Welcome to the career panel. So now I am putting on a 
different hat, I am going to be interviewing 
these fine people over here, but I am going to start by having 
them take turns just telling you who they are, and 
what they do, so that you get to know them. So they will briefly 
do that, and then we will go into asking them questions. So we will 
start with Omar. 
Hi everyone, welcome. As 
Vivian mentioned I am Omar Melcor, and I was actually 
a student here, so I sat in your spot  
many many years ago. I was here from 2006 to 2009, 
completed a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice, 
with a minor in Spanish, and after that I went on 
to pursue a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada
in Las Vegas, I was there for a couple of years. I graduated 
and then I came back to Oregon, and I thought about exploring 
different careers in law Enforcement, etc. 
But I ended up at applying for a PHD program at Portland State 
University, and somehow I was accepted! 
So I have been in that program for 
a little over four years, and the plan is to finish that 
this summer, I have been teaching here, for the Criminal Justice Department 
for approximately the same time, and I teach a lot of the introductory  
courses and also some upper division courses. 
My focus in terms of research and 
my area in the criminal justice program is juvenile justice, and specifically 
the intersection between immigration 
and crime. I live in Salem
I have a beautiful daughter, 
I am a first generation student, which means I am the first in my family 
to ever graduate college, and i am also a first generation immigrant. 
Which means that I was born somewhere else. 
My name is Deputy Sam Hatch, I am from the Polk County Sheriffs office, 
I graduated from Western in 2015 with a 
Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Social Science, 
After I graduated I started looking for a job 
and right around that time there was a lot of jobs but a lot of people looking 
for it, so I got a lot of my experience working at Spirit Mountain Casino working in security, 
a very unique position there, 
and in 2016 I got in at Polk County Sheriffs Office working the 
corrections division, and I have been doing that for almost three years now, 
its a very uniques setting and it has its challenges 
and it has its rewarding factors as well. Prior to coming to Western 
I grew up in St Helens Oregon, which is in Columbia county, very much like 
Polk County in size and demographic ways, 
after graduating from highschool the reason I 
chose Western and came here was to become a teacher, 
but during that time theres a lot, 
the recession there was very few jobs and I had a brother who went here
and graduated in 2011 I sat in a couple CJ classes
and I knew this really hooked me and this is a really rewarding 
career choice that you can get into and especially a very rewarding 
program you can get into, learning more than just what you can on the job, 
but learning a lot more of the theory and practice behind 
the criminal justice program. Hello, I am Sabrina Hunter, 
like Omar I am a first generation college graduate, 
I graduated from here quite a while ago in 2007, 
I just aged myself, but I grew up in a family
of police officers so I knew from a very young age, four years old to be exact, 
this is what I wanted to do. I did a lot of research on college
up and down the west coast and I picked western because of its 
small feel, the class sizes are comparable 
to like high school classes. If you are looking at a bigger university
there is 100's and 100's of people and you never see or talk to your professors, 
because they are to busy for you. Western
was a great fit for me, after I graduated 
from there I did a lot of volunteer work until I landed my
dream job at Salem Police Department. When I am not on crutches 
I normally work patrol, graveyard shift, 
right now I am assigned to our detective unit, so its kind of a blessing 
I am very involved within the agency as well, 
not only do I work patrol, I am a part of our domestic 
violence team. I am a cadet advisor so i 
say kids but younger people ages 14 - 21 who are interested in 
becoming police officers, there is a program they go through which 
trains them as well. Lets see, 
I am an ROTC instructor so new police officers I teach 
some Writing, police authority and such, I am also a 
Field Training Officer, so every new police officer that goes through
about a year of training gets assigned to an FTO, 
I am on our threat assesment team as well, so 
if you are in school and another student threatens to bring a gun to school 
or something of that nature I am assigned to follow up on that and look into that. 
Recruiting team i have a table upstairs
and hopefully I will see some of you guys as well, and I am also a part of 
our Marion County Human Trafficking Task force. 
So yeah, my name is Kevin Jones, and I work for the FBI in Salem. 
I have been with the FBI now for about 8 years,  I was 
a student here at Western Oregon University, I graduated in 2012. 
