Police Brutality Presentation

Black Student Union Police Presentation on Police Brutality and Police Stops within the Community:

I participate in the Cultural Awareness Program of BSU or the Black Student Union. The program that I am involved in teamed up with the Dekalb police department on creating a presentation on how to act when a police stops you. I was a little nervous at first since the Police in general have a horrible reputation within the Black Community, but when the police who came to speak, a white police officer whose a sergeant too came to talk, he started off stating how the police need to be better, and relief hit my soul. He at first discussed how the police force as a whole needs to take a step towards the community as a whole since there is so much distrust and prejudice between the police and the members in communities like the black community. 

The officer discussed how to respond to the police and listed certain rights that we have when we are stopped. Examples were like asking an officer for a badge number when a citizen feels like they were mistreated so that they can report an incident or interaction with the police to the department. There was room for questions at the end and overall, I thought it ended well, but later on I found out a lot of people in BSU weren't frustrated but more of feeling like the officers response to everything was pessimistic. The police officer repeatedly expressed that the only way a civilian can truly win in an argument between themselves and the police is in the courtroom and there isn't a guarantee. The police kept stating how all issues and complaints should not be made with police during the time you are being stopped but afterwards, but he also said that it isn't very likely you will win.

To summarize, it wasn't a waste of time for the police officer to come and share with the BSU community the way the police force works in stopping people and not just black people. It shed light to how the Police Department needs to improve on meeting more than halfway with the community and winning back everyone's trust and not being more known for fear and problems than service and dedication in aiding communities.