Should Police Officers Protect Our Society

Visualize a mother of two kids and a wife of a police officer waking up everyday thinking that her husband has a possibility of being killed. With that being said, I firmly believe that police officers should protect themselves with any means necessary. Recently there have been many scenarios of people claiming police brutality and also shootings taking place in regards to police officers and members of the community. Aside from the great pride that comes along with being an officer, I believe that it is the duty of an officer to protect the community around him, but that can only be done if the police officer has the full support of the community around him. The shootings and assaults that have been taking place are all in all the result of the police trying to defend themselves by making quick, rational decisions to be vigilant and better protect the community, as well as taming the increasingly

hostile public.
Aside from swearing to protect the community, officers have a promise to their friends and families that they will be able to go home at the end of the day. When I was eight years old, I hear gunshots as I was walking to the liquor store on the corner of my block. My first reaction was to drop down to the floor. As I am on the floor, I see a man with a gun shooting at a police officer. The officer opened fire on the suspect as the suspect ran off. Not only did I drop down to the floor but I covered my ears. As I grew up seeing numerous counts of gun fights in East Los Angeles, I learned to appreciate officers for putting their own lives in danger in order to keep the community safe. Later that night, a couple of policemen stopped by to see if we saw anything that may help catch the suspect. Not once did the officers show helplessness or complain. Rather, they were determined and persistent on catching the gang affiliated man who opened fire on the police officer.
Police officers should be allowed to carry guns and should have every intent to use it. For example, last week in Los Angeles the 5 Freeway was shut down due to a high speed car chase (Pamer). Not only was the suspect crashing into other cars on the freeway, but he was armed with a gun. As soon as the six officers had a chance to corner the suspect, they shot him. LAPD later concluded that this man has been wanted for over a month on charges against firing at residents outside their homes (Pamer). If not for the officers with guns, this man could have endangered local residents and at the same time disappear forever. Officers are able to fulfill their duty and commitment on protecting the community with the help of gun strapped to their waist.
Lately, illegal drugs have been pouring into the country and the only hope is for local law enforcement to prevent these terrorists from bringing illegal government weapons into the country (Does Being a Police Officer). As many politicians have been arguing, there is a need to confiscate these illegal bare arms and prevent them from entering the country. I believe that the only solution to this is to help cops prepare for these situations and allow them to use deadly force. Confiscating illegal drugs and weapons ultimately will lead to tracking down major arms dealers and mass terrorist organizations.
Due to an increasingly dangerous public, enforcement is a necessity in today's society. Last year, a Texas traffic officer was drastically approached by two attackers in body armor opening fire with assault rifles (Botelho). He was considered a hero after taking both of the suspects down with only his pistol. The ability of the traffic officer to act quickly and defend his ground with only a pistol has been understated throughout the past year. As the Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said, he did what he was trained to do and he did a very good job (Botelho). This is the perfect example of this police officer not only just doing his job, but defending himself by acting fast and doing what he was trained to do.
Many individuals would disagree with this standpoint, and counter argue it, as they believe that there is a greater issue with the police related assaults and shootings, racism. In many of the assault and shootings that we see taking place and becoming popular, there is usually an African American individual who is the victim. In each situation, time and time again, there is the same general layout of what occurs. One the one side we see the backlash from the community that the individual was from, as they paint the picture of the character of the individual and the bright future that was ahead of them, but on the other side we see the police declaring that the threat was real with the victim as they were proving to be a danger and not cooperating.
As the cases get more familiar within our country we see that more and more people in the United States are speaking out against police brutality believing that White police officers are deep down racists and believe that those that they are policing are inadequate.

Furthermore, many individuals believe that the police officers are misusing their power by taking extreme measures when situations arise. In shootings for example, we see that many police officers claim that their lives were in danger and the individual displayed threatening behavior that required them to fire. Many people contend this as they think that the police officers did not have sufficient discretion in firing their weapon and used their deep rooted, or even subtle, racism in handling the situation. In other words, had the individual been White the situation would have ended differently, and not with a dead African American person. The fact that in each of these cases of police brutality the individual ends up dead and unable to tell their side of the story is extremely alarming to

many.
As police departments train officers with firearms, the only way to stop terrible people from committing a terrible act is with deadly force. We should acknowledge that as long as all these undocumented guns are made, officers who are trained to use guns should be allowed to carry them. Today, if various men and women have been involved in numerous life and death situations as a police officer in a large city, we should all agree that when it is time for the community to be protected against unexpected deadly activity by criminals who have guns, officers need to be armed to prevent these such acts. As we look at the future of our police force, we should be able to have young adults join the force. If they knew that the government has passed laws for officers not to have guns, that will make them doubtful about joining the local police departments because of the lack of their personal protecting from not having a gun. Most countries in the world arm police with guns and other type of weaponry. Many of the countries that do not arm officers such as United Kingdom, Iceland, and New Zealand still have armed response officers at their disposal just in case of emergencies. Suddenly if we stopped arming officers, imagine what drug lords are going to think if regular college students are laughing at them. Imagine crowded places with police without a gun.
Having unarmed police will result in more dangerous criminals who would be difficult to stop. Many of these terrorists groups have guns. That is their way of using violence to get what they want. As they enter the United States, they do not use bombs or chemical weapons to create violence, but use guns. Today, ISIS has harmed the US in many ways. They constantly send threats that keep many people in America awake at night. They are now recruiting Americans in these lawless attacks and the only reason why they are winning at what they are doing is because of the general public complaining about officers having weapons. Officers need to be intimidated and have a demeanor that they are serious about using their gun if they see suspicious activity on the streets.
Technology has allowed officers to catch criminals more efficiently (Schultz). Today with all of the technology the police use, we have no reason to not use weapons in catching the bad guys. As the departments share the information about criminals with a touch of a button on their laptops and electronic devices, we can simply crack down on illegal weapons with the weapons that are issued by the government. Officers have not only gun weapons, but they also have weapons like the technology in every cop car and the computers that allow them to run a background check on anyone on the streets. With this type of innovations, it makes it safer for cops to know who they are dealing with and if they need to react with deadly force.
Ultimately, police officers are the reason why we are all safe. They are the reason why we are able to stop terrorists from entering the country. They prevent young kids from having illegal drugs and undocumented weapons. They are the reason why kids are sent to school everyday without the worry of being protected, why dangerous people are kept off the streets, and why we can call our country “America”. Not only should we be humbled about being safe when they are around, but we should give thanks to those men and women who risk their lives everyday for our safety. Although many people will dissent from this standpoint, there is no debate that the police provide more to this community that they are given credit for.