How has police brutality in the United States affected the way the public perceives law enforcement? This is my question that I would like to have answered in the interview. For the interview report, I chose to interview my next-door neighbor, John, who is a police officer for the city of Tamarac, Florida. I believed that getting the perspective of this topic from a police officer would be very informative and crucial. I have chosen John, because he has many years of experience in his field. John has accumulated over thirty years of experience in his field. John is originally from London England. Before moving to Florida from London, England, he served as a police officer in London for over 15 years. John has been a police …show more content…
Cases, such as the Freddie gray and Michael Brown Deaths”.
Results Section
From the start of the interview, John made it quite clear, on where his stance is on police brutality. When asked the first question on his opinion on police brutality. He responded with a stern look, “No law enforcement officer has the right to take anybody’s life away or brutally abuse somebody, no matter the circumstance”. From just observing John, I was able to tell that
John takes the subject matter very serious and that any police brutality case that comes up should be taken seriously. When asked about his opinion on the recent police brutality cases, such as the killing of Freddie Gray and Michael Brown, he said that they were “unlawful”. As the same as what he thinks about police brutality, John feels that the lives of Freddie Gray and
Michael Brown did not have to be taken away. He said that there were other lawful ways to arrest them; it did not have to escalate to the death of somebody. John stated that, if a cop kills
Kaleb Kassaye 4 somebody or brutally abuses somebody, they should be arrested and charged with the …show more content…
Even though that is not the case. Especially after the recent cases such as the Michael Brown case, I noticed a difference in perception of law enforcement officers from the community”. John made the point that, not all police officers are the same. The actions from a few police officers do not define us as a whole. From this, I interpreted that John is trying to inform me that yes, there has been cases where police officers have unlawfully abused or killed somebody, but that is the minority. We, the majority (almost all police officers) do not condone that.
During the interview, I noticed that John is very passionate about his job and cares about the way the public perceives him. When I asked John, how has the recent police brutality cases affected his job, you were able to see the change of expression on his face. It went from happiness to sadness. He said that it has affected him in a negative way. He also stated, “As a law enforcement officer, most people look at me as somebody dangerous and to take caution”.
As somebody like John who got into this profession mainly because of the sheer love for the community, it must hurt to get that type of response from the community you are trying to protect. Conclusion