| Abstract: | In a course entitled “Policing and In/Justice” we elicited stories about police-citizen encounters through a narrative-based writing assignment. The assignment required students to identify competing perspectives of the story's events. Building on these perspectives, students engaged in assessment and evaluation of police decision-making. We suggest similar assignments may be relevant to courses with students anticipating or engaged in policing careers. The growing emphasis on community policing raises expectations that officers be creative problem-solvers, not just law enforcers. In addition to establishing the significance of the assignment, we explain how we accomplished it, and report on what students gained from it. |
