Page 53 - April 2017 Newsletter

ment and five more years working for the Cook County Sheriff’s Police to every course, every lecture and every discussion he teaches.
“You have to know what you’re up against to understand and deal with it,” Lombardo states as a tenet of his teach- ing philosophy. “In community policing, for example, the way I teach, we look at the history and the research. But you have to include problem-solving; what theories can be implemented.”
The Cyber-Crime Detection and Investigation course is another leading-edge part of the curriculum that many officers who already have a degree or an advanced degree might be tempted to take. The course is designed to mo- tivate students to think about how getting a broader base of knowledge about the many databases available to law enforcement or how using Facebook for investigating and communicating more effectively, for example, can make a difference on the current landscape of policing.
All the parts ensure the program is driving at outcomes that the PAC, the faculty and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies endorses: “The whole issue of de-es- calation; teaching students how to diffuse situations with- out reducing to force,” Pearson submits.
And from where Lombardo sits, he succinctly deduces: “This is what the Department needs.” (Incidentally, it’s also a recommendation from the recently completed U.S. De- partment of Justice report on the Chicago Police Depart- ment.)
So, this would be the time to ask if there are any more questions.
“Today, every officer has some college, but
the big thing is to finish that degree.”
Robert Lombardo,
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Where can this degree lead?
Good question. For officers who want to pursue leader- ship positions in the Department or replace with “other law enforcement careers,” well, that’s the core concept behind launching the degree. All students will work on capstone projects targeted at becoming real-world applications on the job.
And if you follow the path that led Lombardo to his suc- cess on the job, this degree could lead to another degree like Loyola’s Master of Business Administration, Master in Criminal Justice and Criminology or Master of Jurispru- dence in Children’s Law. Clearly, Loyola has many pro- grams related to what officers want to do on the job, and after they retire from the Department.
“We want to make sure we’re professionalizing this group,” Pearson reminds. “It’s important for us to keep them moving forward and thinking more deeply about the issues they confront on the job every day.”
Members of the Chicago Police Department are eligible for a 25-percent discount for all undergraduate programs in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. d
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