A Black Police Officer, Edward Raymond Serving - 1505 Words

This reaction paper is based on a black police officer, Edward Raymond serving in the N.Y.P.D. whom from an early age had a rough upcoming. Being part of the minority Raymond experienced firsthand the difficulties growing up with gang violence around him, drug selling and even frequent killings. Although being around all these activities Raymond never chose to partake in any of them but rather focused on working and attending school. Raymond at his young age was described as having a powerful, rigid sense of morality, despite the fact of always talking about the troubles of gang violence and drugs, he was frequently stopped by the police at least once a week. Ray was influenced by a family friend who had become a police officer, raving†¦show more content†¦His supervisors didn’t approve his approach, criticizing he was bringing the number of arrest down and he got punished for it. The punishment for officers like this is putting them into spaces they call â€Å"The Box† which includes video monitoring at fixed post or including other unwanted assignments. This is when Ray realized he had to do something to protect himself. He began recording his conversations with other police officers, mostly supervisors who would punish him for the way he performed him job. Ray’s first recordings were about a warning about a lieutenant confronting him about his low activity and admitting that the department was all about the numbers. Ray’s post and reputation grew worse, but he still continued to give less summons. His immediate supervisor who was also a black sergeant from Trinidad called him in to give him a negative evaluation, which he had been forced by his superiors, so he continued to ask questions to get confessions on the recordings. Raymond found out about the lawsuit other officers were had put together and no longer felt alone, he felt like he had to contribute and signed it quietly. At this same time a new commander in his district came in and immediately began to go after Raymond, so he proceeded to asking his supervisor to re-do his evaluation to give him even a less score which will prevent him making it to sergeant as well. Raymond later filed