By Molly Ashline, Staff Writer

Published in print Oct. 8, 2014

The news has been teeming recently with reports of officer misconduct and abuse of authority. The events of Ferguson, Missouri and other tragedies are at the forefront of many minds, including the minds of students at UNCG.

These events have led to a tension between the public at large and police officers.

The student organization, Siasa, has taken the initiative to address this issue by facilitating events like the Street Law Program held Tuesday, September 30, in the Haywood Residence Hall of Spartan Village.

Siasa invited four UNCG Campus Police to a Q&A session, which was delayed for a few minutes by a fire alarm malfunction within the residence hall. When the session resumed, Siasa President Dominick Hand played three YouTube videos for the audience that showed police shooting civilians. The officers present then explained the situations from the perspective of law enforcement, including training, legal statutes and defense responses.

Officer Williams, who has 24 years of law enforcement experience, said about one of the videos, “I just want to point out, with respect, that what we’re doing right this minute is a luxury of being able to hit replay; a luxury that the officers on that scene don’t have.”

Following Officer Williams’ comments, the floor was opened up to questions from the audience. Most questions focused on the extent of police power and abuses of power, how police are trained to act within minority communities and how police are held accountable in cases of police misconduct.

A pamphlet was also distributed by Siasa called “How to Safely Interact with Police” which was written by Shanquel Spellman.

The pamphlet notes police procedures and illustrates possible responses by civilians when police request a search.

Situations addressed within the pamphlet were confirmed and explained by the officers.

About police stops, Spellman recounted a news report he heard earlier in the week, asking, “They were talking to a police expert…and he was saying that police can find a reason to pull you over any time they want…do y’all think that’s true?”

To which Officer Williams replied, “It’s absolutely true, and let me clarify. It’s not hard to find a legal reason to pull somebody over. Is that hard to do? It is a piece of cake.”

Many students also desrcibed interactions with police in the past in which they were unaware of how to interact with police when stopped in a vehicle or on the street.

About his own experience, Hand said, “He [the police officer] took away a piece of my character that day. He took away my rights that day…I have to remind myself that they’re individuals representing an institution.”

This concept was expounded upon by Spellman: “If you’re dealing with the police, if you deal with them on the individual level, as human beings, and forget that they are not the system themselves…that they are individuals, that they have wives and kids and all that…your chances of, first, not being harmed, and also your chances of not going to jail, will increase…that’s what this program is about. When you’re dealing with them, on the individual level, just remember your laws and your rights and treat them as human beings, and hopefully they’ll do the same to you.”

The Street Law Program allowed a dialogue between law enforcement and students to occur, which the organizers hope will likely result in a student body that is more informed of its rights and an eased of tension in interactions with police on campus.