How GPC is working to prevent violence:

GPC prepares students for law enforcement

by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07

A growing number of our men and women in uniform are beginning their careers in law enforcement at GPC. The criminal justice program, and its five major-specific classes, are helping to prepare students for the next level in their training. The number of graduating criminal justice majors doubled since 2006. Currently, ten to twelve students of this program are in various stages of applying for law enforcement positions in the Greater Atlanta area.

"It puts us at quite a big advantage if someone comes to us with a general basic knowledge of the system because they had been exposed to it… [the major] makes them a better recruit in the police academy," said Major Jim Helms, an adjunct professor at GPC and the Director of the DeKalb Police Academy.

The program, which is also touted as an excellent jump-start for those interested in continuing on to law school, centers on base knowledge of law enforcement, court administration and corrections. These classes, which will be online in the Fall, include Introduction to Criminal Justice, American Police Systems, Corrections, Criminology, and the Judicial system.

"Introduction to Criminal Justice should be taken by every GPC student," says instructor John Siler, a former police department intelligence analyst for over 30 years. It is Siler's hope that the course will soon be an elective and not restricted to the criminal justice major.

"Young people don't realize that in their life, they will be exposed to the criminal justice system," said Helms. Both men described the situations students will undoubtedly find themselves in-involved in a traffic accident, subpoenaed, experience a theft, called to be a witness, a juror, or be a victim of a crime. "This is important information," Siler stressed. "Real-life stuff you're going to use."

Richard James uses this information every day. James, 27, works full-time as a corrections officer at Clayton County prison, and is in the process of interviewing with the DeKalb police department. James, who recently bought a home in Lithonia, said, "What better way to help out your neighborhood than to work in the place you live?... Being a police officer, you can actually make a difference in the community," he said. Because of his classes, which he began this time last year, James knows that corrections have come along way. "You learn stuff at training, but the college is giving you background... I'm understanding it better because of college. I like Georgia Perimeter. I will graduate from here-it's a great school."

Chris Green, 21, recently graduated from GPC, and is transferring to a four year institution. "It has been something I have always wanted to do, just as the military," he says of his future plans. "Protecting others and paying back my country and community for the freedoms that I, and others, take for granted."

Green will enlist after completing his education, and have a career in law enforcement following his service. "[The curriculum] has helped me understand the laws and regulations that govern our society as well as how to use them, and what effect they have on the members of society."

John Bender, 21, who will graduate from GPC in the Fall and has completed all his CJ coursework, was recently accepted by the Gwinnett County police academy. When we spoke with Bender, he was awaiting word and finished with the preliminary screening in the application process. It is a process which includes an interview, physical exam, completion of an online application, a thorough background check and both a polygraph test and psychological evaluation.

Bender feels that the criminology class in particular helped him learn a lot about criminal behavior and the criminal mind. The curriculum, he believes, "helped me with the interview-just knowing a little bit about what you're getting into."

Chris Delon is into it right now. Delon, 25, was a Criminal Justice major and took courses with Helms when he was at GPC. Delon is now in the DeKalb police academy and will graduate August 17.

"Everything that I learned at the classes at GPC gave me a better knowledge of what I'd be doing…. The classes I took-whether it was American Police systems or the intro to criminal justice-it all helps. It all ties in to help figure out what I was in for."

In addition to the information offered, students indicated that their instructors played a major role in their preparation for the future.

"Major Helms has about 32 years with DeKalb Police," Delon says. "He's a wealth of information and experience on everything from the citizen's aspect of the justice system, how citizens perceive law enforcement... to what the recruits can expect when they come into the academy and how the classes are arranged." Taking classes with Siler, with his background in law enforcement, Bender said, were also an asset to his education.