Paragon Justice
"Seeking to perfect justice through educational excellence"
Origins
One morning, not too long ago, I received a call from a Deputy. He was driving across a northeastern city on his way to make an arrest for homicide. Why call me? He heard help officers with dissertations – giving advice on statistics, or reading a draft, or brainstorming research questions. And so, as he drove, we talked research.
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A strange time to call? Not really. He and his team are in the field arresting violent offenders all day every day. When else could he call? And that is the point:
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He was correct. I’ve been getting these calls every few months for the last 20 years. Correctional officers, intelligence analysts, Wardens, police officers, and other law enforcement professionals all seeking higher education. And just like this Deputy, each showed they believe in evidence, science, and scholarship. However, like this deputy, each had the same problem.
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Problem
The problem is, they are not just working professionals – they are first responders. Their colleagues, neighbors, and communities need them now. If they take a day, a week, or semester off – people get hurt and justice diminishes. So, instead, they pour themselves into the Job, giving everything left to education. And struggling as a result. Not through lack of intelligence, or potential, or care – they often have more of these qualities than other graduate students. Rather, because they are fighting through an unlevel playing field with respect to schedules, access to top tier schools, and investment of faculty.
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The biggest problem for the sworn is this: Doing graduate school between arrests, meetings with informants, rushing to a hospital, waiting in court, or working a double on the cell block because the next shift was short and you (literally) cannot leave. You might miss class. You might miss meetings with your dissertation chair. Professors may assume you're less capable or motivated than other students because of challenges making it to classes or willingness to guest lecture or course or help out in a research lab. And then invest less in you, offer less technical assistance, and less care in your success.
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A related problem is that this makes graduate school more expensive – the challenges of pursuing education in this context makes graduate school drag on for years. That means delays in promotions that may have resulted from new degrees, lost years of good work that could have been done as an applied scientist post-graduation, and of course the extra tuition.
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As this deputy and I talked, the idea of Paragon Justice emerged. The hope of ‘perfecting justice’ is clearly tied to both endeavors of this deputy – the courage and sacrifice of charging toward danger (the Job) and the dedication and perseverance of seeking to gain and apply exceptional levels of skill to the craft of justice (the Degree).
Paragon Justice is dedicated to helping law enforcement professionals reach their educational and professional goals, and making sure they not only earn their degree but thrive in the role of law enforcement scholar.
How we help
Paragon Justice provides coaching, brainstorming, review, and/or technical feedback on any aspect of the dissertation, master’s thesis, or research project for law enforcement professionals. Want help cleaning data or checking code? Great. Need to talk through statistical strategies and plans for presenting results? No problem. If you need a full and critical read of a nearly complete dissertation and get feedback on writing, substance, strategy, interpretation, code, and planning for a defense – reach out.
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​Providing quality help requires real time and effort – time taken away from my day job and family. And so, the service is not free. The charge is similar to other dissertation-coach companies. The differences is:
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Care. Providing help with passion for your success, and awareness of the value law enforcement experience brings to scholarship.
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Experience. I doubt you’ll find many laws enforcement practioners with more credentials or production in terms of academic scholarship. And I doubt you’ll find an academic with more experience in policing, corrections, and courts either.
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It would be wonderful, but not possible, to run this as a charity. Except in one case. Children or spouses of police and correctional officers killed in action are free.
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What is NOT provided
Many companies offer ghost writing of educational documents (e.g., they'll find and clean your data; they'll do your analysis and write up your results; they'll write your conclusions section).
Paragon Justice does NOT do your work for you. You may get suggested language to illustrate an in-text comment, you may get explicit guidance on how to write your code better or more accurate statistical approaches to take. We can get on the phone and I'll explain those methods to you. But you must be the person to consider whether you agree. And, if so, implement it on your own with complete competence and understanding.
By way of analogy, think of defensive tactics or firearm training.
An expert instructor will ensure your stance, aim, and strategy is sound. They will look for the smallest mistakes and correct them. But they will never, ever fire the gun for you. You need that skill to save the lives of your colleagues, the community, and yourself.
Graduate degrees are not mere letters. The quality of your graduate education will have as much, and probably more, impact on safety than a firearm.
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Request Free Consultation & Quote
Please reach out for a free consultation and quote. ​We can discuss via Email or Zoom--let me know which you prefer.