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I need help with critiquing four different journal articles from the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. The articles must have been published in last 2...

Here are critiques of four articles from the last two years of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin:


1. "Law Enforcement Chaplains: Defining Their Roles" by Richard Braswell, Bryan Steinkopf, M.S., and Angela Beamer, M.A. Published online on 11/9/2016.


This article is about the variety of the roles chaplains play in law enforcement. The thesis is that the variety of their roles is a strength. These roles include corrections, departmental functioning, community-police relations, line-of-duty deaths, officer wellbeing, and crisis interventions. The article presents evidence and details about all these roles. The conclusion is that these roles can also present ambiguity about chaplains' roles and that organizations must define the chaplains' roles more clearly. Future research can look at how to define these roles (though this isn't mentioned in the article) and reduce ambiguity. This article presents ambiguities and raises important questions about chaplains' roles that should be resolved to help chaplains function most effectively. 


2. "No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Approach"  by Michael L. Yoder, M.A. Published online on 11/9/2016.


This article is about the high number of missing persons reported each day and the reasons for their disappearance. Officers must act quickly to identify homicide cases and must immediately preserve electronic data that can be erased quickly. This article does not present evidence but presents best practices that officers must follow in the case of no-body homicide cases. The conclusion is that investigators should follow the practices established by the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit 4. There are no calls for future research, but future research can evaluate the effectiveness of the routines and practices established by the Behavioral Analysis Unit 4. This article is a springboard for future discussions about these practices.


3. "Mental Preparedness Training" by Judith P. Andersen, Ph.D., Konstantinos Papazoglou, M.A., Harri Gustafsberg, M.Sc., Peter Collins, M.D., and Bengt Arnetz, M.D. Published 3/9/2016.


This article presents medical evidence about the long-term effects of stress on officers, including elevated levels of cortisol, depression, and heart disease. The thesis is that given these stressors, law enforcement agencies must have mental preparedness exercises as part of their training for officers. The study presents the literature on officers' mental preparedness programs, including a study on training officers in breathing techniques that were shown to improve judgment and decision making among officers. The article presents the components, costs, and need for such training programs and draws the conclusion that law enforcement agencies must put into place empirically validated mental preparedness programs before officers become stressed so that officers can have the best health outcomes and be most effective at their jobs. The study calls for increased collaboration between law enforcement agencies and psychologists to implement these types of programs. This is a valid suggestion for future research.


4. "Policing in the Casino Gaming Environment: Methods, Risks, and Challenges" by Kenneth J. Peak, Ph.D. Published 5/5/2015.


This article looks at the functions of private security officers in casinos and examines their roles, including surveillance and security. The article does not include methods but introduces details about private casino security and their practices, including their need not to follow Miranda warnings. The article draws the conclusion that these officers have similar duties to public officers but also have unique duties and that private casino security officers must work with law enforcement. There is no call for future research, but future research can look at how the collaboration between private officers and public law enforcement might work most effectively in casinos. This article clarifies the roles of private security officers in casinos. 

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