It’s 2016, and I still believe that not all cops are bad cops

For the past three years I have felt stuck in the middle between what is morally right and what I was raised to believe. I was nine years old when my mom came home with her long blonde hair chopped into a boyish pixie cut. The next day, she woke up at 5 in the morning and I watched her get ready for work. At the time I couldn’t understand why she had decided to exchange her usual khaki dress pants and high heels for oversized pants and big black combat boots. She left for work before the sun was up, and came back late in the day tired, bruised, and weak. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that she announced to my sister and I that she had decided to join the police academy.

In 2013, social media outlets exploded with the Black Lives Matter hashtag after the murder of Trayvon Martin sparked a huge conflict in urban communities. Since then, there has been a seemingly continuous pattern of encounters involving unarmed African Americans losing their lives in confrontations with armed police. Names like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and many others flood news outlets on what seems like a much too constant basis. This series of events has sparked a nationwide battle between citizens of all races and law enforcement officers. It’s unlikely that I can go a day without seeing an angry Facebook post about how ALL police officers are murderers and terrible human beings.

When I was younger, I used to believe that seeing a police car meant you were doing something wrong. The first thing that would come to mind when we passed one on the highway was: “Slow down, mom, you’re driving too fast,” even if she was only going a few miles above the speed limit. I used to believe that police were scary, mean and only out to get you until I experienced first hand the hard work and effort that goes into being a law enforcement officer. Today, nine years later, I have come to believe that my mom along with many of the 900,000 other sworn officers in the United States are heroes. Not just heroes to me, but to all of the people they have helped serve and protect.

My mother’s badge

It enrages me just as much as the next person to see so many innocent people losing their lives over confrontations with the men and women that are supposed to protect them. And after doing my own research and forming my own opinions, I can honestly say that I am a strong advocate of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But, like most things in life, there are good guys and bad guys: the same goes for law enforcement officers. When I was younger I remember playing the game “good cop, bad cop” and always wanting to be the bad cop because I got to break the rules. In today’s society, being the bad cop is not OK, and never will be. When people ask me how I feel about the events that have been flooding the nation for the past three years, I shrug my shoulders and say I would rather not talk about it. I sometimes feel very wrong for believing that in 2016 not every police officer is a murderer or a “bad cop”.

Every single day, my mother puts on her badge and heads out to work. She says goodbye to my sisters and I and never forgets to tell us that she loves us, because in her profession she isn’t guaranteed to come home the same day safe and alive. A lot of people take for granted the hard work that goes into protecting and serving entire communities. Being a police officer isn’t all about writing traffic tickets and giving out underage drinking citations. Take a moment to imagine how terrifying it must be to leave for work every day not sure if you will come back home later. How scary it must be to be in a situation where your life is in danger and you have to aim your weapon at another human being.

I believe that being a law enforcement officer is one of the bravest things you can do. When they put on that badge every morning, they are making a promise to protect and serve not only for their community, but for the rest of the world as well. The job of an officer is to keep people safe from harm the best way they can, but it isn’t always about playing bad cop, either. Countless times my mother has come home with stories about how she saved a child from an abusive home. How she’s helped a mentally unstable person get off the streets and into a facility that will help give them the assistance they need to get back on their feet. It’s not easy to have to put your own life aside in order to help save someone else’s. What would the world be like if we didn’t have people to call during an emergency to help us feel safe again? What would Penn State be like if we didn’t have those blue lights on every corner to press when we feel unsafe, and have someone come just to walk us home?

Every day, I wake up and take a second to thank all of the men and women who put their lives on the line to help protect the lives of others. I take great pride in the fact that my mother is one of the “good cops”, and that she has been there to save the lives of others who need it. I know that she will always do the right thing when it comes to her job. I believe that law enforcement officers are some of the world’s greatest superheroes. Underneath those gold badges and blue uniforms they are parents, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, alumni and most of all: just regular people with a commitment to serve and protect.