During my Work Experience Program, the State Capitol Police have been kind enough to let me park in their lot since it’s right across the street from the building I’m in. In addition, there is always a State Capitol Police at the entrance of the building that greets me; thus, the State Capitol Police’s presence has definitely been significant in my daily routine these last five days. However, I hadn’t really worked closely with them until today. As I said, there is always an officer stationed at the entrance of the building. Officer Gibson always welcomes me with a “Good morning!” and a smile as I enter, but this morning I was finally able to sit down with him and learn more about his work. He told me about his background, which was expansive, diverse, and extremely interesting. Officer Gibson had previously worked in jobs such as juvenile detective and public relations officer for the Wilson Police Department, and he told me fascinating (as well as tragic) stories from some of the jobs he worked. After talking to him, I walked over to the Dobbs Building- which is right next to the building that I’m normally in- and talked to the officer stationed at the entrance there: Officer Deloatch. Officer Deloatch also told me about her background, as well as her childhood and how she came to be in the career she is in today. Both officers were incredibly generous in their openness and willingness to trust me with stories from both their careers and things that they have overcome in their personal lives. I’m very grateful for the time I was able to spend with them today because I learned a lot of valuable advice from them.
After lunch, I went down to the State Capitol Police building to meet with Chief Allen before heading over with the officers to the pavilion in front of the Museum of Natural Sciences, where a people’s march was beginning at 2:30pm. During these protests, the police are on-site to make sure that the protest remains safe and everything is kept under control. It was interesting to see how the officers went about this and the different things they kept an eye out for. They were never rude or aggressive to the protesters, but rather they were here to keep them and everyone else safe as they exercised their right to protest. As they stopped traffic to help the protestors across the street to the legislative building, I watched as the officers greeted the protestors. The y would shake hands, call out an “always nice to see you!”, and the protestors would thank them for being there.
These days, there’s a lot of controversy over law enforcement officers in our society. Today was a reminder that police officers are people, too. They have feelings and deal with hardships just as much as anyone else does. And, like anyone else, they’re just trying to do their job to the best of their abilities. My time with the State Capitol Police today prompted me to keep in mind that everyone has a story, and that one should not rely on stereotypes or prejudice to form judgement on an individual.
