There has been a lot of negativity toward police officers recently, including videos of excessive force and shootings. Last Sunday, the Associated Press released a report about sexual misconduct by hundreds of officers around the country.
It is always good to remember that while there are bad people in the world, there are many good people as well, and there are plenty of good police officers who just want to help their community.
As of 2014, there were more than 300 million people in the U.S. and 900,000 of them were police officers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With numbers like those, there are bound to be bad apples. There is a process to hiring police officers, but not everyone shows their true colors at all times. Sometimes even good people make mistakes.
It is unfortunate, but some things are overlooked. If there are 1,000 officers in the U.S. who have some sort of issue or problem that makes them unfit for duty, there are still 899,000 good ones out there.
Mary Malone
Here in Moscow, Idaho, we are lucky enough to have a great police force. The Moscow Police Department has programs where officers interact with the community.
Some of their community involvement includes programs like Alive at 25, a driver education program for young drivers to learn about making good driving choices. They also hold the annual Lee Newbill Kids Safety Fair. In the spring, they have an 11-week class called the Citizen”s Police Academy (CPA).
I took the CPA class last spring. It was a great experience and I have felt more comfortable in the community ever since. I am in Moscow solely for school, so I didn”t know anyone here and taking the class made me feel a little closer to the community.
I even made some friends. I got to know others who were in the class, which included University of Idaho students interested in criminal justice, a fireman and even another journalist. I also connected with the officers who taught the class.
The class was officially taught by Officer Phil Gray, but different officers came in to speak about their areas of expertise. Other guests were featured through the course as well, like the local prosecuting attorney and an animated parole officer who may or may not drink too much coffee.
Over the course of 11 weeks, I learned about all the different things the police do, including drug busts, traffic stops, DUI”s and I was even given some knowledge of police history. The officers discussed “use of force,” and my class was shown the same moves the police are taught to use to subdue unruly people or suspects.
One of my favorite days was when we went to the shooting range and shot rifles, shotguns and handguns – voluntarily of course – and we all looked amazing in bulletproof vests, safety glasses, hats and ear protection.
Of all the great things I learned during the CPA, what I found most important was, as Lt. James Fry said, police officers are all human. They have families who love them and worry about them.
It can be difficult sometimes to make the right decision in a potentially dangerous situation, and these officers do it every day, every time they go on a call or a traffic stop. They have no idea how someone will react toward police, which is why they say nothing is routine when it comes down to it. There is no such thing as a “routine traffic stop” – each one is different from another, and anything could happen at any time.
When Officer Gray, along with a few others, attempted to rescue Officer Newbill, who was shot and killed in Moscow in 2007, Gray said it was their choice. They put themselves in danger voluntarily to get their brother out of harm”s way. Another officer was injured and four people died that night, including the shooter, but the officers did what they could.
It is good that corrupted police officers are being caught and often held accountable for their actions. However, when it comes to all of the police officers in the U.S., most of them are good and they put their lives on the line every day to protect the people in their communities.
Mary Malone can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @InkSlasherEdit