Diamond Jordan

Senior paper

Counter Argument

Thesis: Police officers and students need to take purposeful steps to improve their

communication.

Many people can argue that police officers are not required to clarify their actions in most

circumstances when an officer is stopping or detaining a person for a possible illegal infraction

or crime. A police officer from the Ferguson police, for example, was forced to use a lethal and

fatal act against a teen. Later, the officer told The Washington Post, Dont argue with me, dont

call me names, dont tell me that I cant stop you, dont say Im a racist pig, dont threaten that

youll sue me and take away my badge. Dont scream at me that you pay my salary, and dont

even think of aggressively walking towards me, (Dutta). According to this mindset, no one

should be second guessing what the officers are doing because its their job to do what they have

to do to make our community as safe as possible.

However, this argument is flawed because the community around the police should feel

as if the police are on their side. The police should be looking out for the community and the

community should know that the police has their back so they can all cooperate on a positive

way. Briana Jefferson was interviewed by Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center, and she

had this to say I also felt grateful for the sense of protection they provided when I saw officers
patrolling my neighborhood. This woman has had faith in the police, not because she blindly

trusts them, but because they have earned that respect by doing their job effectively.