Personal Narrative: Criminal Justice Internship

Overall I have had a positive experience during my internship. This internship has taught me a lot. I have been able to network with multiple criminal justice professionals, which has allowed me to see all of my options after graduation. Working at the Coroner’s Office has confirmed that I do want to continue working in the criminal justice field as an investigator. I really enjoy being able to speak for the decedent and help other agencies gather the information they need for their investigation. I also enjoy being able to help the families get the answers they are looking for so they can try to find closure during this difficult time. While being on scene I have had the opportunity to speak to multiple IMPD homicide detectives, they have …show more content…
Starting out with the deputies, there were two deputies that I felt took me under their wing and taught me everything they know. They were always asking me to go on runs and helping me with ask tasks I needed to complete. My supervisors also helped me with anything I needed. I was the assistant to the Chief Deputy Coroner this has allowed me to create a professional relationship with her that I believe will help me continue into the criminal justice field. I think the only way the experience could have been more meaningful would have been to have a more organized intern program. Our main point of contact was in Texas for the entire month of June, this made communication difficult and occasionally we were waiting till the last second to receive our monthly schedules. There were also some deputies who did not know how the internship program worked so we were occasionally given tasks we were not suppose to complete. For example, one of the deputies saved all of her phone consults from the day and then gave them to me to enter in ten minutes before I was suppose to leave. I had to explain to her that I would have put her phone consults in the database if she had given them to me sooner but since she waited till the end of the day she would need to put them …show more content…
I believe I gained a large amount of experience that will put me above other candidates when applying for jobs in the future. I believe the one thing I could have done to make this experience more meaningful would have been to make myself available on nights and weekends. This would have given me the experience of working while the front office is closed. Night shifts are also a lot different than day shifts because more interesting calls tend to come out during night shift. Since I was unable to be available during these times I did miss out on a few interesting cases. I also think I could have used pathology a little more. I was not interested in pathology coming into this internship and I am still not interested. However, I could have used my time back there asking questions and trying to learn more about how an autopsy is completed. I was able to watch quite a few exams however because the doctors are trying to concentrate I only asked questions when I was working with certain