I was lucky enough to land an internship
in 2011 so 
if you do decide to come here one of the main things you are going to have to decide 
to do to get your degree in Criminal Justice is your practicum, which is internship. 
And I was looking around for all sorts of internships, I didn't know where I wanted 
to do it. During this process you are assigned a faculty 
advisor. Mine was Dr Murphy who is sitting over there with the glasses shaking 
his head. He helped me a lot through the whole process, and so I ended up 
finding out that the FBI had an internship process, I didn't know that 
and I was crazy enough one day to apply for it, 
never thought in my lifetime I would ever work for the FBI, 
Unlike Sabrina's family background, I grew up in a 
family of no police officers and an overall dislike 
for police officers, so it was kind of unique because I always thought 
the FBI was cool, so I decided to give it a go. I have a lot of 
family members looking at me, why would you go into the FBI?
What? I said yeah I think its cool
I don't know anything about it, at all, but I think its 
cool. So with his help I applied and he helped guide me through 
the whole process, and I got in.
So I started off as an intern. I worked up in Portland 
and did that for about a year. After that 
right before graduation they called me and said hey we are about to
post a new job, are you interested. 
I said hold on, will I get payed at this job? They said yeah, so I said I'll do it!
yeah whatever it is I don't care! So I graduated and literally 
at the football field here, I graduated here on a saturday, and 
that night I was on a flight back to Quantico, and I spent a week in Quantico 
and got some training there. I came back, and I worked
up in the Portland office with our confidential human 
sources and things like that. I worked in that program for about two years, 
and then I was lucky enough to get selected for a job based out of Salem, 
as a staff operations specialist. So basically 
does any one here watch Criminal Minds? Geez I didn't know if that was 
old school now or if that was something people still watched
I guess it still is. Who's the gal, the analyst who always 
like, who is it? Penelope
So I am like the guy version of Penelope Garcia. 
Except for she works a lot faster than I do. 
And she is able to solve a lot more crime than I can in a day, or at least a 30 minute episode. 
But thats what I do, I work in Salem and I 
am our only analyst in Salem, and I 
support an office of eight special agents, one supports  
my two supervisors, we have a Russian linguist who works out of 
our Salem office, we have a forensic accountant who works there, 
so we are our own little unit and 
that unit will respond to all crime 
that the FBI has an interest in in the five counties surrounding Salem. 
On the side, when I am not catching bad guys or at least 
trying to at a rate faster then Penelope Garcia, I also
teach classes here at Western. It was a great opportunity for me 
to gain some experience with education, and I also think it is a great opportunity 
for students to learn. And this University has done so much for me, 
and I really do think that with the due diligence and 
taking some time to ask some good questions and get to know people around here, 
you guys will benefit as much as I have. Thats it for me, 
So you realize that the faculty do more than just teach you, 
they also serve as people who guide you and know what its like 
to navigate this career. Now we will have 
Elizabeth speak. Hi!
I actually work in the juvenile 
system. My name is Elizabeth Quintana, I am presently 
working at Marion County Juvenile department. My role in the juvenile department 
is as a juvenile probation officer. So that means I 
within that line I graduated from Western in 
2010, and I was hired in the county one month in 
prior to graduation. So, I was already working
for the county in that point in time. It is nice to have a job prior to 
graduation, and it helps a lot when it says you are coming from this school.
One of the things you should note is that within our own 
agency we have a standing joke, but
when we ask people where they graduated from, you will find 85% 
of the people working right now at Marion County Juvenile Department 
come from Western Oregon, and so many of them have their 
degrees directly from here. My rule as a juvenile probation 
officer is I kind of consider myself a broker of services. 
It is not necessarily to get kids in trouble. I actually 
have quite a passion working with kids, I have always worked with them, 
age range from 10 to about well 
the biggest age is going to be 20, so 
it is a large range, and I have always enjoyed working with 
kids, so I made a decision for 
Criminal Justice actually by meer fluke. I came to this school actually 
to do education as well. I wanted to be a history teacher. 
But as I was here 
I ended up getting a relief job, because obviously 
we need employment right, as we still go to school. I started working for 
the juvenile detention facility in Marion County. 
