The following scenarios were developed by police officers for police officers.

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Mutual Respect in Policing

Part IV

VIGNETTE FOUR

Officer exits on the passenger side of the police cruiser to help a young injured boy out of the cruiser.  His partner exits from the driver’s side and helps a young boy out of the cruiser.
 
WHITE OFFICER:  Watch your head. Easy.  You ok?  

	Officers help the injured boy down the street.

BLACK LADY:  Why can’t they just leave those kids alone?

WHITE MAN #1:  Look at that.  Kids half beaten to death.  

WHITE MAN #2:  Yup! Takes a real man to beat up a young boy.

WIFE:  My God!  Did you see that poor child?

HUSBAND:  Yeah.  Just like they say, it’s too much violence corruption, and cover-ups.  These guys are out of control.  

Officer’s knocks on the front door of the home of the boy.

MOTHER:  Ay my God, Miguel what  . . . (turns to officers) What did you do to him?  He’s just a little boy.

WHITE OFFICER #1:  Calm down, ma’am.

Father comes out of the house.

FATHER:  Ave Maria! Que te hicieron?

WHITE OFFICER #2:  Calm down, sir. SIR!  SIR! Sir, your son was in an accident.  

YOUNG BOY:  Si, papa.  I fell down the ravine on my bike.  The officers saw me and they helped me out.  It’s ok. They didn’t hurt me.

MOTHER:  Are you ok, baby?  Ay mi hijito lindo, que te paso? Mi hijito, estas bien? Ay mi amor. (speaking Spanish as she embraces her son.)

END  OF VIGNETTE FOUR

TRAINING OFFICER:  Well, what are your comments on that?

WHITE OFFICER:  Well to me, this one says you just can’t win.  You know when you’re helping someone people just don’t trust you.  

TRAINING OFFICER:  Well, that is just something we have to deal with.  And no, it doesn’t feel very good when you’re trying to help somebody and everybody ends up mad at you.  

FEMALE OFFICER:  It goes with the territory, guys.  When people will see or hear about someone being abused by the police then they start to expect it from all police. 

BLACK OFFICER:  Yeah, but there’s another part to this.  As cops we see these contacts as a bunch of single events.  Now people in the community, they see this more like a pattern and that’s when they start to get upset.    

WHITE OFFICER:  But it puts us at a disadvantage.  We’re out there everyday trying to make a difference.  Nobody notices.  

TRAINING OFFICER:  We need to get that message out and we need to build community support.  

FEMALE OFFICER:  Maybe showing something like this at a community meeting would help.  Let people see that most officers are trying to do a good job.  

TRAINING OFFICER:  And they are and that is an excellent idea and I think . . .   

NARRATOR:  What can be done to improve police citizen interaction?  

•	Building community trust takes time.  It happens when citizens learn that they can trust police to help them.  

•	Listening to citizens helps build trust.  Once officer safety is established, listening will stabilize a situation.  

•	Listening may be difficult for citizens when they are upset.  Officers need to expect that and help them calm down.  

•	Recognize that police officers can also be profiles even when they are trying to help someone.  

•	Gaining community support and acceptance overrides a lack of trust.