Officer Clay Collins Case Study

Officer Clay Collins is a Sheriff and Guard for the Charles County Sheriff’s department and has been with their department for over ten years. He was born and raised in Washington D.C but moved to La Plata, Maryland at the age 16. He is currently attending the University of Mary Washington and majoring in Criminal Justice. He is the husband to Heather McKeown Collins, a professor at the College of Southern Maryland and father of two Claire and Connor Collins. Clay has not graduated college yet but plans to finish in 2018 with a bachelor’s in criminal Justice. He entered Mary Washington his freshmen year undeclared What inspired Clay to get in law enforcement was his Dad. Clay never really had any veteran mentors coming through the police

Clay grew up playing multiple sports and he felt like he could succeed in job that demands teamwork. Along with the influence of his family he chose to become a police officer. The major problem officers are placed with these days is the trend of the media using racism against officers. Clay believes this is becoming a constant issue in their department because it’s encouraged a lot of people to start challenging officers and fighting them. The problem is that “When one officer from wherever screws up or handles a situation poorly, it makes it like we are all bad and that’s not the case”. He believes that if social media and the news continues to put stories out here with false information it poses a threat to future officers and their ability to effectively do their jobs. Many police departments are starting to back off such as Baltimore City Police and possibly others due to severity of recent events like the Baltimore riot and the past history of the Rodney King case. Clay believes it has now become Cops versus the community and that’s not the case with his department. “People forget that officers, and many others that serve this country are human”. One bad person ruins the rep for thousands of others who are only trying to do their

Many people who attended college and have served in the military or police force tend to get promoted quicker. He also recommended that I do everything in my power to maintain a clean record and be honest on all applications. He has seen many recruits go into the academy and lie on documents. Those recruits were immediately released and were not allowed to apply again for another two years. He also wants to encourage all minorities to start applying and getting involved in police work. More departments are searching for eligible applicants such as African Americans every day. Clay is still finishing up some courses at his university but he believes that many people that finish college create better opportunities for themselves to grow in their