Police Brutality

Imagine waking up everyday and checking to see if your dad made it home safely from his job. What would you do if people were attacking people you love? What if your father was putting his life in danger everyday to help complete strangers? My dad is a Wilmington Police Sergeant. Check the news and see what people are saying about police officers like my kind, generous dad. New York police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were killed in an ambush by a man who posted his frustrations with police on social media. This man was upset about police killing black men. The man who ambushed the two men based his ambush off of the few officers who have issues with blacks and he took it out on two innocent men. Some days my dad comes home devastated because maybe he saw someone pass away, or he saw some stranger in serious danger and he had to act upon it. My dad puts his own life on the line every single day to save us. They don’t understand what being a police officer entails and instead they listen to hate rumors around the internet. Although there are examples of police being racist to blacks, the brutality to police officers is uncalled for because officers are putting their lives in danger everyday, and then getting backlash for a small number of bad behaved police officers.  

   Statistics show in May, the Washington Post analyzed the 385 fatal police shootings in the United States that had occurred so far in 2015. The Post noted the number, which came out to two officer-involved shooting deaths per day. That was more than twice the rate that the government had recorded over the past decade. Police officers save lives. Does it not seem a little scary to you that police officers, for no real reason, are being killed with about two deaths a day. Most police officers, like my father, are good guys who just want to make a difference in the community, but are being punished for some of the racist officers the media portrays.

   Media has had a huge impact on society. Media shows a one-sided story. In this situation, the media only shows the police officers that are killing black people and showing “black lives matter.” What the media is not showing is the police officers that rescue somebody from maybe a car accident, or someone physically getting hurt. On Facebook there was a post that showed a police officer and young boy laying on the floor and says… “This little fella was having a rough morning and fell out on the floor. I saw his mother step back and look. She stated this is how he is expressing himself lately. I decided to get on his level and talk to him. He started to cry so I wiped his tears and told him it will be ok. As an adult sometimes all we want is one person to stop, get on our level and maybe wipe our tears. These children are entitled to bad days just as us, so give them that moment to bring it together.” This police officer could’ve walked away and left the little boy but he layed on the dirty floor and comforted him. The Media never recognizes the good in police officers, they always highlight the bad.

   Blue Lives Matter is an organization whose goal is to honor and recognize the actions of law enforcement in order to strengthen the public support. Blue Lives Matter is trying to make the public realize that the blame is going to the wrong side. Criminals are upset that they get caught for the bad they do to the world and they try to turn the blame. But really, if these criminals hadn’t done wrong they wouldn’t have to even deal with police officers in the first place.  On August 9 2014, Ferguson PD Officer Darren Wilson was doing his job as he stopped Michael Brown, who had just committed a robbery of a local convenience store. Brown attacked Officer Wilson in an aggravated assault. Officer Wilson was forced to defend his life by shooting Brown. Media has portrayed this as “Black lives matter” but really, this officer did not care about race, he was just trying to defend his life. People assumed the police officer was racist. They did not even look into if this person was armed or how bad he was acting upon the police officer. Blue lives matter is defending police officers to let them know that they do still have support from people and not everybody is hating on them.

   In conclusion, imagine saying goodbye to your father everyday and not knowing about tough situations he may encounter. As a teenager, having social media is scary because sometimes I see things about my dad’s job that I did not want to find out. Statistics have shown that police officers fatality is increasing more and more each year. Police are protecting our community from harm. Media is portraying police officers all the wrong way. Blue lives matter is trying to be a support system when police officers see the horrible words on the news and media. Police officers choose their job to help and make a difference in the world. Police brutality is getting worse everyday. They do not deserve brutality because of all the good things they do in the world.