Penn State Altoona students Jazzmine McCauley, Ziwei (Will) Lin, Ray Ncube, Lam Vo, and Katelyn Kurtz standing next to their first-place poster, “Building Bridges with Pennsylvania State Police: An Assessment of Community Outreach,” and Trooper Joe Dunsmore, keynote speaker of the 2024 Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Justice Educators conference.
ALTOONA, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Justice Educators (PACJE) held its annual conference at Penn State Altoona April 5 through 6. Hosted by the college’s criminal justice department, the event was planned by Nathan E. Kruis, assistant professor of criminal justice and vice president of PACJE.
“The meeting brought together academics, practitioners, students, and community members to discuss this year’s theme: 'Data-Driven Approaches to Improving Police/Community Relationships,'” said Kruis. The conference included presentations, panels, posters, roundtables and workshops aimed at studying and improving policing practices, as well as addressing ways in which relationships between law enforcement agencies and communities can be improved.
This year’s conference included two new events. The first was a student research poster competition featuring undergraduate and graduate students across the Commonwealth presenting their criminological research.
“There was a great turn out,” remarked Kruis. “I am thrilled to announce that Penn State Altoona swept the competition. The students in the Integrated Social Science Research Lab placed first, second, and third in the Undergraduate Competition. Their scores even beat out all the graduate projects that were there.”
The second event was a workshop on the use of force, de-escalation and mental health awareness for first responders in Blair and surrounding counties. Instruction was provided by professional trainers from the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) use of force section, the Penn State health departments of nursing and psychiatry, and from the clinical simulation center.
“They provided a modified version of the same training all cadets in Hershey currently receive and instruction that municipal law enforcement officers in Pennsylvania have not had access to until now,” Kruis said. The workshop included presentations on use of force case law analysis and application, suicide by cop, and de-escalation tactics, as well as a series of hands-on application exercises.
“It truly is innovative instruction, and when I was invited to the PSP academy to observe it last May, I thought we must find a way to make this available to our local police community. I am glad we were able to offer it as part of the conference,” said Kruis.
For more information about the conference, the research competition, and workshop visit the PACJE website or email Kruis at [email protected].
