Leanne Schmidt
SOC 433
1/18/07
Journal #1
My first day at my internship was spent driving around Madison County touring all of the satellite probation offices, as well as driving through some of its high crime areas. The probation offices were very much alike; they were all set up to where each officer was very secluded in his or her own office. This may have had something to do with the type of people that they deal with in their office. They may not want any type of interaction between the clients. One thing that I observed was that they quality of the offices seemed to deteriorate as we moved from town to town.
We started in Edwardsville, which had a very nice, clean and friendly office. We then moved on to the East Alton office which looked like a bunch of cardboard walls had been put up in the middle of a large room to separate the offices. I felt like a mouse in a science experiment maze! The last office we went to was the Madison office and there just wasn’t much to it. It did not smell very good and some of the offices were in formal jail cells. My supervisor, Mike, informed me that guy had opened a drug running house in the house right across the parking lot from the probation office two different times. Madison was definitely the worst place that we visited that day.
What I observed about the atmosphere of these offices is that they were very laid back. This also may have had to do with the fact that it was Friday and not much was going on. Mike was very disappointed that I did not get to see any “action” and a lot of the people that he wanted me to meet were out of the office. I did get to meet a lot of people though, and just like the offices the people seemed to change a little too. The chief in Alton seemed like a greasy haired hustler, and then when he started talking to Mike about cheap computers and other “gadgets” that he had for sale it kind of confirmed my assumption. The officers at the other offices just didn’t seem as professional to me, however, that could just be me associating their work skill with the looks of their office, which I should not be doing.
Everywhere we went Mike would introduce me to the people that were working in the office and then he would strike up a conversation with them about something, fish tanks, plans for the weekend, whatever. Anyways, he would pretty much forget that I was standing there and just talk with his friends for five or ten minutes and then we would move on. I understood though, because Friday was a very casual day around the office and none of the officers had any clients coming in.
It was really interesting when he drove me around through the projects in Alton, Granite and Madison to show me where they find most of their “clients”. It was very sad and kind of disturbing to see how these people actually live. The most shocking thing though was to see their reaction to us. We were driving around in an unmarked looking police car that said “probation” on the side. As soon as the people in these neighborhoods saw us they would give us the nastiest looks and glares I have ever seen. It made me realize what kind of stress would come along with this job when you are being hated by so many people. Unfortunately, because of the bad weather I did not get the full effect of all the people sitting out on their front porches and doing deals right in front of people.
One of our last stops was the juvenile detention center. That was a very interesting experience and it made me very glad that I never got in any trouble as a kid. Like everywhere else, Friday was a very laid back there and they all just watching a movie while I got my tour. Things at the detention center (the atmosphere) were also laid back, but you could tell there was definitely that heightened level of security, every door in the building was locked and only certain people had the keys. Even though it is a “jail” it had a feeling of hominess, the coordinator even said that they try and treat it more as a group home. There was artwork hanging all over the walls that the kids had done to help give the place a more cheery attitude. They have an art therapist on staff to help the kids express their emotions through their artwork. In the basement of the detention center there is a huge mural that was created by past inmates. It was so beautiful, it was put there so they could express their feelings and inspire and encourage the kids that would be there in the future. There were many pictures that referred to God, family and freedom. The coordinator made the comment that, it reminds you that they are still human.
Our last stop was the criminal courts building, where we went to go talk to the drug court officers. It was probably the most welcoming atmosphere that we had been to all day. Their office was one large room with all of their desks facing each other. I liked this setup; although they did not get much privacy they still had the interaction with their co-workers. I think you would learn more about your position and it would make for a friendlier more enjoyable workplace. While I was there I got a very in depth overview of how the drug court process works and that was very interesting.
My supervisor, Mike Malone, is a cognitive behavior specialist. He runs cognitive skills groups (COG) in all of the towns that we visited. He is a very laid back person and enjoyable to work with. One thing I did notice was how he thinks about his position. I have learned a lot about police corruption in many of my classes and this includes police accepting gratuities and gifts. We had to eat lunch out when we were visiting all of these offices, and one of the first things he said was, “I should have worn my neck badge because I usually get free food when they see my badge.” I just found it very interesting from a first hand experience to be with an officer that does take advantage of accepting free gifts.