Criminal justice professionals bring their expertise to the Hill
*This article was originally published by the Mount Mercy Times on Oct. 10, 2019 by Veronica Jons, editor-in-chief.
On Oct. 2 Mount Mercy University had panelists from the Iowa Criminal Justice System visit for a forum to give insights on students’ potential future could be after college.
The forum had a variety of career departments in the Criminal Justice System in attendance.
A former Mount Mercy University student, Dawn Schott, attended to discuss her role as the Director of the Juvenile Detention Center in Linn County.
Also attending were those from the Linn County Sheriff’s department, the 6th judicial system, a probation officer, the Captain of the Cedar Rapids Police Department, a state patrol trooper, and a deputy with the Marshall services.
There was over 200 years of combined experience sitting in Flaherty Hall, eager to share their experiences with students.
Sophomore Emma Lantz, a criminal justice and psychology major said, “With so much experience in one room, it led to interesting conversations of what they do day-to-day. I learned a lot from this forum.”
The panel went over what their daily duties are and what the workplace environment is like. Due to there always being a need for more criminal justice staff, they were intent on informing the students about all the opportunities in their departments.
Society’s view on the police have tainted the criminal justice departments, causing them to be understaffed and eager for more people to join. Two main groups in society they are always looking for to hire are women and those with racial diversity.
Students then received information on job shadow and internship opportunities and finished the forum with any questions students may have.
Internships are not required to graduate with a degree in criminal justice at Mount Mercy, however, it can be extremely helpful to know what department one may want to go into after college.
Criminal justice professors and students hope that this learning experience can happen twice a year with rotating different departments each semester.