The rise in violent conflicts between the citizens of the United States and the police is the issue that I want to solve. Due to my own age, race and gender, I am very well aware that I may be personally and directly impacted by this issue. The interaction between people of color and law enforcement in America is a key aspect of this larger issue. This issue has two main viewpoints: (1) that of people of color and, (2) that of law enforcement. While these two viewpoints overlap and intersect at several points, I believe them to be separate problems, each caused by different things. However, I do believe the problem needs to be addressed from a broader perspective.
Over the past few years there has been a stark increase in violent altercations in which polices are involved, quite a few of them resulting in the deaths of the party not in uniform. I believe that the two biggest reasons for these conflicts are a lack of communication between the
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People are made uncomfortable being confronted by authorities, making interaction with police officers tense from the very beginning. Another reason people are uncomfortable with the police is because they do not know them. To the average person, police officers represent this looming faceless force of power, waiting to find a reason to come after them. Frequently, the first time someone interacts with a police officer in their community is when they are being pulled over for a traffic violation. This establishes a lack of relatability with the police officers and dehumanizes them. For that reason, I believe that one way to improve police relations in local communities would be by having the police more socially active in communities, as opposed to only interacting when problems arise. This would put a face behind the actions of the police and improve their relationships with the people they