And what I found was it was a set group of kids 
that needed so much support, and I do have a passion for that. 
And after working there for a few 
months, I made the decision that that was better, it was better
to change what I was going to do. So I ended up graduating here, 
and instead of teaching, I became a probation officer through the county.
 As far as what we do in a daily basis, 
your schedule is never the same, which is actually quite brilliant, 
you can come into the day and you think its going to be this, 
but no, because you are dealing with people 
in anything like this everything shifts to what you need, 
because in the end in criminal justice I think you are in the service 
of people, and my job is in the service of those kids 
that aren't responsible for it.
Thats kinda a little bit of what I do. Thank you very much. 
And for what its worth, I also graduated from Western Oregon
University before going on to get my 
phd and came back to teach here. So, 
you can see, from what the panelists have said so far, 
variety of opportunities that our program offers. 
And another thing that is coming up is how many 
people who work in these agencies around here are from
our program, and so that tells 
you a lot about the impact that this program 
has and if you are thinking about criminal justice at all, 
this is the place to be. Alright, so I am going to ask them 
another question, basically what else 
we would like to find out is how their degree in criminal justice 
from here, prepared them for what they do
so this time I will start with Elizabeth 
and then we will go that way. So if you can tell
us how your degree in Criminal Justice prepared you for the job you have
now. One of the things that I loved about the Criminal Justice program 
here is the practical knowledge, meaning its not just the 
cracking a book and getting a whole bunch of facts about things you are not going to use. 
One of the things that you take from here is everything you are going to hear
within your classes will be applicable to what you 
do. And whatever the field area you are gonna go into in the Criminal Justice field, 
they are gonna throw out some words, big words, and you are gonna think huh, 
well that really be something that I am using? It will!
And that is one of the things that I really did appreciate is that 
everything you are taking into these classes you will use 
when you go into your prospective fields. Its not anything 
at least in my experience nothing that I took from them 
was not applicable. Everything that I had was something that I could put 
forth and make it work. And so I think in that part 
of the field, is that you get practical knowledge that 
really is something that you are going to apply. Yeah, I 
absolutely agree with everything that Elizabeth  just said. 
Everything you are going to be educated on here is going to be something 
at some point or another in your law career you will be able to point it back
and say oh yeah, administrative subpoena I remember 
hearing about that. Or oh what is hot spot policing, and all of these things 
that are going to be something that when people are discussing it you are gonna say oh ok, 
I remember that. But its not only just the content that 
the degree in Criminal Justice at Western is going to provide you with, 
its also, and the biggest thing I think I benefitted from 
coming to this University was time management. 
You have your criminal justice classes but at any given time you are also going to be taking 
other classes as well, so being able to get yourself organized and 
yourself on point and saying ok I have to study for CJ 213
for like an hour or so tonight, and then tomorrow I have to study for 
that math one, and then thursday I have a midterm, and being able to 
organize your week, and put everything down in your planner, 
work your plan I think was one of the biggest things I think I learned
by coming here that I still use today. I still have a planner, I still have to organize
and even more now than then. So
I think it was a very good hand in hand between the 
knowledge you get through the CJ program, and the requirement you have to stay organized
and to make sure that you are knocking it out of the park in all of your classes. 
So. Thank you. 
I would say the most beneficial part of my
time at Western was the practicum. So my advisor 
at the time was Dr Ginger, he's over there. He 
Had me for four years, and based on my 
I guess personality or style he placed me on a practicum with 
the Oregon State Police. He thought that would best fit my 
style, so during that for an entire 
semester, or term, you are put in 
to the work force for 40 hrs. That is your 
school for that term. So I got to see first hand 
I saw my first fatal car crash, I went to the 
state penitentiary, I saw my first swat raid, I saw 
them blow the door off a house, it was super awesome. I got to see the crime
lab, and how drugs were tested. I got to run code, 
and for those of you who don't know what running code means its a police officer 
who flips their lights and sirens on and they drive super fast, so that was the first time I got to 
drive over 100. It was great. So a lot of that 
stuff you never see. I have applicants at our agency now 
that didn't go to college, they don't have any idea what police 
officers do, they may have seen a really cool episode of cops once and thought they 
would try it out. With the Practicum program, you get to see that 
40 hours a week over and over again what police officers do. 
