Police Hairdressers

To become apart of New York’s finest police department, you must complete 639 training hours stretched over a six-month period. That is just under twenty-seven days total to become someone who has a very powerful task to perform for the next 35+ years of their lives. In comparison, a hairdresser in the state of New York has to undertake 1000 hours of training to become licensed. That is a little under forty-two days to cut, color, and style hair in the state of New York city. More training is required to become a hairdresser than an officer of the law in a lot of states. In the short time that these officers are receiving, they must learn when is the appropriate time to use lethal and nonlethal tactics. With the rising number of police brutality …show more content…
Society commands that you treat law enforcement with far more respect than most people and for good reason. Officers risk their lives on a daily basis to protect and serve those in their community. Police are the enforcers of the law, but what happens when they abuse their power? In May 2015 the Washington Post stated “385 people shot and killed by police nationwide during the first five months of this year, more than two a day” (Kindy, “Fatal”). Majority of the people killed were armed, whether it be with a gun or another object that is deemed deadly. This may make the deaths seem justified, but the question then arises as to why the death rate in 2015 has risen more than twice over the past decade (Kindy, “Fatal). The biggest problem are policies being carried out and bias on behalf of the officers. Police being forced to make judgment calls can only lead to human error resulting in disasters. Chasing after suspects is a ridiculous practice. Nearly 1 in 3 shootings that result from a car chase start with a traffic stop for a minor infraction (Kindy, “Year”), especially when the officer is chasing a suspect for running a red light. This puts the officer in a situation where they have to start using their judgment. If the suspect leaves the vehicle and the officer pursues, this can spell disaster in many cases. This leads to officers acting on preconceived notions about individuals based on …show more content…
The officers cannot be the only ones to blame though. Media perception plays a huge role in the way that minorities are perceived. Super predators, terrorists, criminals, and thugs are all words that change the way that Americans have viewed certain races of people in America. When a Middle Eastern person wearing a hijab or an African American person wearing a hoodie is walking through a neighborhood, thoughts get provoked. The negative images come to mind and minds get triggered, even police minds. Fear is a great emotion that can lead to irrational thinking such as misfires and lapses of judgment. However, is it really a lapse of judgment when you are taught to shoot to kill and be afraid of