Black Lives Matter: Four Police Perspectives

First and foremost, I would like to begin by saying that not only has this project been one of the most challenging ones I have ever taken on, but it has also been one of the most rewarding. The point of this project began by wanting to explore the way police officers perceive social justice movements relating to police brutality. I sat down with a total of four current police officers and asked each of them the same set of questions in relation to their perceptions of Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and the Defund the Police movements. The idea for this project sparked in my mind after all of the events and riots that occurred back in 2020, sparking protests worldwide. These protests were not only about police brutality but also about the treatment of Black Americans and other minorities when confronted by law enforcement.  I am taking a grounded theory approach to this paper, as my point was to go out and conduct my own research and gain my own first-hand knowledge from none other than the officers themselves. I am doing this to understand how they perceive these movements all around them, as well as how they understand police brutality themselves. In this project, I will ultimately tell the stories of 9 voices on police brutality and what they perceive justice to be in situations of extreme injustice, and loss of life. I would also like to clarify the fact that two out of these four victims were not killed by officers themselves, but the officers were complicit in the wrongdoings. I feel that no matter what the color of your skin is, it is important that we all understand and grasp the depth of this issue, as the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans has been much higher and is currently standing at 5.9 fatal shootings per million of the population per year between 2015 and March 2023 (Statista, 2023). Between 2015 and 2022, there have been approximately 2,146 recorded police officer deaths according to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. We as a society cannot keep living like this, and the sooner we understand the root of the problem, the sooner we can begin to create a pathway to have these difficult discussions needed for true social change.