LAPD: Friends, Not Foes

Today we had two police officers come visit us during Global, and they gave us a huge insight on who police officers are, when they are and aren't on duty. From this experience today I think that most people including myself got a new view on how the police officers around our homes navigate. We got to see through Officer Ryan and Officer Darren that some cops aren't all we think they are. These officers sat down with us for two periods, if you had global B fourth period, and answered all the questions that we had today that ranged from their childhood to how they felt about the recent movements including the #BlackLivesMatter movement. What was cool to see was how that stuff affected them, even here in Los Altos. Officer Ryan mentioned how he immediately felt that the Michael Brown case would change everything about the relationship dynamic between citizens and officers of the law. I found this very interesting because even in Los Altos he felt he and his fellow officers would feel the shift in the relationships with the public. He explained how at parties people say don't shoot and things like that, when really he's trying to ensure that everyone gets home safe. I felt Officers Ryan and Darren were super cool and fun to meet, I got insight on two cops, and it changed my mind on how cops should be treated because the only other cops I've ever met were fairly mean. Meeting these two officers today was really cool and I felt they were very helpful when explaining things like their weapons, when we talked about Ferguson.