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Spring 2021 Capstone: Whittier Police Department

whittier PD

 ~Nicolai Andersen, Rachel Medina, Hannah Ontiveros, K’Yanna Wesley, Julie Zendejas 

Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Gonzalez, Jr.

Our capstone group evaluated the potential benefits of implementing restorative nap policies for the Whittier Police Department in Los Angeles County. Through our research, we conducted a literature review of the prevalence of sleep disorders in law enforcement, the impacts of napping, and how sleep relates to mental health among police officers. We administered a survey to police and fire departments with similar policies in place and analyzed their responses in order to develop recommendations for the Whittier Police Department.

We found this to be an interesting topic, as police work comprises one of the largest groups of shift workers in the U.S. Police performance has also been under increased scrutiny in recent years due to increased media attention and adverse publicity. Innovations in communications and information technology have made it easier than ever to detect and report instances of police brutality through cell phone video-recording and social media sharing. Movements such as Black Lives Matter have also helped bring increased scrutiny on inadequate police performance in recent years. When researching existing data on sleep disorders in America’s police forces, we found as many as 40% of officers identified as having at least one sleep disorder. The 2011 Harvard Work Hours and Safety Group Police Study found one-third of North American police officers screening positive for obstructive sleep apnea (Rajaratnam, 2011). This is 44% higher than the general population (Conn, 2018). 

This study accompanied by other existing data from our literature review found officers with sleep disorders to be more likely to report negative safety events, such as falling asleep while driving or poorer work performance. In the Harvard study, more than one in four officers also reported having fallen asleep while driving at least once a month. Exhibiting uncontrollable anger towards suspects was also reported as more likely among officers with sleep disorders (Kitaeff, 2019). 

To investigate whether restorative naps had any benefits for police officers and public safety, we were able to recruit four public safety agencies with existing restorative nap programs to participate in a survey. Results showed that sleep-deprived officers were more likely to fall asleep while driving, had a higher incidence of citizen complaints, and were more prone to making administrative and/or safety errors. Survey participants also noted a variety of benefits since the implementation of restorative nap policies. Reno Police Department noted that their policies had led to better attitudes, sharper focus, and increased problem-solving capabilities, along with increased safety, happier employees, and a decline in chronic sleep problems. Overall, across all survey participants, we found all agencies positively accepting their restorative nap programs. Since the implementation of these pioneering policies in the Henderson Police Department, Hampton Police Department, and Reno Police Department, a number of positive effects have been reported, including increased public safety and improved work performance. 

With many police officers resting during their short lunch breaks or at inappropriate times, often considered misconduct, developing a program with a formal policy for napping would not only benefit public safety but also officer’s overall well-being, health, and work performance. Therefore, based on the existing data and our survey results, it was our recommendation that the Whittier Police Department would be wise in implementing a similar program. 

 

References 

Conn, Stephanie M. (2018). Increasing Resilience in Police and

          Emergency Personnel: Strengthening Your Mental Armor.

          Routledge. ISBN 9781317193753.

Kitaeff, Jack (2019). Handbook of Police Psychology. Routledge. p. 551.

          ISBN 9780429554667.

Rajaratnam, S.W., Brager, L.K., Lockley, S.W., Shea, S.A., Wang, W.,

          Landrigan, C.P. & Czeisler, C.A. (2011). Sleep disorders, health and

          safety in police officers. Journal of the American Medical

          Association, 306, pp. 2567-2578.

How Can Statistics Support Critical Thinking

Dr. Lara-Gonzalez

I am a professor of statistics at one of the local universities. In the last week of my last term, Spring 2020, I posted the following question to my students; should there be a prerequisite course or preparation course before this class? I have been doing this activity for the last four years and the answers are always the same: mathematics, algebra, and Excel. But this time, I received an original answer, not related to mathematics or any other data analysis tool. What I read surprised me. This student suggested a class of logical thinking to analyze and interpret the attributes of a data set. In my view, logical thinking will be helpful. But critical and analytical thinking skills will be beneficial and essential for students who are taking statistics to interpret and draw inferences about a population by evaluating statistical data sets and present and communicate with clarity, accuracy, and precision of the implications and consequences of their findings.

I have been teaching mathematics and statistics for the past 10 years. It is a simple transition. However, in an informal conversation with colleagues and friends, I have maintained that teaching statistics is more challenging than teaching mathematics. Learning statistics is more demanding and stimulating than mathematics. In statistics, for teaching and learning a real-world application require three specific competencies that are a link to critical thinking skills:

  1. The ability to connect statistics and real-life situations;
  2. The knowledge of basic statistical concepts such as probability distribution, statistical significance, hypothesis testing, and regression; and
  3. The ability to integrate the elements of a statistical study and to communicate the results clearly.

As a professor, I have encountered all kinds of students taking a statistics class. The minority of those students are excited to learn about statistics. While the majority are nervous because their previous experiences with statistics were not pleasant, or they have heard the negative stories from other students and their experiences of taking statistics. I regularly listen to freshman students expressing their uneasiness about statistics; “I took statistics once and hated it; memorizing all those formulas is impossible.” Similarly, I have encountered students who do not know what to expect from the course. My academic experience indicates that when students do not know what to expect, they are not fully prepared. Thus, it can affect their success in the course. Particularly statistics that is a technical and creative discipline where students can see and experience the usefulness in action. This practical and creative discipline requires an intellectual process.

Image result for critical thinking

Source: eschoolnews.com

Scriven and Paul (2003) describe critical thinking as an intellectual process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Because of this intellectual process, the use of critical and analytical thinking skills is vital. It is a requisite to have critical thinking skills to select the right statistical analysis or the right statistical model for a particular problem. Then, students have to have the same analytical and critical skills for interpreting, inferring, and evaluating the implication and consequences of the results. Last, communicating the findings to address the stated problem with clarity, accuracy, and precision, it is essential to display intellectual integrity.

Reference

Scriven, M. & Paul, R. Defining critical thinking. Foundation for Critical Thinking. Retrieved from https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking