COPS (Community Outreach Program for Students) by Lexis

COPS (Community Outreach Program for Students) by Lexis - September 2019 Scholarship Essay

Out of 10,000 total murders, five police officers have gone to prison for the murder of an African American since 2007. In 2015, 30% of Black victims were unarmed, yet the debate about whether these numbers are intentional is still ongoing. In a world where African Americans are three times more likely to be targeted by police, there should be little difficulty in understanding where the disconnect lies. Narrowing down the entire African American race, I began noticing another detachment. For years, there has been a negative stigma against police that has been detrimental to the relationship between police and society, with an excessive concentration on minority teens. Discovering my own learner agency, I found myself using free time to answer questions I had about community policing as I slowly began to see the connection between the two groups. My high school was jam packed with teens who were in trouble with school, the law, any rules you could think of, they broke them. Though, if you are relentlessly exposed to an environment where media portrays any type of law enforcement as a constant threat, that is all they will become to you. Not only was I curious as to where these issues were stemming from, I wanted to gradually attempt to resolve them. To do so, I formed a group of police officers and high school teens known as COPS (Community Outreach Program for Students), with which we had in depth discussions on the impact of media on this already tainted relationship, touching on topics such as poverty, crime in neighborhoods, city and family life, and the lack of repercussions police officers receive.
As an aspiring criminal investigator, this conversation was frightening yet enlightening. The group was able to come to the consensus that media is a key perpetrator in the harsh reality of this relationship, while also making an unfortunate analysis of the fact that society is so hooked on technology that this may not be as easy a fix as it sounds. And while we were able to accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time, no issue can be solved in a day. If it could, it was never an issue. Implementing a program for youth to discuss their fears, concerns, etc. as well as heal from them would present amazing academic and behavioral improvements. If given the chance, I would love to find a way to do so and help so many of our youth deal with problems society has created for them that they simply cannot handle on their own.