At the age of nine, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a detective that solved crimes and made the world a better place. Now, as a 20-year-old criminal justice student, I have a much clearer idea of what this profession entails, and how I can really make my mark on the world.
My first introduction to the Justice System was an FBI training program I did my senior year in high school. All I knew at that point was that I wanted to do investigation but was not sure of what area. On the second day of this training, we had a speaker from the crimes against children unit come to speak, and give us a very real, very intense picture of what his day is like on the job. Even though there is a great movement against human trafficking, there is an even greater understatement of how real and awful sex trafficking children is. This FBI agent that spoke at this training deals every single day with a new child offender. I realized then that I wanted to help protect children from trafficking. I not only decided to protect children from trafficking, but to help improve the justice system to more efficiently protect and serve.
When I announced that I was going to school to study criminal justice and hopefully work in a police force, or maybe even a government agency one day, I caught a lot of heat for it. So many people have a shaded idea of what it means to work within the justice system, and how much they actually do. It is sad because we live in an age where everything put in the media is neg
ative, and all of the positive things that the police, FBI, DEA, NSA, and many other agencies have done go unnoticed. The FBI agent mentioned earlier that works in the crimes against children unit reported that they had captured and arrested over 300 pedophiles in that one year alone, and yet all the media hears is that there are still missing children. In every single Criminal Justice cours
e that I have taken, we always have to have a big discussion about how integrity, and perseverance is everything in this profession. Not just for the purpose of making it through a long day on the job, but because the media will do its best to tear us apart and make us feel as if we are doing more harm than good. Every time we get this speech, I think about how sad it is that police officers and agents are being so harshly persecuted when their sole purpose is to keep communities safe. I will absolutely never say that the justice system cannot be improved, that is part of the reason I am going to school for this, but it could be so much worse.
When I am asked about how I believe the system could be improved, I always have to stop and think about my answer to this question. In the end, I think the justice system would improve if officials were able to focus on the truly awful things going on in the world, such as human trafficking and pedophiles. When entire cities go up in flames due to protests and riots, it takes away the focus on the things that truly matter. Our American right to protest should always be utilized when necessary, but destroying cities, assaulting officers, arson, and vandalism does nobody any good whatsoever.
Nobody truly understands the urgency of saving the innocent lives stuck in captivity, until you witness it. You do not truly understand it until you study what really happens to those people, and how truly sick human traffickers are. Nobody truly understands, but everybody can do something to help. Before going around bashing the police for making a drug bust, or for judging them because there are not enough solved cases compared to unsolved, understand that police and government agents are required to go about their jobs with a high level of discretion. Only a sma
ll portion of cases catch the media’s attention and these are often dramatized negatively for the purpose of creating anger within the community. There will always be more victories than losses, but some are just celebrated privately.
Rather than hating the police for what they have not done, try to notice the things that they are doing. Notice that they put their lives at risk each and every day to protect communities that do not support them. Notice that officers and agents die every single day in the line of duty in order to make this world a better place. Remember that in a single year, one FBI agent alone arrested over 300 pedophiles and saved the lives of hundreds of children. Choose to find the hope in situations that seem hopeless.
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