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Matthew Rosa

Ms. Gardner

English Honors

28 October 2014

Hero or Tyrant?

Many lives of innocent civilians are lost each year due to the careless acts from police

authorities. Yes, there may be a reason behind these acts but I don't think they can replace the

lives we lost. I am here today to educate everyone on this horrible topic, and together, we the

people can put an end to this crime. Police officers are often referred to as “heroes” but are they

really? Are you sure that they aren’t tyrants?

Police officers do not have their life easy. Everyday they are putting their lives on the

block. They are equipped with weapons if they need to use them. But are they using their

weapons correctly? Some say that such harsh weapons are needed for the police officers to

protect the people and I agree; but, some officers are not as trained as others and that is where

our problem is occurring. Every once in a while you will see on the news “Officer involved

shooting” and you wonder why these are always happening? Are the people wrong or are their

blames just?

The term hero can be defined as one who is looked upon for their courages duties. Police

officers are many times referred to as hero’s but are also hated on for their acts. One day a police

officer might be referred to as Superman, but the next day they could be referred to as a tyrant. A

police officer could of just saved a man from getting killed, or he just killed a man. An example

of a police officer committing a tyrant act is the shooting of Andy Lopez. Andy was killed in

Santa Rosa because the officer mistook his toy gun for a real gun and opened fire. The shooting

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prompted many protests in California about police brutality. The family reasoned that the

shooting was without probable cause. This signifies the police acting without reason. Police

officers are equipped with gear such as bullet proof vests and fully body protective gear when

they go into riots to break them up. Sometimes the officers will start pushing random people out

of the crowd even though they are not in the riot. The government chooses to focus on their

enforcement instead of the people. Countless officers are treating people like nothing. I found

this quote regarding the force of police officers, “Police officer deaths are at an all time low, yet

cases of police officers are at an all time high.”(King) Many crimes are being committed by

police officers and not very many of them are dying. Officers are making poor decisions and

they need to be educated. I believe that these people that are protesting about these issues are

doing the right thing. You need to continue to fight against this war and hopefully one day the

government will recognize a serious issue that occurs all across the globe. Hopefully one day

changes are made.

Another example of countless officers committing tyrannis acts was when a 17 year old

boy “tased into a coma and suffered brain damage”(King) for the rest of his life. One act from

the police officer put the boy in pain for his entire life. His life was changed forever. Not only

does that sound like the officer was a tyrant but he tased him because he was borrowing his

friends car. The department responded about the attack saying that the officer acted within

policy. Many officers are allowed to walk freely from these acts because they are part of the

government but what would happen if a citizen committed such a harsh crime? “When a good

cop does something wrong, we feel the ripples across the globe.”(Kinnaird) The sound of a

police officer committing a crime will spread everywhere. Do you think they would walk freely

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from his attack? No, the man or women would most likely be placed in prison for many years.

This perfectly exemplifies the flaw within the government.

Perhaps it is easy to speculate that a police officer is not a tyrant until something happens

to you. Until you feel the stabbing pain dreading over the loss of a loved one, until you sense the

fear of authority that surrounds you in every angle, until you struggle to maintain your humanity,

until you question the role of police authority.

In sum, I believe that this tyranny needs to come to an end. If police officers actually

became more educated, if police officers knew what was correct, if police officers made the right

decision, then maybe not as many people would die because of these tyrannis acts. I think that if

we the people start to get the governments attention then they will take actions. Do not expect

actions to be taken without anyone helping regarding the problem, but notice what the problem is

and find the actions needed to be taken yourself.

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Works Cited

King, Justin. "Start Forcibly Resisting Police Tyranny? -." D.C. Clothesline. N.p., 20 Sept. 2014.

Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

Kinnaird, Brian A. "Heroes Or Tyrants?" PoliceLink. A Monster Community, n.d. Web. 31 Oct.

2014.