October 28, 2016

Dear Future President,

Since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement back in 2014, 11 police officers have been killed and many more have been injured. Protests against police for the deaths of unarmed blacks such as Michael Brown and Freddie Grey have turned to hating police. Police are being killed just because of their job. Even though there are many problems in America, one of the biggest problems is the hatred and violence towards those who protect and enforce the law. It affects the police force, families of those who are killed, and America as a whole.

The hatred of policemen started when a police killed a unarmed African-American in Ferguson. Protests started because of one racist policeman, turned to a riots about Black Lives Matter. According to Casey Gane-McCalla of the Huffington Post, “Usually police brutality is not the primary cause for a riot but it is often the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Usually poverty, discrimination, disenfranchisement and neglect combined with a symbolic incident of oppression lead to the anger, chaos and lawlessness that provoke riots.” This means that people are rioting against police because of the bad things that have happened to them. So, because of this, they focus their their anger to police because even though it is not always the police that is the problem.

The ramifications of this for police are many and cause problems for the force as a whole. Some people who feel oppressed are hating police because of the officer’s job. This makes being a policeman or woman very hard and makes them not want to be on the force anymore. Andrea Noble of the Washington Times said, “Officers from more than 30 agencies gathered last week at an annual NAPO convention in San Antonio in an effort to learn how to rebuild that support.” She went on to say, “The two-day seminar focused on how agencies can interact differently with ‘hostile media,’ highlighting strategies to showcase positive news from their agencies and to better handle difficult situations, such as a fatal shooting by an officer. ‘It affects recruiting, retention and morale,’ Sgt. Romero said.” With this in mind, why would people want to be on the force any more? Being a police officer is one of the most hated and most dangerous jobs. Soon there won't be enough policemen to protect citizens like me and my family or America as a whole. Crime rates will go up and there won't be enough police to stop it.

Violence toward police officers also affects the families of the police. Every day, with more and more riots and shootings makes families worry and not want their parent, spouse, sibling or child out on the streets protecting people who don’t like them. Meghan M. Jacobs, the wife of a police officer who was killed and the mother of three had to start working as soon as she had her third baby because she couldn’t provide for her family without a job. Now her kids are fatherless with a mother who is never home. Hating on police affects families greatly and can ruin their lives. Another account written by Michael Sebastian of Cosmopolitan about Jennifer Loudon"When I lost Thor I had no idea it was possible to lose so much in an entire lifetime much less in a single moment, and I know that in light of recent events some of us have lost faith," said Jennifer Loudon, whose husband Thor Soderberg, a Chicago police officer, was killed in the line of duty last year. "But I want all Americans to know about Moses, Derek, Thor and all the officers out there who every day risk their lives protecting all of us.” The effects on people can ruin their lives just because people are mad.

Some people would say that the ‘police are racists’ and ‘have it coming’ because of the deaths of unarmed African-Americans that were unjustly shot and killed. People do have a right to be angry about things like this, but should not protest and riot against the police. Even if there are some bad and racist cops, that doesn’t mean all of them are. Not even 1% of cops have been considered racist, but saying that all cops are racist is being bigoted towards cops for just a small percentage of bad police officers.

So 45th president of the United States of America, you need to address and stop the fact publicly to end the hatred and violence towards police. They are dying defending this country and you need to do something about it to stop the effects on police, their families, and America itself. Thank you.

Sincerely, Jack M.