I want to preface this article by saying this is not me taking a side on the #BlueLivesMatter campaign. This is me sharing a personal experience in hopes people will see the dangers behind categorizing and stereotyping against all people.

Humans categorize. It’s how we rationalize and understand different concepts. However, I think each and every human has the right to be counted as an individual, and not categorized, or stereotyped based on race, gender, work uniform, culture, country of origin, religion, or anything else. Right now, for me, it is important to note that not all cops are bad cops, many become police officers for the right reasons, and a few years ago, I had experience with this first hand. On the other hand, I would also agree that there are police that abuse their power. Aligned racial profiling has become a huge problem, but to generalize that all cops are good, or all cops are bad, is an unfair statement.

West Haven is small city that borders the coastline of Connecticut. West Haven has become an area where crime, including drug abuse and violence, are growing in parallel with the number of people living below the poverty line.

It was late one night, and I was driving home from a friend’s house. I was unsure of where I was, plus it was dark, and pouring rain. I was focusing on my GPS, specifically knowing I was in a not-so-great area when I must have rolled through a stop sign. A state trooper sat at that intersection waiting for somebody to make a small error. The state trooper then pulls me over. He had no lights on, including headlights. I would have known, I would have seen them because it was so dark.

So he comes up to my window and instead of asking me for my license and registration, the first thing he says, “Bet you didn't see me there, did you?” But not in a joking way, more of a sarcastic, arrogant, “Hey, I got you there" tone. I tried to explain that I wasn't from the area, and I was clearly nervous and lost. He then begins asking me the usual questions, but instead of accepting my answers as is, he would continue with “Are you sure?” Or, when he was looking through my paperwork, he asked me every possible question regarding addresses, names, phone numbers, and all that jazz. It was getting to a point of clear harassment on his end.

I was very tempted to call 911 right on the spot because I felt unsafe and accused. He even questioned why a “white girl from Orange was driving around West Haven that late at night.” When he came back to my car, after sitting in his for a good 20 minutes, he threw a ticket into my car. I asked about the ticket, like how to read it, what it meant, what it was for, and he told me:

“If you can read, you can figure it out.”

He then walked away. Oh also, let me add back in the statement that I told him I was lost, and he still just walked away.

So this is the better part of the story. After making my way back to Orange, I decided to stop and take a minute to calm down before going home. I pulled into the Orange Community Center, and there I sat crying because first, the cop really shook me up by his behavior, and second, he literally threw a ticket in my window, and I had to now bring that home.

Side note: I am not saying I didn't deserve a ticket, rather I am highlighting the manner in which this situation was handled.

So I am sitting there, and of course, with my luck, there sat another cop car. These cops probably wondered what this girl was doing sitting in her car, close to midnight, in the pouring rain. Little did I know, these two police officers would be a complete 180 spin compared to the experience I just had.

Those cops stood with me in the rain, for a good half hour, asking me what happened, walking through the ticket with me, and telling me whether or not it was worth fighting. They told me the two different ways I could handle the ticket and the exact steps. They even helped me calm down, asking me why I was so upset, what the state trooper had said and then asked me where I lived to ensure I would be able to get home safely.

These police officers were clearly there to serve their community and not to harass the people that resided there. I appreciated the time those two officers took to ensure I was okay, and after, I felt much better about the situation. I even got the opportunity to follow up with the two officers multiple times after, whether that meant I stopped when I saw their car, or around town, or at events.

Eventually, the ticket was dropped. I wrote the two officers thank you notes for the time they took to stop and care about even the smallest situation of me getting my first ticket.

I thought this story showed that, yes, there are officers that abuse their power, that are abusive, arrogant and rude. But it also showed that there are officers that love and care about the community they serve. I hope that are more officers like the ones I came across in Orange, but I also pray for the families, and people impacted by the officers like the state trooper, who abuse their uniform, and the people they are supposed to protect.

Please note this article is not me sharing an opinion of the #BlueLivesMatter debate, rather this is my personal experience with two very different types of officers.