I am an intern with the Criminal Investigations Division. Commander Lourence is the CID Commander. He oversees general investigations, victim services, robbery and homicide, special victims, and sex offender compliance. I do a lot of different things every day in my internship. Commander Lourence wanted to give me a diverse experience to help me understand the whole department. I get to sit in on the department/staff meetings. One time I got to present two slides at a crime strategy meeting in front of all the division leaders. I got to go on ride-alongs where I experienced various calls and traffic stops. I have sat in on interviews, worked on solving investigations, photographed crime scenes, gone to active crime scenes, swabbed people for DNA, learned how to conduct NIBIN, watched SWAT do field training, role-played as a crazy person, and watched victim services give an emergency protective order in the jail. My role is to learn about the different parts of the police department and get a lot of experience for my future career in law enforcement. I have also got to experience a lot of training. Recently I just went through a day of active shooter training with building clearances and entries along with tactical medical training.

The internship is so much fun, and I have learned a lot. I have gained a lot of knowledge and skills from my internship. I have learned how detectives think, how criminals tend to act, what signs to look for in cases, and how to tell if someone is lying. I have learned how criminal procedures work. I honestly feel like this is the most learning and experience I have gained at one time. It really sets me up to do great in my future career in law enforcement. Commander Lourence has done a great job of giving me so much hands-on experience. This is exactly how I learn so I have been able to comprehend everything. I am more confident in my abilities because I was in a workplace where I could fail and learn from my failures. I was able to learn things by having hands-on experience so I have developed some muscle memory and I have memories of the events to guide me in my future

The internship prepared me to become a competitive candidate for vacant positions because I was able to see the department’s values. I know what their goals are and the type of people they are looking for. I know their rules and policies. This helps me make sure I stay on track with what I am doing and if I am lacking a certain skill/trait I will train to be better in that area. My favorite thing about the experience is all the hands-on learning I got to have.