In addition to the practicum program, you guys probably aren't oing to like this answer, 
but report writing is a big chunk of my day at work. 
So every single thing I do at work, traffic stops, shoplifts, 
gun shot wounds, people with mental health issues, 
out of control juveniles, we have to write very thorough reports on, every contact  
we have with everyone. And it might not seem like a big deal, 
but those reports are read by DHS, by the district 
attorneys office, by maybe Sam at the jail when I arrest them 
and take them to the jail. So how you can portray yourself on 
paper is huge, so those tedious Writing 111, 
Writing 121 classes might seem annoying while you are here, but they 
will become super helpful down the road. 
Before I move to Deputy 
Sam, I am going to just follow up on what 
was just said about writing
There is one faculty member who is not here today, 
with us, but she is responsible for 
Writing in our program, and because we have such a strong 
relationship with the agencies around here because 
and beyond actually because of 
the fact that we have a lot of alumni working in these areas, 
and actually running these agencies, 
what we do with our program, is we constantly improve 
on it, is to constantly make it so that its 
applicable currently to the needs of all of these 
agencies, and one of the things that we have heard from the agencies is 
the need for people to know how to write. 
In our program, unlike in many other criminal justice programs, 
you will find that we have a built in writing curriculum 
within our program that helps prepare you for 
your work and life after here. 
And in your work life. So we really really do 
equip you with those writing skills that you need in order to be 
successful in the criminal justice field. So now
lets go to Deputy 
What I found most beneficial from the CJ program was 
doing the practicum. It gives you kind of a reality check
there is only so much Cops can show in 30 minutes. My practicum 
I spent my time at Marion County and most of it was at Marion County 
Jail, there is a lot of people that come in and out of the 
facility, and there are a lot of people who come in who are 
addicted to drugs, alcohol problems, and a lot of mental health and behavioral 
health problems. So kind of getting that exposure and 
know what I'm getting myself into and saying yeah, I still want to do this. 
There is a little twist inside you, but it's the adrenaline rush. 
you know, for me I get a lot of people that come in 
that have a lot of mental health problems. You know the old approach 
in corrections was just drag them out 
and put them in a cell and be done with it, theres a lot of skill
that takes into place what I do and what I have learned coming from Western
a big part of it is being a critical thinker. Corrections deputy 
we are expected to be problem solvers. Sabrina could bring someone in
because that was her last resort. They could ask for all the information in the world
tell us the truth, they say no, ok I am going to take you to jail. 
Well they are in jail so if they don't want to cooperate with us whats the worse that could happen, your in jail. 
So its just kind of being a problem solver, and you get that from being 
taking classes, and just like from writing you spend maybe 
hours writing a ten page paper. Its not just a time 
its to make you really think what you are learning about, what you are 
trying to do. And then when you get to my position now its like wait now I realize 
why I was writing those papers. It wasn't just to waste my time it was to actually 
get me to think what I can do differently. Corrections has this challenge
o we limit peoples rights. When they come to our facility 
the rights of a phonecall does not exist, so don't ask for that. 
But there are other things that people have to have. 
Its basic human rights, but we have to have maintained
safety and security of a facility, however we have to keep that in mind 
with a lot of regulations, state federal laws, and a lot of 
different kinds of aspects of your 
how your jail standards 
is what we call them, and a lot of those times what we have to 
do, you know if you get into a position of management you will have to take time
to read all your policies, make sure they are all 
in line with the state federal laws. Make sure they are correct with the jail standards. 
This is stuff that you learn in college, thats why you 
come here, is to learn to do those things. For me, 
coming to Western and learning all this in criminal justice wasn't just to be another person in the system, 
it was to be a leader, someone who 
wants to make a difference in this field, that is what you are doing here when you come to this 
you want to make a difference, not just be a pawn in the whole 
system. 
My experience I think was 
a little bit different. My degree really was a 
necessary thing to go onto the next step, which was getting a masters
degree. In order to get a Masters Degree you had to have a Bachelor Degree. 
It was necessary. 
