An Intern's Perspective

Every semester, the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office receives interns from local and out of state colleges and universities who wish to learn more about being a law enforcement officer. Sheriff Hall has opened the agency's doors to any college who makes a request of this nature in order to broaden the learning curve of these students. They are put through a specified curriculum during their semester to expose them to each of the major areas within the agency. This is the feedback the agency received from one such student. "I started PJC intent on getting my AA degree in criminal justice and a Bachelors at UWF. Becoming a probation officer was my goal. As my last semester was ending I saw the intern or co-op option. I thought this would give me a chance to find out more about the criminal justice world. As I began my internship the doubts began to creep in about my career choices. My internship covered all aspects of Law Enforcement but the first session was in Crime Scene. Learning to collect evidence and process it was okay but NO WAY was I going to go to an autopsy (or so I thought). I learned how a corpse can give an investigator a lot of clues as to the many possible ways that death may have occurred. I was not forced to go but I went anyway and I was shaken up for the rest of the week. The "Evidence" portion of the program was fairly simple if you can follow instructions. Well, the Victim Advocates division was shocking. I was amazed at the number of domestic cases of abuse and that Santa Rosa County has the highest rate of domestic violence cases in the state of Florida. Court Security was interesting and the judge was great. Judge Swanson took a lot of time with me to point out all the things that a judge had to do. My next assignment was Patrol. I am a believer that a woman can do anything that a man can do but I was concerned about a female patrol officer's safety. However, I found out that women make excellent officers and certainly are competitive with their male counterparts. I also learned a lot about the day to day workings of a deputy sheriff, the language that they call codes and the enormous amount of paperwork they have to do. Crime Prevention, Property Crimes and Major Crimes all followed in quick succession. The semester was ending quickly but I had a chance to go back to Patrol for two more weeks. While interning with Patrol I learned that with the correct training and a passion for the job any woman can be as successful and safe as any man. The career that I thought no woman should do, I am looking forward to doing. Because of this program I changed my goals and am now starting at the police academy in January and can't start my new career soon enough."