As I pulled into the driveway of the church I began to observe a certain energy. I was waived in by church members and basically directed where to park. As I exited my car I began to see several church members and other community members. They were very jovial, and went out of their way to speak to me. As they did this, they also thanked me for my service. Briefly I was set back by these mannerisms, but I remained open to receive them. It felt good. For the first time in many months, I was received by the community with a beautiful smile and words of praise, and hints of promise regardless of what had been advertised over social media during in the past few months. These mannerisms were very strong in their meaning. They allowed me to …show more content…
We were being supported by the people we were sworn to protect, and I cannot stress enough how important that made me feel. I saw officers that I had not seen in years begin to fill this church accompanied by members of the community. The ambiance was very positive during this moment and both police officers and the community residents sat together in the church pews; without titles. There appeared to be no title of police officer or citizen here, only an understanding of two simple letters, “US” or “WE”. I embraced an old friend of mine (past co-worker) then sat and began to watch one of the most uplifting experiences in my career. This event was hosted by a local news personality, and from the beginning, the energy in the room continued to build in the most positive of ways. Pastors one at a time approached the stage and comforted everyone in the room. They spoke about the negative videos on social media, which portrayed law enforcement officers as “negative entities”. They encouraged us to continue to do our jobs and helped us to understand “everyone does not feel negative towards law enforcement,” regardless of if it appears to be that way. The former mayor of Compton California was also present. She took the stage and offered many levels of encouragement to the law enforcement officers in the room. She also inspired the citizens in attendance. Everyone who took the stage became …show more content…
He was given an I-Pad, a great gift for a soon to be college student. In the end everyone in the room held hands and prayed together. With our heads down praying I briefly gazed to my left and nearly fell to tears. Within a span of 10 seconds or so, I realized gazing had turned into a full-blown stare. What I was seeing and feeling was truly amazing. “Such a beautiful moment,” I thought to myself. Moments like this are priceless, and should truly be loaded onto social media networks to be seen by thousands immediately. The community members in that room showed the police department just how much they supported what we do. My family of law enforcement officers, co-workers I’d worked with and known, some for over two decades, my brothers and my sisters in this craft, were holding hands with the community, praying together seeking out change, safety for us all, and a better relationship between the police and the community. My heart pounded through my chest because I had never experienced anything like this in my lifetime. At this point I had begun to understand why I was attending this award ceremony in the first place. It was not about my student, and the award he had received. It was about a complete understanding regarding the relationship between the community and the police departments, which patrol these communities. It was about a relationship between these two entities, understanding that they need each other in order to survive. We
So if we want joy, love, and empathy in our lives, we need to let vulnerability into our hearts.... ... middle of paper ... ... But instead of reacting negatively, I was pleased to see that Anabella and Francisco and Santos – and all my other students – understood. They saw that I was trying my best, and that for any positive change to occur, we, all, had to put ourselves at risk in the arena.
This experience was really out of my comfort zone. It was hard to be an outsider and not prepared for what was to come and not speaking one of the languages used to understand the entire service. This service learning project gave me the opportunity to try a new church and gain a deeper respect for a different religion. Everyone at the service was very educated on speaking the sacred texts and participating in the rituals practiced. I hope to have gained a better understanding for those who are new to religions and are nervous to come to a worship service. I will make more of an effort to be welcoming and accommodating to those who are new to our church.
In my paper I will talk about my visit to The Community Church at Murphy's Landing (CCML). I have chosen this particular Church because it is a family church type and my neighbor goes there and she encouraged me to go with her. I went there with my neighbor on April 6, 2014.This church is an appropriate for this assignment because the people there are welcoming me with an open heart and they are willing to help and provide me with information. When I visit the Church’s site I read these words “We know visiting a new church can be intimidating. But, we want to help you to be as comfortable as possible when and if you join us”. The people gather in the church weekly to glorify God in joyful worship. The expressions of worship on CCML take many forms a prayer, a hymn of reverent awe, a guitar ringing with a chorus of praise, or a warm handshake and a welcoming smile. Their weekly services begin at 9:30 each Sunday at church. Also, they have weekly podcast if anyone wants to listen online. They have many types of services for parents, kids and students. People at CCML were so friendly; they gather around me and start welcoming me, one by one. People there introducing themselves to me, one after another and provide me with their contact information and help. Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis...
