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Policing and Society

About this Lesson Plan

Discipline(s)

Public Administration, Sociology

Time Needed

1 class period (75 minutes)

Original Course

PA/SOC 339: Policing & Society

Lesson Plan Created By

Dr. Samantha Simon, School of Government and Public Policy, and Niamh Wallace, University of Arizona Libraries

Created in

Spring 2024 as part of a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant

Overview

This course introduces the history of policing in the United States, a theoretical and practical examination of the police function, an analysis of unequal police enforcement patterns across race and gender, and a consideration of major challenges facing contemporary policing, including issues of technology, accountability, and reform.  

This lesson allows students to explore a collection of primary sources related to three presidential policing task forces from the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will read and analyze the primary sources to identify similar themes, issues, and crises in policing throughout U.S. history.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn how to analyze textual and visual primary sources to identify recurring themes or parallels in police commissions throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
  • Lean how to collaboratively analyze and compare the perspectives of primary sources.
  • Develop skills to critically examine, interpret, and evaluate historical evidence.

Before class preparation/set up

The librarian created a library course guide for this lesson. The library guide includes links to the selected primary sources as well as the questions for the in-class group activity. Materials include photographs, newspaper articles, and government reports. The primary sources used include content from the Library of Congress’ digital collections, digitized newspapers, and governmental websites.

Activities

The librarian introduced the concept of primary sources and asked students about their familiarity with and experience using primary sources in research.

Students in groups of 3-4 were assigned a commission/task force. Each group read the materials from their assigned task force and answered the following questions:

  • What president appointed the commission/task force?
  • Who was appointed to the commission/task force? What were their roles and backgrounds?
  • What event or issue was the commission/task force convened in response to?
  • What recommendations or reforms did the commission/task force call for? Name at least two.

After group work, the instructor reconvened the class and facilitated group share-out with entire class. The instructor posed the following questions to the class as a whole and facilitated group discussion.

  • What are some shared themes across the commission/task force recommendations?
  • What are some differences?
  • What surprised you most about the materials you read today?