Monday, April 16th
I’m admittedly feeling a bit sluggish on this Monday as a result a vineyard tour around the great state of Virginia on Sunday. One of my classmates is a wine connoisseur (although I have renamed him the Sommelier) and he arranged a field-trip for the other wino’s..ahem..wine enthusiast’s in our session.
We had two van’s full of enthusiast’s and set out into the Virginia countryside accompanied by our FBI counselors who served as both our chaperones and our drivers. After the 5th winery, they moved into the category “saint” given what they had to endure with our tipsy group.
Here’s a shout out to SECTION 5!
I contributed to the economy of the state of Virginia as I purchased bottles of wine at each vineyard and shipped them home.
Here’s a snapshot of our entire group.
The Illinois Association of Chief’s of Police (IACP) were guest speakers in my graduate level class today, “Promoting the Law Enforcement” image. The topic was social media as it pertains to Law Enforcement. The IACP focused on Facebook and Twitter (to name the big ones) and police departments who have jumped on these venues to share information with the citizens of their community. I learned that most of agencies have adopted some form of social media but many are operating without a sound policy. APD is fortunate enough to have a successful Facebook following and a good first draft of policy.
What was troubling to me was the vast examples they gave us of police officers who have gotten themselves into trouble on their personal Facebook pages. I never cease to be surprised by the ignorance of some humans. If you are a cop, don’t post information on your page about those you arrest or make any disparaging comments about your community or your department.
In Labor Law, I learned that the right to a person’s 1st Amendment right to free speech does not afford a police officer to speak out as a “normal” citizen could. Well, let me reframe that. If you are a cop, you are entitled to free speech but you are not entitled to to keep your job if you say something stupid.
I finished a 5 page paper for my Media class over lunch so I feel less stressed about all I have to complete. Tonight I plan to finish my informative speech for my “Public Speaking” class that I will have to present on Friday.
The academics here are more difficult than I anticipated. I tried to pick classes where I needed the most education (which explains Labor Law) and I’m glad I did because there is a lot of learning taking place — which is why I need to balance it with wine.