Coming in and out of the store or driving around town, police officers are perceived in ways that don’t necessarily apply to the specific officer. Stereotypes and misconceptions have lead individuals to look at police officers differently, without making the effort to understand who they really are. As a child, I grew up believing that a police officer was scary and mean because my parents would tell me that the cops would take me away, if I didn’t wear my seatbelt. However, the information I wasn’t given was that the officer is doing his/her job by following the law, and if I break the rules, I am at fault and will be cited for it. At times that I saw police officers, some looked chubby, some had a mean look on their face while others looked buff and smiled at me. Regardless of the look on his/her face, or the size of his/her body, it is unfair for one to jump to conclusions and assume that because a few officers are a certain way, all officers are the same. Personally, I didn’t change my beliefs until I made the effort to get to know police officers, rather than believing what I heard. Although some officers fit the stereotypes mades towards them, it does not make it okay to automatically perceive each officer in the same way. People tend to see the negative in an officer instead of taking a moment to sit down and realize that a police officer isn’t just on the streets to give tickets to people. In actuality, people need to be able to think about the fact that a police