idris Pugh undertakes wheel manufacture; however, he is now in his seventies. Therefore, low efficiency always appears in the factory even Idris is a perfectionist, whose wheels are always absolutely true, and never causing any complaints ↠ In this case, the company can consider employ cheaper labor that are suggested by Maldwyn Jones: Chinese or Taiwanese labor to make the machine for them- much better quality but half the price and move Idris Pugh to higher position as a supervisor for the whole wheel-making process. Last but not least, the training system creates such obstacles for the assembly process. Typically, Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new and un-experienced person, the training for him is necessary, however, not easy at all. It takes so much time to instruct Fred in traditional way which is apparently the cause of slow production recently. ↠ In order to solve it, Fred needs to be on-the-job trained and separately from working hours. Perhaps letting Idris Pugh to be a trainer for Fred is the best measure to take because with such experience, he can taught Fred who is 18 years old and save time for others people focus on completing their own tasks. By doing this, assembly area could be worked with maximum speed and capacity without interruption. Production activity can maintain its working pace.