Dear Future President,

My name is Sarai Martinez, I am 16 years old and I live in Philadelphia, PA. Police Brutality is a tremendous problem in the United States at the moment. This is important to me because I want to see change in our country and I want all types of people from different ethnicities to feel safe wherever they go. The issue has become more intense over the last couple of years. “580 people have been killed on the hand of police this year (2016). 488 people have been shot and killed by police (thinkprogress.com). The problem is dominant with African Americans and white male police officers. Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Mike Brown were all killed by white male Police Officers. These are just some of the biggest cases people know about, but there are a lot more. Families that lose people due to Police Brutality and many more people want justice. So you as our next president can help make a change and stop Police Brutality.

My first time hearing about Police Brutality was Trayvon Martin. On February 26th, 2012 Trayvon was in Sanford, Florida and was shot by George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch police. Trayvon was walking around in a neighborhood when he noticed a man following him (Zimmerman). Trayvon called his mother and he said that a man was following him. Trayvon Martin was scared, I would be scared too if some unknown person was following me in a car. My friends were really upset about this and I didn’t understand why until I was a bit older. But he was killed for no apparent reason except that he was walking. Zimmerman said that he had seen a “suspicious black male wearing a hoodie”. That is stereotyping and prejudice. We need our country to be safe and with police thinking they can do whatever they want because they have the authority to do so it isn't going to help.

Imagine if you were apart of their families. Wouldn’t you want justice for your family? You would want everyone to know that what police are doing, and it is wrong. You would want this to stop and you would want your family and everyone to be safe from Police Brutality, or any harm. Imagine your child being shot by police. You would be devastated, and that's why this needs to stop.

To help stop Police Brutality you could put police officers through a series of “what if” or “what would you do if this happened” questions. This would help because you would be able to get an idea on how they would handle a situation that doesn't necessarily need violence. You could also have police wear Body Cameras. These would be useful to see if the police officer is using unnecessary force and to see what provoked the situation or attack if a police officer uses violence. You could also put more angled cameras in the streets for a better point of view.

Police Brutality is a big issue in our country. Our country needs to be safe. African American men and women or any type of people from any ethnicity shouldn't have to feel unsafe walking past police officers. Police are supposed to stop crime not make it happen. Our future should not involve Police Brutality so help prevent it from happening.

Sincerely,

Sarai Martinez.