But aside from that I saw my time at Western as 
really, an opportunity to build myself. 
Not only as a writer, and as an 
academic, but also as a person. And I really agree with a lot of the things that 
you guys said in terms of becoming a critical thinker for instance, 
thinking about your position in the world, 
I think that happened for me while I was at Western 
So I think that I built myself as much academically 
as I did personally, and I think that is 
a really life changing 
experience in my case. 
Thank you. So this next question 
may not apply to you Omar, 
but, there are some agencies 
that also hire people who do not have a degree. 
And so my question to the panelist would be, how 
getting a degree, and a degree in Criminal Justice, 
set you apart from the people 
in your agency who do not have a degree. So we will start with
Deputy Hatch. 
For me, what sets me apart from having a degree verses other people, 
in my agency is its getting the experience 
and knowledge of what to expect when you step into those doors. 
You know I work with people who are veterans and have a lot of experience 
in combat zones and such, so they have a really good mentality 
of going into a very stressful situation with people 
and for me, I walk into a facility where it is a 
1 to 26 ratio. And thats not a lot of good odds. 
But we walk in with a lot of confidence in ourselves. 
I can say with graduating with a degree you feel a lot more confident with yourself 
because you took on a challenge that a lot of people will just wait their time until they can turn 
21 and then they will get on at an agency or try and do reserves
but there is a lot of self rewarding factors that come into 
getting a degree. And you do kind of feel a little snub like 
I challenged myself to make myself smarter, but that just it, you feel more 
confident with yourself and what you are going to do with your career. 
You might start somewhere you do not like, but its getting your foot through the door and working 
your way up. Thats the challenge and knowing you have the knowledge 
versus other people, that helps a lot when it comes down to sitting in front 
of a panel of people trying to tell them you are the best for a job. 
I can stand here in front of other people in the same position that I am 
but I can tell them I invested in myself because this is something I wanted to do 
and I invested and put my time and energy into it 
I am going to be here for you, I am going to do this job as well as I can
because I know and I am confident in myself that I can do it. Because I came here and challenged 
myself to do that job. Thank you. 
Officer Hunter, yes. So I 
cannot speak to any other agencies, but I know within my department 
a degree is required to promote. So if 
I ever have the urge to move up the ranks to Sergeant or Lieutenant 
Deputy Chief or Chief, there is a certain amount of college 
required for that. It is also very helpful when I go 
into job interviews within my agency for special units, 
I can pull from that practicum experience, or 
as I did not mention earlier, Vivian one of her courses many years ago 
she required us to volunteer as part of our class. 
And write a paper on that, so I volunteered at a Domestic Violence shelter. 
That experience and that volunteering was 
applicable within my agency as part of the DVT. 
And also it earns you a little more money on your paychecks. 
Thank you. Kevin. 
Ok so, to work for the FBI 
there are some entry level positions where, I will be honest, you do not have to have a degree
You can get in and you can start working 
with that being said though, the majority of people that work 
for hiring for our entry level positions, have bachelor degrees 
Some of them even have Masters Degrees. And that is just 
for the entry level positions for the FBI. Now if you did 
decide to try getting into the FBI without a bachelor degree at least 
there would be a ceiling for how far you can scoot up the ladder. 
How much money you can make in your job, just like it was said, if you have
aspirations to move up to more senior levels or if you have 
aspirations to try different jobs out that require 
more responsibility, and they often times will require more education. 
So my thought, and this is the same thought I had 
when I was applying to Western is that ok, well I am 17, 
if I could turn 21 and I could already have 
my bachelors degree and then I can go and apply to be a police officer, 
because what else am I going to be doing with those four years anyway. 
At the time I was working at Fredmeyers, and I was like I can have a bachelors degree at a reputable 
university, and be able to apply to a place like Salem PD, 
or Oregon State police and say that I 
worked at Fredmeyers for four years, or I could say 
that I completed a four year bachelors degree from Western Oregon University, 
with a major in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Spanish, while having 
still worked at Fredmeyers. That was my thought process and 
I would say if you are going to 
invest in something invest in yourself and do it now, because you will never 
regret moving forward and there will never be a time where you are going to say 
Many I really wish I would not have 
got my bachelors degree when I was 18. I really wish I had not started that. 
