University of Kentucky police car

Introduction

Barnstable Police(figure 1)

We have all heard it before. The police treat everyone the same. They are out to get everyone and are the worst people you can imagine. No one wants to deal with police or even be seen around them. People are making all of their assumptions based off of what they hear other people talking about and what they see on TV. Over the past two weeks I have joined the University of Kentucky police force to get a better understanding of what they do on a daily basis and to see the true humans behind the badge and not what everyone thinks about police in general. I went on a ride along with an officer and interviewed him. I also sat in on a roll call (figure 1) the police had before their shift.

Outsider Point of View

cal-driver-ed.com

(figure 2)

When I think of police I think of people who are always serious and who don’t care about the people’s lives they are affecting on a daily basis (figure 2). I know they care about protecting people but I’m talking about the people they pull over and give tickets to and things of that nature. As I sat at the roll call table, I was waiting for the officers to walk in and talk about what they needed to do that day and leave in a fast, serious manner. I always hear people talking about how they hate the police, but I never hear anyone complimenting them on what they do. I feel like the police are just a bunch of people who have fun ruining people's day.

Insider Point of View

After talking with Pete, the officer I interviewed, for a few minutes I could tell that all of my previous beliefs about the police were completely wrong. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I could tell he loved his job and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. He actually cared about everyone and wasn’t the mean guy that is out to get you that I was expecting him to be. He didn’t just pull anyone over to pull them over. He put himself in their shoes and thought about if what they did wrong was actually a big deal or just a small accident they fixed within the next few seconds. As you can see police arent always trying to give you a ticket (http://winstonpd.com/statistical.asp). I was impressed with how he went about everything he did from dealing with the people that had the car accident to dealing with me in the passenger seat of his car while he was trying to do his job. After talking to him for a while I noticed that I was no longer nervous because I knew I was in safe hands. I wasn’t afraid of anything or worried we were going to get in over our heads. I felt that he was always in control of the situation and nothing that presented itself he couldn’t take care of.

Conclusion

This whole experience has completely changed how I look at all police officers. Now I know there will always be that one officer that is out to get you. Most of them are just there to protect and serve you. Police officers should get paid way more than they do. They risk their lives on a daily basis to protect all of us. There shouldn’t be a person out there that hates the police. All they are doing is trying to make your community a better place to live. Even if it’s giving you a ticket for speeding you shouldn’t get mad at the officer. With him giving you that ticket it might have saved your life or someone else’s. I went into this project thinking it was just another thing that was going to cause me grief but in the end I’m glad I had to do it. I now know more about the police and I can go based off of my first hand experience instead of what I hear other people say or what I see on TV. This has been a great experience and I will remember it for the rest of my life.

References

University of kentucky police department. (2009, February 2). Retrieved from http://www.uky.edu/Police/

Police department ethics and integrity. (1997, December 15). Retrieved from http://www.dcwatch.com/police/971215.htm

Odom, B. (2009, May 23). Common misconceptions about law enforcement officers. Retrieved from http://socyberty.com/work/common-misconceptions-about-law-enforcement-officers/

What do you think of the police force?. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.thesite.org/community/reallife/voxpops/whatdoyouthinkofthepoliceforce

Kirby, C. (2006, April 6). Lexington swat. Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-144146626/lexington-swat-team-moves.html