Patterson, Eric R

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  • Publication
    Positive Policing: Integrating Science and Evidence-Based Policing to Bridge the Us Versus Them Divide
    (2020-01-01) Patterson, Eric R
    The profession of law enforcement is at a crossroads. Police departments across the country are struggling to renew trust and legitimacy with the members of the communities they serve. On one side, officers who take pride in their profession are at a loss as to why they are now the subject of disdain. On the other side, community members feel as though the police are not fulfilling their primary obligation – to protect and serve. Despite the best efforts of practitioners and academics, the mindset, culture, and training of law enforcement has not succeeded in bridging this Us versus Them divide. Police reform recommendations have been postulated to address this issue. Unfortunately, the recommendations for establishing trust and legitimacy between the police and the members of their community have not been universally realized. Well-intentioned policy reform measures and subsequent training have not addressed the main obstacles of this Us versus Them divide: a lack of self-awareness (insight into one’s own thoughts) and a lack of understanding (acknowledging the thoughts and emotions of others). This capstone will propose the field of Positive Policing, founded on the principles of positive psychology, as a pathway towards achieving the policy reform recommendations of practitioners and academics. The mission of Positive Policing is to integrate scientific research and evidence-based practice to provide a framework for law enforcement officers to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, to the right effects. There are pathways forward for bridging the divide, but they require an ethos change in policing. Positive Policing offers a framework for this necessary change.
  • Publication
    Flourishing Together: Future Considerations for the 12.14 Foundation
    (2020-06-13) Donegan, Michael; Patterson, Eric; Payne, Thomas; Sheeler, Beth
    The 12.14 Foundation is a non-profit organization created following the tragic school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Founded by a local citizen and physician, the 12.14 Foundation seeks to foster children's grit and resilience through a character development curriculum called ARC (representing the three pillars of the program: awareness, resilience, and confidence), coupled with NewArts, a high-level theater-based mastery experience. While hundreds of children have benefitted from the 12.14 Foundation program, it appears the theater mastery experience has come to dominate the program, while the ARC curriculum—what the founder considers the heart and core of the 12.14 experience—is viewed simply as a required stepping stone to take part in the theater production. With the ultimate goal of increasing impact by scaling mastery experiences beyond theater and its program geographically outside of Newtown, we recommend the 12.14 Foundation bolster its ARC curriculum through parent and supporting adult involvement and ongoing engagement. We suggest measuring the impact of supporting adult engagement and program effectiveness by identifying supporting adults who attend the proposed immersion session and comparing their child’s pre and post measures to those children who experience less involvement from supporting adults. We believe in doing so, the 12.14 Foundation may effectively build the case that their program contributes to participants’ more generalized mastery experiences and promotes flourishing for both adults and children in the program.