I know there are some good American police. But I grew up in a country where we were afraid of the police.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I believe that most police are conscientious and want only to provide safety for us.
The majority of my interactions with police were not good. There were a few good ones who were actually protecting the community. But then you have ones from the Valley. They never met me in their life, but since I'm a kid in basketball shorts and a white T-shirt, they wanna slam me on the hood of the car. Sixteen years old.
In America uniformed cops eat in coffee shops, diners and restaurants and I always feel safer having them around.
In almost all cases now the police are as much an enemy as the others.
I've always had a natural fear of the police, or abuse of their power.
When you have police officers who abuse citizens, you erode public confidence in law enforcement. That makes the job of good police officers unsafe.
Police use of deadly force is rare in America. You wouldn't know that by listening to some of the blowhards out there: the newspaper, the mainstream media, the race hustlers. They make it seem like this stuff happens several times a day. It's rare.
I remember my first run-in with cops. It took me really getting to hang, well after that, with cops who were cool, and realizing, 'Okay, there are some bad ones.' I ran into some bad ones in Columbus, Ohio, but they're not all bad.
Let me be clear: as I have said repeatedly, I do not believe that all police officers are bad, nor do I believe that most are bad. But there must be a transparent, impartial and fair system to judge those that engage in criminal or unethical acts.
There is not one single police officer in America that I am not afraid of and not one that I would trust to tell the truth or obey the laws they are sworn to uphold. I do not believe they protect me in any way.