My Encounter with Policing
Policing. This is an encounter that hits very close to home. I’ve had my fair share of bad experiences with police officers. From being in the backseat of a car and watching my dad get roughed up a bit too much by a cop. Or having the cops call on me with a bunch of friends for goofing around a bit too much. To be put into such a vulnerable position, not knowing what would end up happening to you, with the people we are supposed to refer to as our protectors has definitely given me some serious problems with authority. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration for myself to say I am averse to policing. After my own personal experience with being on the other side of protection of cops, I felt propelled to do more research on the topic. I wanted to see if what I had gone through was just a me thing. The helplessness of it all. And of course, that is not helped by the countless (and I do mean countless) cases of police violence and police brutality in america. Obviously, of course, that is not to say that there aren’t good cops. I’m sure there are, but they for sure take up the minority of cops in my eyes.
I understand the concept that these cops are afraid for their lives as well, as yes, anything can happen to them on the jobs, someone could decide to attack or even kill these people who give up their lives to protect others. That concept resonates with me and I understand it at least as much as I can. But I know for certain my dad was unarmed, and they did not need to be as rough as they were with him. I know for certain me and my friends weren’t causing any harm, but we still got apprehended for something that someone else could do if they didn’t look like me and be completely fine. It’s hard to see the other perspective when that other perspective has only consistently given you terrible things to go off of. And those are only my personal experiences.
I guess the question I would ask is, while there are violent criminals at all ages, and age shouldn’t be seen as a terribly large factor against dissuading officers from performing their duty, but do you think it is right for police officers to treat potential teen suspects as roughly as they would treat adult suspects?
