In an effort to increase applied learning technologies into our academic programs, the Department has developed several lab components that we are planning to implement into a number of our course offerings.

Among them, is Crime Zone/Crash Zone, a CAD program which will allow students to sketch crime scenes and partake in motor vehicle accident scene reconstruction.  Our “Resistance to the Use of Force Simulator” labs will give students the opportunity to actually participate in, and then critique scenarios where the police used forced of one kind or another, including less than lethal force.  We have already incorporated the Mock Criminal Court lab into our Criminal Law Course (CRJ 211). In this lab, students are required to apply learned court room procedures that have been taught through several in class lectures and readings. These sessions have been filmed and a link can be accessed to view the performance of our students. (http://streaming.sunyorange.edu/watch/q6GJr32X)

These innovations are consistent with the College’s strategic plan for 2015-20, specifically awareness and access, student support, collaboration and communication. The Strategic Plan goals will be at the fore, as we introduce and advertise the Department’s assortment of practical experiential learning labs to be introduced over the next 5 years. We have already conducted several sessions utilizing the Crime Zone software and lap tops with our Middletown Criminalistics course and we will be expanding these sessions in the future. We will need more lap tops and software in the future. 

In order to enhance the marketability of these program enhancements (mock court, use of force simulator, crime zone/crash zone) and to create a more realistic classroom environment for these labs, we require the following support.

• Lab Coordinator- In order for these efforts to be managed properly, we would need a part-time lab coordinator to develop lesson plans for our labs and to assist with instructor requests for lab sessions.  The lab coordinator would also oversee the safe usage and maintenance of the equipment and act as the liaison to our local law enforcement partners when they seek to utilize this equipment.  The lab coordinator should be a full time faculty member who is trained and skilled in the utilization of the aforementioned technologies.  A three credit load abatement per semester should be just compensation this request was submitted in last year’s budget and no action was taken so we will resubmit for the 2018-19. The result is the under utilization of this expensive equipment.
• Additional Hardware/Software – In order to efficiently incorporate these new additions to our offerings, the Department would need additional lap top computers (to be utilized on both Newburgh and Middletown campuses) that will maximize our student’s access to the Crime Zone and Crime Scene software (that was purchased last year with a CTEA Grant). This year’s CTEA grant will enable us to purchase more licenses and also provide training for our instructors on the Crime Zone/Crash Zone software. In all likelihood, we will need more software licenses and lap tops and we will be seeking funding to purchase them in this budget cycle. This also was submitted in last years budget request and is resubmitted for this year.
• The benefits of these programs are many and worth the investment. Two priorities and objectives of the SUNY Orange Strategic Plan 2015-20 will be met by these initiatives. By creating these labs we will increase the applied learning opportunities for our students and by conducting them in state of the art facilities (BT 117) we will create a marketing avenue that will be visually pleasing to our potential patrons. Such technology could be displayed and demonstrated at our Open Houses as well as other college/community gatherings. We recently demonstrated the Resistance to Force Simulator for the Orange County Executive and the Orange County Foundation and we received very positive feedback from these presentations and several students who have heard about it via social media have inquired about the simulator.
•  Biotech 117 has been dedicated for the Resistance to the use of force simulator and we have conducted a lab session with the equipment.  I have included the costs for the maintenance of the system and improvements in the 2018-19 Criminal Justice Budget. It is conceivable that some of the costs could be funded through a CTEA Grant and/or a grant from the Orange County Foundation.
• In addition to our simulator and crime scene initiatives, we are also working with the English Department and the Library towards improving the writing skills of our Criminal Justice students. Writing is a skill that is important in all areas of the criminal justice system (case investigation, legal briefs, probation reports etc.) Recently local police chiefs, who are members of our Advisory Board, have spoken to me about the poor writing ability of many of their police officer candidates. I believe their comments underscore the importance of increasing our efforts to improve our students writing abilities, as many of them will be prominent in the local law enforcement hiring pool. Anne Sandor (English Writing Lab) and Andrew Heinz (Library) have been working with some of the CRJ 101 students and we have had some promising results over the last year with several students turning in papers that may be entered into the SOARS Conference. Anne Sandor has also been working with Ron Jurain on several critical thinking writing labs that are also yielding positive feedback.  In order to continue this initiative we may need additional funding (English Department/Library) should we extend the program to all CRJ 101 classes.
• We are currently working with the Movement Science Department to develop a PHYS Ed class that will focus on the physical requirements of many law enforcement agencies.  We are currently exploring the nuances of both the entry level physical fitness test and the physical fitness requirements for police academy graduation. A planned trip to the Orange County Police Academy with the Chairs from Criminal Justice and Movement Science was originally scheduled to take place in December 2016 but has been rescheduled for January or February 2018 as there is a very large class of recruits presently in training. We will be arranging the visit and discussion in late January or early February.
• We are also assessing the potential of a Security Management Degree that will prepare students to enter into this growing field. We will be discussing the certification needs with our local security employers and partners. This project was delayed and will be revisited in the fall 2018 semester.
• We are currently working with Alfred University on the establishment of a 4 year Criminal Justice degree on the Newburgh Campus. We originally targeted the Fall or Spring 2017 semester for implementation but the paper work was not finalized until recently thereby negatively impacting these plans. It is likely that we are looking toward the fall 2018 semester for implementation. We recently facilitated a recruitment event on the Middletown and Newburgh Campus for Alfred personnel and we are hopeful that this program can be implemented in the fall 2018 semester.
• We are in the planning stages of our External Review that will take place in the Spring of 2018. We will be hosting Criminal Justice professionals who will review all aspects of our program and will provide us with a map for improvement as we move toward the future.