State Criminal Justice Association calls on UNC system for better training

Dr. Reed Adams
August 22, 2006 The North Carolina Criminal Justice Association at its annual meeting held in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, passed a resolution calling for action by the University of North Carolina 16 campus system, the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges and the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities. The NCCJA argued that education and training activities, planning and programs are not presently well coordinated. In order to be more responsive to employed criminal justice professionals and at the same time build innovative programs that can respond to new and different demands on law enforcement, especially the War on Terror, the resolution calls for the NCCJA, the North Carolina Justice Academy and Elizabeth City State University to jointly host a meeting of education and training leaders to address news ways to provide education and training services and to respond to long standing problems. The NCCJA also created a Criminal Justice Education and Training Task Force designed to work with the various educational boards to insure that programs work as efficiently as possible and that education and training problems can be called to the attention of the State’s leaders. Those appointed to that Task Force include Professor Jim Pleszewski, Professor Michael Drew, Professor Jim Merritt, Dr. Bob Ruth, Dr. Fran Fuller, and Dr. Reed Adams, (chair). The NCCJA working in collaboration with the Center for Research and Evaluation at Elizabeth City State University has released a study of professional criminal justice education in North Carolina. The study reported on a random sample of almost 700 criminal justice professionals in North Carolina who were asked about the adequacy of the education presently provided. That report followed a study of criminal justice training. Both studies are unique. The recommendations by the NCCJA, based on the studies, calls for a new model of combined education and training and a new applied Ph.D. degree in criminal justice. North Carolina does not presently offer such a degree. The Association called on President Bowles of the UNC system to lead in a review of criminal justice education and training beginning with the two scientific studies of criminal justice professionals. For more information, please contact Dr. Reed Adams, an ECSU professor of Criminal Justice, 252 335 3135, or by email LRADAMS@MAIL.ECSU.EDU.