Spectrum: Do All Cops Think the Same?

Six police officers sit down together to discuss a variety of issues around policing in America.

They were all asked to give their opinion about whether they felt threatened by being defunded. A lot of them had a variety of opinions, ranging from supporting to criticizing it.

Marsalis, 23, an officer from Detroit, Michigan, says that Detroit suffers from a lot of issues. The public school system and mental facilities suffer greatly and do not have the appropriate care for their students and patients. He believes that removing money from police departments and placing them elsewhere can help bring about positive change.

“If we can help our people before they get to the point where the police need to be involved, there won’t need to be that much negative police interaction,” he said.

All the officers spoke on the case of George Floyd’s death and how they disapproved of what happened.

Zach, 28, a police officer in Montana, believes that the other officers should have stepped in. He said that if he was there then he would tackled the officer that was on Floyd’s neck to the ground.

His great concern is how the public will continue to view police after the death of Floyd.

“This is gonna reflect on all of us, all 800,000 to 900,000 police officers,” he said.

Evan, 28, an officer in D.C., says that details do not matter as much for a case like this.

“He didn’t have to die, they had many other options,” he said.

Despite the tragedy of the event, Phil, 44, an officer in California, is glad to hear that police departments are talking more about what he regards as “the elephant in the room.” He knows that police brutality has always been talked about within departments, but he is glad there is more conversation around it.

“Nothing has ever been addressed the way its being addressed right now,” he said.