The play written by students of LaGuardia Community college, “Intersections” is a very thoughtful and fascinating production. It gives us insights of financially unstable households, their mindset, their way of dealing with problems and how they behave in certain situations. There is a plain theme behind the play that says “Every action that you take today, lays the groundwork for your future choices”. You can also conclude the idea that your actions as a professional, have huge impact on other’s lives. just like by the end of the play, Alex who was a newly became police officer, shot an unarmed girl to death because he didn’t know what is the actual procedure to follow.
It was not just the ignorance of the procedure, Alex was scared for his life. As the event unfolded in the play, ALEX: Hands up now, Hands up (hands go for gun) Janelle: (hands up shakily) My hands are up They are up ALEX: I need to see your ID. (She goes for her pockets) DO NOT REACH INTO YOUR POCKETS I–. The above conversation clearly shows how confused and scared Alex was. He instantly considered those people a threat to him. I think that was basically a result of the training he was given as a police officer. The basic theme of the training was the idea that everyone on the street is a potential danger to these policemen. Which is unfortunately also happen to be the general practise of police training in the United States. This idea plays a major role in avoidable deaths of innocent people by police officers. It is a clear understanding that when you think the person next to you is a threat. Then it does not matter whatever they try to do or however they try to behave, your mind finds a way to make them look like a violent criminal and an immediate threat. These are the same misunderstandings that are the reason behind almost all of the police killings which turned out to be caused by a mistake, the suspect was reaching for his wallet to show his id or he was just angry on officer’s behavior and showed some resistance. Either way, the cost of this action was his life because apparently there is a common phrase among cops that says, “Better to be judged by 12, than carried by six” (Stoughton). I have taken this extract from an article written by Seth Stoughton, Seth has served as a police officer in a large municipal police department and now he is a scholar who researches policing, so he has a valid credibility. Seth also mentions that, “Officers are trained to shoot before a threat is fully realized” (Stoughton). They are taught that the risks of mistake are less than the risks of hesitation which actually means that officers’ lives are more important than normal people. In addition, police officers in United States are more likely to take out their firearm and use it instead of going for other options, such as pepper spray and baton. This is considered to be the last option in these situations. According to an article written by Catherine Taibi, “In the United States this year alone, there have been more than 400 fatalities as a result of police gunshots. In Germany, there have been four” (Taibi). Catherine quotes Christian Science Monitor writer Sara Miller Llana to explain the reason behind it. In Germany, police officers are trained in a very detailed and rigorous way. They are taught that even in very extreme situations, they should use other options to control the situation rather than directly going for firearm.
These are the main reasons behind the avoidable deaths of innocent people by police officers in the United States. I think that our law enforcement personals need to be trained in a way where they realize the responsibilities and restrictions of their job, and the importance of normal citizens’ lives. Police officers should take extra cautions for their safety but they should not forget their main purpose, which is the safety of common citizens.
Work Cited
Stoughton, Seth. “How police training contributes to avoidable deaths”. Publish in the The Atlantic on December 12, 2014.
Taibi, Catherine. “The fairly obvious reason police in other countries kill fewer people than American police do” Published in the Huffington Post on July 2nd, 2015.
Questions for peer review
1) Do you think that I was able to cover the main idea or theme of the play in the introduction?
2) What did you think of the conversation from play that I added in the beginning of second paragraph? Like does it make it clear what I’m trying to say.
3) Do you think that that I was able to successfully convey my argument to my audience?
4) I always find it kinda hard to write a complete and thorough conclusion. Do you want to add something in my conclusion?
5) Any other suggestion you want to make? clarify anything? or if something sounds kinda off. let me know.