You are always going to than yourself for that, and the same goes for 
any advanced degree you decide to get. If you decide to go fo a Masters Degree you know
you are never going to sit back and say man I never should have gotten my Masters. 
They are all going to benefit you, and if its not immediate, it will in the long run. 
Thank you very much. 
Within our agency, the minimum is a four year degree. 
Thus far, at least as a juvenile probation officer it is a requirement. 
And one of the things that I have done in the 
course of the time that I have been there, I have actually done a lot of interview panels
 for new applicants that are coming in and have gotten to see how they 
work the process of how do they actually select 
candidates, and I can tell you it is as simple as this. 
They look at your application, if it says you have a four year degree it goes in
this pile. If it does not it goes in another pile. Unless it 
looks extremely good, where there is lots to 
it, and it is as simple as that. At least in our agency. 
They look at that. Once they determine you have a four year degree, 
so while you are here if you get opportunities 
for internships for anything that really is in 
service of others, you will find that all of that is applicable on your application. 
That is one of the things they also look at. But four year degrees 
minimum, and within our department we have a detention facility 
as well as an alternative program and a shelter program for 
all of those a minimum is a two year degree,
and that is coupled with lots and lots of experience 
behind it. So you have your two year degree, as well as 
the experience that makes the four year. 
Or else it is a minimum of a four year degree. 
Thank you very much. So from what we are gathering from the panel, 
I ask this question specifically because sometimes you get 
people advising you and telling you you do not need a degree to go 
into the criminal justice agencies, 
but while that may have been true years ago, 
it sounds like it is no longer true. Even to get you into 
the job that you want to be in, and 
even if you get there the people with degrees are going to be 
promoted above you, and so 
getting a degree in Criminal Justice is really 
highly advisable as we can hear from this 
panel right here. So I am going to 
take some time to let you ask questions 
of the panel, so what I will do 
is since we are getting close to the end of 
the time here, I will have you ask any questions you 
have and if we still have a little time after 
that I will let them in one or two words tell you 
what advice they will give you if you wanted to go 
on the career route as well. Unless that is one of 
the questions you ask. Any questions 
from the audience? 
Does military service help with getting a job in any agency 
like is it required to have a bachelors degree if 
you go into the military before you apply for any agencies? 
Who wants to take that? I can 
talk about Salem, so any military service 
you get what is called bonus points as an applicant. 
So if you came out of the marine Corps 
and Kevin who has no experience both apply and interview exactly 
the same, you are going to move ahead, versus Kevin.
You win. Everyone moves ahead. 
Except for Kevin. 
With the FBI its a similar thing. It is not a requirement that you have to have 
served in the military, and again it is also 
job specific, so if you want to become a special agent 
you have to have a bachelors degree, minimum, but its the same thing, 
you would get like double bonus points if you have served in the military, 
its the exact same thing. If you walked in, and Sabrina walked in, and she did not 
serve in the military, you would beat Sabrina. 
So it is a similar process. 
If you are looking into like investing 
yourself, if you want to do military first fantastic, 
I believe Western has an ROTC program that you can go into, or even another university 
get your education payed for, and if this is something you want to go into I know 
in the military there is military police stuff that you can get into
and then come to school, get that education, and by then you are looking at 
28 years old, there are a lot of people who do not start in law enforcement until their late 20s
so you are putting yourself ahead of the curve for everything else, you have 
experience working in the military, knowing how to work firearm safety
and all special tactics, and then you have the education on that, so 
you are really benefitting yourself if it is a route you want to choose, 
and again its how you want to invest in yourself and how you want to 
put out for whatever agency you are working for, what you want 
to end up at the end of your career what you said you did, 
and how you really improved the communities that you worked in. 
and to add to that we do see a lot of veterans 
in our program who choose to come into criminal 
justice after their service. The University actually 
has a Veterans office that provides 
excellent support to Veterans in addition to 
whatever support that is in existence on campus. 
So, it makes for a very welcoming place, 
for veterans. What inspired you to stay in Oregon instead 
of moving elsewhere after you finished college?
I can answer that on my behave. 
