Reflection 1 – I will be talking about my first 50 hours of the internship. I am doing an internship with the Chesterfield County Police Department. On my first day of the internship I visited the information technology side of the department. This side was very cool as it involved computers and different technologies. I went to three different places in one day that all involved information technology. The first side I went to was where I was shown the different calls that came up and where the calls come as someone calls the emergency number. The platform that was also used along with this was lexisnexis. When the calls come in they are separated by the importance of the call and they call this priorities. It shows which calls require immediate attention and then it works its way down from there. I had mentioned about using the platform lexisnexis. Lexisnexis was used to look at the details of the call and what exactly happened. To look up a specific call you have to put the code number in the system and the system filters the call out and it shows the call that you searched up. It also lists the police officers notes and all the details. I then was taken to the second place where I was shown the same stuff but in this one I was shown the calls as well and to add on to the visit I was shown videos and pictures of things that were being looked for and wanted to catch someone through different technologies and was shown how each was used and in what scenario it was used for. The last place I went to was the records office where I was shown through excel and other technologies the reports of accidents through the dmv.

Reflection 2 – I will be talking about my second set of fifty hours for this reflection # 2. During my internship with the police department I visited the cyber department of the police department. The department has a forensics unit and then a cyber department. In the cyber department I was shown a variety of things. This specific department searches and cracks open through peoples phone information to see if the crime the person was accused of was actually committed comes true. They use dual monitors and use programs on the computer to do that. They use a program which allows them to download the entire phone and transfer all data and information to the computer. When the phone’s data and information is downloaded, then the information that is downloaded through the phone is visible and is able to be searched through. The information that can be seen through this program on the computer is messages which includes deleted messages so if someone deletes messages with someone it can be unencrypted and be able to be visible, phone calls which includes recent and past phone calls, activity on the phone like when you turn the phones display on and off, audio files, videos, locations your phone has been to and the times that the phone was there at the locations and so much more. This department has the ability to search through almost everything on the person’s phone and even some things you can not imagine can be looked through. It was a very interesting experience being at this department.

Reflection 3 – I will be talking about my third set of 50 hours with the police department internship. During my internship I visited the dispatch unit. At the dispatch unit I was introduced to a variety of technologies that they use. They use quad screens which is connected to one computer screen. Dispatch told me that they receive all types of calls. Examples of calls they receive is emergency calls and non emergency calls. Some examples of emergency calls they receive are accidents, medical emergencies, domestic violence calls, robberies, missing people, mutual aid calls, homicides and shots fired. Examples of non emergency calls they receive are legal advice, pets, out of state calls if they can’t call 911 and other jurisdictions calls. When they receive a call they have to put the information they receive on the computer into a catalog and log all information they get. When they put the information in from the call it sends the information to the unit that is needed at the time. They will also put in comments and ask a variety of questions to the caller to make sure things are okay or if immediate attention is needed. Everything they get they send it through so that the specific unit knows if it’s a priority 1 which means immediate assistance needed, they will go quick. Everytime they do put in comments it will send it straight to the Police, EMS or Fire whichever is needed at the time live and they will get it right away. I was also shown a list of call channels they have. They have 4 region channels plus 4 tac channels. Tac channels are a channel that units can go offline from the original channel and talk. They also have an animal services channel and a pursuit channel. They also have a VSU channel and a statewide emergency which means the flight channel if they have to get helicopters to an EMS call. If they have to get aviation to a Police call they have a channel for that too. They also showed me another screen with additional mapping incase they need to get directions or locations of things.