Claudia Corchado: Ride-along gives resident first-hand view of what cops do

I am one of 16 community residents in the Citizens Police Academy for the city of Merced. As part of our curriculum, we are scheduled to do a “ride along” with the Merced Police Department. The ride along provides first-hand experience and a view of what our officers go through on a daily/nightly basis.

What I learned from my six-hour ride along is that our officers are kind, respectful, funny, caring and gentle. They are fathers and mothers with families with the same struggles as the rest of us – and sometimes more because of their positions. They uphold the law and they truly live by the “protect and serve” principles. Their first priority is that of our safety then the safety of their fellow officers.

Even with an intoxicated resident yelling and screaming profanities at them for towing her brother’s car, the officers remained calm and respectful. I witnessed how another resident could claim abuse from the officers when all they were doing was pulling him over for drinking and driving.

If we are asking officers to show us respect and to stop “profiling” us, then maybe we should all do the same for them. Thank you, Merced police, for keeping our families safe.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Claudia Corchado: Ride-along gives resident first-hand view of what cops do."