FINAL PRESENTATION

                                        Final Presentation!  We made it, guys!  

This is my grandfather; marine vet, and firefighter turned police officer of 45 years.  With everything going on right now with the current uproar regarding police officers, I wanted to touch base on the history of police officers, and how taking certain actions can increase hope to all who have lost faith in them.  

I have attached my letter just in case you cannot hear or understand me (I'm sorry!), and I say "um" about 800 times.  With that being said, PLEASE ENJOY.

Austin Police Department

301 W. 2^nd Street

Austin, TX 78702

Dear Chief of Police, Mr. Manley,

My name is Kelsey Wells, and I am student at Notre Dame de Namur University, studying Business.  During my time here, I have realized that NDNU is highly supportive of all type of rights, religions, ethnicities, cultures, and ideas.  Because of this, it has encouraged me to dive into the current national situation regarding Black Lives Matter and police violence, a little bit deeper.  I am writing to you with concern and with hope.  I am saddened by the current events, but also feel that it is my duty to speak up.  Though I have never been the one to get too political or outspoken regarding these issues, it is very difficult and heartbreaking to see the current state of what is going on in our nation. 

I am hoping I can send a message to the Police Force to understand my point of view, and to get an idea of how and why things got so “bad.”  Though you may not agree with me, I do believe that there should be certain classes in order to earn the Police badge.  I do agree that every situation is different, however, being a Police Officer, you must understand that everybody is different, and there are an abundant amount of different behaviors, disorders, personalities, that you must take into consideration when working in law enforcement.  There are many classes that one can take in order to dive deeper in understanding people and how they function.  Taking certain, even intro to Psychology classes, can help one gain a better idea of how to approach certain people in certain situations.  Experience in dealing with sexual harassment, protective force, self-defense, would be a great tool to have and understand as well.  To my knowledge, Police Officers choose this career because of one thing—they want to help people.  While this career path is not for the faint of heart, I do believe it takes compassion and determination to become a great and respected officer. 

            In my research that I have done throughout the past couple weeks, I have gained greater knowledge in the law enforcement field, and would like to share with you my findings in order to prove the point I am trying to make.  “Under the old system, police officials were appointed through political affiliations and because of this they were frequently unintelligent and untrained, they were distributed through the area to be policed according to a hit-or-miss system and without adequate means of communication; they had little or no record keeping system; their investigation methods were obsolete, and they had no conception of the preventive possibilities of the service, (History of the Police, pg. 7).”  This quote described policing back in the late 1800’s.  Sounds like something that would be said quite recently, right?  How disappointing that even after centuries, police officers have not seemed to learn their lesson.  The growth in technology, evolution, morals, or goals has not differentiated police officers even from this many years ago.  It seems as if we are rewinding, and not trying to make any forward movements into this type of profession.

            This article also explains how police officers were originally hired to basically go around and endorse politicians.  They would patrol the streets and try to convince people to vote for certain politicians.  There would be a lack of training, and any type of legal enforcement, because ultimately, they just wanted the officers to tell people who to vote for.  Going from policing town to advertise, turned to going around town to make sure slaves didn’t run away; police training has not seemed to evolve into anything really.  Though nowadays, the United States has added more tactical training, there has been a lack to any type of either legal or psychological advancement.  “Policemen would physically discipline juveniles, as they believed that it provided more of a deterrent effect than arrest or incarceration. Violence would also be applied to alleged perpetrators in order to extract information from them or coerce confessions out of them.  Violence was also believed to be justified in instances in which officers felt that they were being disrespected by citizens. It was acceptable to dole out “street justice” if citizens were noncompliant to officers’ demands or requests. If citizens had a complaint regarding the actions of police officers, they had very little recourse, as police supervisors and local courts would usually side with police officers, (History of the Police, pg. 8).”  I find it astonishingly embarrassing that these quotes are describing the late 1800’s, and here we are today still in situations like this.  It is literally mirroring what is going on in the United States today.

            Another source of information that spoke to me was the Stanford Prison Experiment.  I believe that ALL police officers should be required to watch this during a training course.  The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychology experiment that attempted to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between police officers and prisoners.  This lasted only 6 days, until they had to shut it down because of its brutality.  Even though this was a controlled experiment, between 24 regular people—12 being guards, and 12 being prisoners, they had to halt it because of the torture that ensued.  Twelve REGULAR people playing police guards had been fully immersed in their roles and subjected the other twelve REGULAR people playing prisoners to such horrible psychology and physical torture, that they stopped it immediately.  The fact that it even got to that point is insane!  I believe this is entirely how a police officer feels once they put on their uniform and that badge.  When regular people are put in situations like this, they feel unstoppable, almost immortal. 

By watching or researching this experiment, I believe that Police Officers will gain a better understanding of how people perceive them, and how they may start to perceive themselves.  It puts things into perspective that we may not have thought of in the first place.  My grandpa and my great uncle are retired Chief of Police, my uncle is a newly retired Police Officer of 35 years, and my cousin is a current Police Officer.  I have the utmost respect for Police Officers, and I know in my heart that they are not all bad.  I am sure as a Chief of Police, you, Mr. Manley, have a lot riding on your shoulders.  I am sure you want to do well not just for the city of Austin, but the for the nation and all police officers.  I am sure your family worries about you, and want to make sure you come home safe every day.  I want to see good on both sides of the current situations that are occurring.  I want to see respect and understanding of each side.  I believe that a lot of Police Officers are misunderstood, but there are some that take advantage of their title.  I believe that with further proper training, we can start to all live a life of harmony we all know is possible.  Thank you for your time, and thank you for your service.

Best regards,

Kelsey Wells