The two forum presentations on October 12th were both moving and inspiring but from a police perspective, the presentation given by Major Douglas Burig of the Pennsylvania State Police Department was most impactful to me. In October 2006, Major Burig, a sergeant at the time, was the officer in charge of the West Nickel Mines School shooting in Lancaster Pennsylvania. It was a call that all law enforcement officers understand they may be involved in but pray never happens. Major Burig discussed the police response, the decisions he made, the resulting changes to his department and other issues related to the incident. Major Burig described the scene in detail. He detailed the initial response of the officers, his reasoning for the decisions
This semester, we talked about how important it is to keep a positive relationship present between the police officers and the community. This theme really starts to emerge in the book in the chapter called, Across the Racial Divide. “There are cities where “clearing corners” is an accepted administratively supported practice: Officers routinely roll up on groups of blacks in public and order everybody to leave” (Kennedy 2011:143). This contradicts the focused deterrence approach they were implementing in cities, and knowing who were committing crimes, and instead officers racially profiling citizens. Also, this correlates to investigatory traffic stops in Pulled Over. “People are especially likely to look beyond respectfulness when, as is true of African Americans, they are a stigmatized group that is commonly and repeatedly subjected to a process that disproportionately disadvantages members of the stigmatized group, and the members of this group have developed a share knowledge of these disparities and of the process that generates them” (Epp, Maynard-Moody, & Haider-Markey 2014:117). This shows that when one race group is always being questioned, or stopped by the police, then there will never be a good relationship between the community and the police. Also, when you had the focused deterrence approach in the cities that implemented in, and police was decreasing crime so that families and business owners can live in a safe place, the relationship will be
These changes have manifested both positive and negative reverberations in the way we perform our job. Police officials have contemplated for years over the key to maintaining a positive image for their organization. Unfortunately, several incidents in the past years have altered society's perception of police in some communities. Police in America are no longer strangers to innovation born of scandal.
At some point in our lives, everybody eventually comes in contact with a law enforcement officer, some people for different reasons. Law enforcement officers work around the clock to keep citizens safe. Many people do not know a lot of things about law enforcement, some of those will be discussed. Those topics are agency administration, issues with law enforcement in today’s society, and law enforcement history.
Every action the law enforcement community makes should leave a positive, everlasting effect on the community they serve. The negative view of law enforcement should not be the actions of a few but the unseen actions of many. The bad apples of law enforcement always make the news and the headlines, but the officer who went above and beyond to affect a family for the rest of their lifetime, goes unnoticed.
The building of mutual trust between police agencies and the communities they serve are critical to maintaining public safety and effective policing. In past as well as recent history controversial uses of force among other types of incidents have damaged the relationships between police and their communities. The United States is a vast land of various races, ethnicities and religious backgrounds in which law enforcement must navigate daily. Many communication barriers still interfere in the building of relationships between various cultural groups and the law enforcement that serves them. While each group brings its own stack of beliefs and backgrounds, it is still important for law enforcement to become familiar with those they may encounter
Imagine feeling like every kiss goodbye to your loved ones each day might be your last kiss. Police officers and their families feel this way every single day. Every morning when a police officers puts on their badge, they know there 's a chance they might not come home that night. However, although police officers risking their lives daily, being a police officer is literally a thankless job. Not only are they taken for granted, but all these videos and people voicing the horrible stories with out looking at the good one’s are putting some bad light on police officers. Andrew Hale, who is a lawyer of one of the top firms in the country known for representing police officers, believes that much of people 's anti-police attitude is due to a media bias to report the shocking and dramatic. "Unfortunately the bad tends to stand out and make more interesting news stories," explains Hale, "Mistakes and problems tend to be more dramatic, attention-getting, adrenalin-fueling - far more than the calm, peaceful good deeds police officers do every day.” Hale also says "From what I 've seen, the vast majority of police officers are dedicated, hard-working and conscientious," says Hale. "There are over 13,000 police officers in Chicago. The fact that a handful of officers have been in the news for misconduct should not taint the other 12,980. One bad apple does not mean they
Community leaders and activist should go through the training in the videos to better understand law enforcement. They must acknowledge what is it to be in a scenario like the ones shown. It is necessary for community leaders to feel the tension and stress that officers go through on a daily basis. It is the officers job to protect community members. If community leaders and
Building Respect “True public safety requires a collaboration between law enforcement and the community” (Hodges). Our local and state law enforcement works so hard to keep our communities safe, and the people of the communities should have a lot of respect for their effort. We can build respect for local law enforcement by welcoming police officers into our school, having social gatherings, using social media, and by having fundraisers. Building respect for our local and state law enforcement is very important.
Usually, the communication from priests to his audiences are pretty clear. For the first in a while, I felt like it was difficult to follow along. Since this text will be over how his messages were conveyed, the fact I had trouble most of the time understanding him should only be a small factor. The background allowed for success, the close bond between the behaviors and audience allowed for an easier form of communication.
As my friend Jenni and I entered the hall of the big church, a feeling of apprehension overwhelmed us. Our feelings were soon comforted when we entered a sea of smiling faces and outstretched hands. A sense of belonging engulfed us. Ms. Shirley, an older colored woman was first to extend her arms. She did not know us from Adam, but it did not matter. She threw her arms around us. "You girls have the prettiest smiles", she declared. "I am so glad you came to be with us this morning." Words can not describe what the act of kindness did to our feelings of apprehension, and that was just the beginning.
The people there were all extremely nice and would try to help me understand. They understood and accepted the fact that I wasn’t religious, but was showing interest in their faith. There were not as much people there as I had expected, but that might have been because it was a smaller church. It also wasn’t as racially diverse as I had expected. I thought that because it is the world’s biggest religion, that it