Its home, Oregon is definitely home. I mean, we might not always like 
the weather, but it felt comfortable to me, 
and in college one of the things I noted for myself was, you need 
support, there are going to be rough days, and there are going to be 
great days, and there are going to be intermediate days, and when I made the decision 
to stay in Oregon it was because I had friends 
and family that could potentially be that support when I needed them to. 
And then when I looked at this campus, it felt like home. It felt like 
family, and as I continue to be here 
it was the solidifying factor for me, that 
it felt like it was a place where I could 
feel secure, and not feel lost, so that was one of the 
reasons. What are supposedly the benefits 
of getting a Masters over a bachelors 
obviously there is more experience and more dedication involved 
and it is going to look better no matter what but is it truly worth it?
Yes, it is usually very beneficial, even if you do not see that benefit right away
In terms a promotion for instance as some of you mentioned
having a masters degree is going to give you that edge. 
But you know that is something you will explore, 
on a one on one basis with your faculty advisor in the program 
It is especially important if you want to go into 
like my career for example, as a professor 
you have to have a masters to teach at a graduate level 
courses and you have to have a PHD to teach Bachelors or Undergrad 
but I think it was 
Kevin or maybe it was you that mentioned that 
you never really regret getting more education. I think that is especially 
applicable in this case, but that is a decision that you
do not necessarily have to make alone. I remember for example 
having a conversation about going to a masters
program with Vivian when I was about to graduate 
from here, and I had that conversation with her and we talked about 
the benefits, the pros and the cons and I decided that it was worth it to me, 
the faculty here actually helped me to apply for the program, 
they supported me through that process, and I was able to get into a Masters Program 
with an assistanship, which means that 
your tuition is payed for, you work for the department in either teaching or research, 
and you also get a stipend with that, 
and as we mentioned, we actually have a Masters program here, 
that has been growing, and we have a couple of assistanships 
as well. Graduate assistanships. So since all 
of you guys have different perspectives, this can be a question for all of you, 
but when you are out and about, and you are going to see stuff 
with your job, because there is brutal stuff out there, how do you handle that. 
And how do you really deal with that after you see that because not everything 
is pretty out there. 
Thats a really good question, pick me pick me. 
So I would say keep 
a list of hobbies outside of work and non police 
friends. So I like when I can walk, I like to go running, 
I like gardening, kind of lame, 
riding my bike, sewing, 
kind of old lady things, but it is very very important to not 
get sucked into the job. Because police officers are technically 
mentally we are always on duty. Even here I am 
scanning for all my exits and thinking about all kinds of 
hypothetical active shooter scenarios while they are talking, 
so it is very important that you 
engage in I guess relaxing things outside of work, 
therapeutic stuff. But, a lot of 
police officers turn to like alcohol or gambling 
and suicide, I am sure you guys have 
watched the news lately that is kind of rising lately with suicide 
in this profession. And it used to be that we did not talk about it, 
Cops are supposed to be tough we do not cry we do not ask for help. 
We are shying away from that now. Our agency has a trauma team, 
we have officers that are very comfidential,  
if I am having a problem at home, like my husband and I are fighting 
or I am filing for bankruptcy or I just went on a call 
where I had to pick up a dead baby or something like that which really bothers me, 
I can ask for help and i am not going to get any stigma from that. 
Is there a maximum age for joining the FBI? 
Is there a maximum age? Again that 
is job specific. So if you want to become an 
analyst or a sport tech or a variety of other jobs no there is no 
maximum age. If you are interested in becoming a special agent with the FBI, 
you have to become a special agent by your 37th 
birthday. And the reason for that is there is a maximum retirement 
age of 57 if you are a special agent in the FBI, and they 
want to make sure they can give you a 20 year pension. 
Do you guys do ride alongs but for forensic 
lab investigators? Like can you be in a lab 
with people who are working on a case? 
Are you asking for the FBI because I do not know who you are where 
are you. Can you stand up when you guys talk so we can put a face 
to the name a little bit. Ok so were you asking about the 
FBI or Salem PD or in General. 
In general, like can you be an intern 
Can I tackle that? 
