Community Experience

     On Friday I had the opportunity to participate in a ride along with a police officer of the Provo Police Department. Honestly, the experience was better than I anticipated. I was out on patrol with the officer for most of the night because I really loved the experience. We had a lot of different stops such as welfare checks, traffic stops, suspicious activity, warrants for arrest, domestic disputes, disorderly conduct, etc. We were mainly on the south end of town because that is where most of the calls come from. Some of the experiences that I had were real eye openers. One of them was a welfare check of a 97 year old woman. We went to her house because a friend called and was worried about her not being treated right by her step-son. When we checked on her it was not in the best neighborhood and she hoarded a lot of things in her house. Her electricity got turned off the month before because she couldn't pay her bill. I really felt sorry for the woman because she deserved better and her step-son moved in without asking. Another experience was a family dispute where the family was fighting about how each other's children are raised and taken care of. There were multiple siblings all living in the same home with their children. One of the mothers and two children ended up moving out of the house that night because she wanted to move out while the police where on the property in case anything happened. It really made me think about how families can be torn apart so easily. Lastly, there was disorderly conduct at a high school night club. There were about 30 teenagers outside the club and the people in the middle were fighting. When we got there 3 police officers were already present and 2 more came after us. During the fight someone dropped a knife but no one was injured. The security at the club was not doing their job well at all because everything was out of control. It was just a reminder that some teenagers will still participate in violence even in Utah. Overall, I learned ton about why people get stopped by police and what an officer's restrictions are, types of offenses that people can be charged with, requirements to be an officer, and all the excitement of the job.

     We were mainly in low income housing areas on the south side of Provo. We stopped a variety of people of different ethnicity/race, age, and gender. In some ways you do have to stereotype people in order to determine if you will further research to see if someone maybe guilty of something. For example, we went to a gas station to see if there were vehicles that could potentially have reasons for arrests or searches. We determined it by picking out cars that were not in the best shape because the owners typically are people that are in trouble with the law. This a stereotype that is necessary in the police force in order to make arrests and searches. When someone drives through a certain neighborhood we would follow them to see if their car came up with any previous offenses. Even though it's stereotyping it's necessary in order to keep the city safe.

     This experience can be applicable to my teaching career and help me understand my students better. After seeing rough parts of town it is apparent to me that I may teach a child that comes from an area prone to violence, drug dealing, hostility, and other criminal acts. This will effect how a child perceives the world, school, family, friends, and everything else. A child I teach might feel unsafe while in their neighborhood and may do poorly in school because of the negative influences that are around them. There may be a child living in a home with family members having disputes all the time. I may teach students who get arrested at night clubs on the weekend. A student's life at home has a huge impact on how they will do in school. It is hard for a student to excel in school academically without the support of their family and value of education. This makes me want to teach my students about how important it is that they gain an education and grow to their potential. Their home life and lack of support does not mean that they have to perform poorly in school. Also, just as police officers stereotype people in order to make arrests I will have to have some stereotypes present as well. I do not want to be the teacher that is part of stereotyping students but at the same time there are certain traits about students that may be key factors into why a student is struggling in school. If a student does not have his class materials on a consistent basis it could be carelessness, but it could also be his family's lack of money to buy school supplies. Either way, there is a problem that I need to address.

     My overall take away from my ride along experience was in order to keep the city safe judgment calls need to be made. I may teach students that come from areas where arrests are common and that may or may not play a role into their performance in school. Some students might come from broken homes where education is not valued and they are not supported in their achievements by their family. This gives me all the more reason to create a learning environment where students feel safe and comfortable. If students are in any of these circumstances that I got to witness I want them to feel like they have a safe place to come to if they need to talk about these issues. In my subject of health education we talk about how in order to treat an illness you have to get to the root of the problem and not just treat the symptoms. I want to get to the root of my students' problems and not just treat their symptoms to get them through the school year.