Law & Security Simulations: Integrating Theory and Practice

Simulations test student skills and allow them to
apply their working knowledge and instinctive reac-
tions to seemingly real situations. For instance, dem-
onstrating to a student how to handcuff a prisoner and
listing the reasons for maintaining control of the
subject will never have the same impact as a prisoner
escaping from a student during a simulation exercise.

The primary task for instructors in the Law &
Security Program is to set up teaching conditions that
are as close to real life as possible—e.g., roadways on
college property are blocked off for accident scenes;
the campus pub, college plant, conference dining room,
storage rooms, and any other useful areas are bor-
rowed for crime settings.

The law enforcement community gets involved.
Volunteers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian Pacific Police,
and the Thunder Bay Police Department each offer in
writing no more than four different situations (actual
experiences of these officers) and oversee their own
simulations. Actors from high school drama clubs
assist in making the simulations come alive; makeup is
applied by professionals to enhance the reality of the
scene. College professors who are involved in the L&S
Program by teaching photography, crisis intervention,
psychology, forensic science, and sociology give freely
of their time to analyze the students’ responses to these
situations.

Following the simulation exercises, the students
prepare for court. They arrive in the courtroom setting,
appropriately dressed and ready to present their
evidence—reports, articles gathered at the scene,
testimony, photographs and/or slides, court briefs,
motor vehicle reports, and planned drawings.

Everything the students have been learning comes
together. They build their confidence that they have
the intuition, reflexes, maturity, and leadership quali-
ties to walk into difficult situations and handle them
well. The simulations afford the students a realistic
look at their chosen careers. Some come to the realiza-
tion that this line of work is not for them—for example,
one former student assumed everyone in the house
was dead and turned to face a gun and an actor who
shot him with blanks.

Faculty meet in the evening, on their own time, to
plan events. The quality of the L&S program is up-
graded through the social and intellectual contact with
the policing agencies in the community. The involve-
ment between educators and police departments builds

trust and credibility for the program. Moreover, the
agencies are afforded opportunities to interact with
and observe the students as potential employees.

Direct contact with potential employers (agencies)
heightens students’ desires to perform well during
simulations and in the classroom. It is not enough to
pass along information and expect students to grasp its
significance. Application of theory must be presented
in a meaningful way.

Colleen M. Clarke, Professor, Law & Security Adminis-
tration Program

For further information, contact the author at the
Confederation College of Applied Arts & Technology,
Department of Applied Arts, P.O. Box 398, Thunder
Bay, Ontario P7C 4W1, CANADA.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

September 25, 1992, Vol. XIV, No. 21
©The University of Texas at Austin, 1992
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),
Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly
when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.

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