One of the biggest benefits honestly and I know that I am a little biased because 
I was a student here and also because I am a part of the practicum program 
here in the department but one of the biggest benefits of being here 
as a student of Western Oregon and being a Criminal Justice 
is that we have a network that has been 
built with agencies all over Oregon and also all over 
outside of Oregon and that is something that came before I was here, 
people were mentioning earlier the fact that in some agencies 
we have 85% of Western Graduates working 
there. That is a huge benefit for you! That means that if you come to Western 
and if you are a CJ major and you talk to us we can put you in touch 
with really any profession within the Criminal Justice system. 
So if that is something you wanted to do for instance, all you have to do 
is talk to us and we will put you in touch with the right people. 
That is absolutely doable, and we encourage you 
to not wait until you are a senior or until you get to the practicum stage
you can do that any time you are a student. You can do a shadow interview, 
you can do ride alongs, we can put you in email communications 
with some of those individuals, and that is a huge benefit to 
you as a student and that is something that is unique to us as a University and program. 
How has becoming a police officer affected your family life? 
Well, 
I am married to another officer, which is super beneficial
not traditional, but 
my youngest child is eleven, 
I was actually pregnant with her my senior year here, 
so she does not know anything different. It is very normal for her to 
celebrate Christmas on December 27th, or 
for mom to show up at her softball game in my uniform. 
She does not know any different. She thinks it is super cool and she wants to be 
a cop to someday. So I go to her school and 
I talk to her school as well about police stuff, but you learn to adjust 
I would say if you do not have a very strong 
support system you are likely to fail. A lot of 
police families typically, if the 
husband is the police officer and the wife is home, 
it is very stressful to know her husband is out all night 
and she does not hear from him or he comes home late. It does take 
a toll on your family, but if you do not have 100% support 
from them, it is going to be really rough. My family, I mean it is all they ever 
known so. Is there a certain GPA 
you guys require for us to take classes? 
I think I will answer that. 
Basically the way I explain this to students who 
tend to have this kind of question is we tend to build your GPA 
with you. So when you come into our program 
what we do is assign you a faculty 
advisor, so you will be able to build a relationship with 
faculty member in the department who will watch you 
and encourage you and motivate you and point you 
to resources when you need them. We actually are very proactive,  
so that for instance on my advisee list  
we make sure we see you at least once a term, 
and so when you come into see me I am going to take a look
at your GPA from the start, and then I am going to say 
what happened with this class here, and 
if it did not go well, sometimes it is not because 
you are not a hard worker, sometimes it is simply because life happens. 
You are going through some difficulty, It could be 
unrelated to your education, it could be a family 
situation, and so we are there for you, we listen 
to you and we find ways to correct that GPA
before you get to far. SO my answer 
is, yes, if you have a GPA that falls behind 
maybe a 2.0 at somepoint the 
university the university is going to send you a warning letter but then 
even then there are resources on campus to help 
you. The goal here is we want you once you 
come in here to succeed. We are not here to exclude you, 
we are here to make sure that if you are struggling in any way 
we have the resources to bring and help you succeed. 
So it is good to keep your GPA up, 
but then we help you to do that. 
So like someone who was in the juvenile system, 
when they were younger, how would that affect them 
going into a career for criminal justice. 
I see, heres the nice thing about it. 
The juvenile system, in the past I do not know how it was, I can only tell you
 where it is moving from right now in the future, 
we do not necessarily see kids as criminals. At least I have never seen any clients 
that I served as criminals, rather it is kids 
who have made mistakes. My job as part of that 
is to help kids to correct those mistakes to the best of my abilities. 
And I also serve in what is called 
a start corp program, which is an intense drug corp program 
and what it does for kids in the long term is it helps 
expunge their record at a very fast pace, meaning 
if they can continue throughout the program and complete it, it expunges 
the record the moment that they enter the program. Also for juveniles 
that do not necessarily fit the criteria for the program, it is 
not a lost cause. It is just  
there is processes that you would have to go through in order to help
clean up the record as it is. But the important thing is, 
that as long as a juvenile, you took 
the steps necessary to close up 
your case successfully, then as an adult 
it should not impede you from moving forward. Thank you very much for your attention 
applause
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