Noemy Mijares

June 15, 2020

Personal Dilemma
As a daughter of immigrants pursuing higher education, I believe that we choose our
paths in creating our future. I grew up in a neighborhood in Los Angeles, where undocumented
minorities were the majority. My neighborhood consisted of gang violence, poverty, high
substance abuse, crime, and school dropout rates. In my community, it was typical for the fear
and hatred of any law enforcement. Immigrations riots and deportations lead my family to live in
fear of separation. At a young age, my siblings and I had an emergency plan if my parents were
deported. As I grew up, I continued to believe not to question, trust, respect, or call law
enforcement. I began to believe it was always my people against law enforcement. As I grew up,
I always talked about being an immigration lawyer for those who have limited financial
resources. I watched Law and Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, or anything that had to do with law
enforcement. I began to love learning about crimes, loopholes, and how to think about crime. I
then moved to Utah at 12 years old, where crimes were not around me as much as California.
When I went to college, I majored in Political Science for about a semester, I learned I did not
enjoy talking about political ideologies. I took a Criminal Justice and Psychology course for fun
and immediately loved it. I enjoyed learning about the justice system implementing psychology
because I learned to implement human behavior, crime, and the justice system. Even though my
family feared and hated the justice system, I continued to be fascinated by it.
One night, am man broke into our home while we were sleeping. The man came into my
house, grabbed my father's keys, tried to sneak out through the basement, but ended up going
through the front door. My brother called my dad, he saw his truck door open, then intended to
stop the man. I ended up calling 911. The police arrived in less than 3 minutes. The police found
him a few houses down the road hiding in some furniture left outside. It turned out the man was
carrying a loaded gun, but no one got hurt. After that event, I thought about the risks first
responders take to keep us safe. I always thought, what if that man shot and killed the police
officer looking for him. The impact would have on someone's family, how someone would have
to attend a funeral, or another fallen officer picture put up on a wall. The officer that night was
willing to give up his life for my family and I, people whom he never met.
I counited my major in Criminal Justice and Psychology at Southern Utah University.
With the conflict of my involvement with the undocumented community and interest in working
in law enforcement agencies created ethical dilemmas. As a minority, I see the police as people
who have authority in making decisions with long term effects. As a person who learned about
the justice system and human behavior, I can empathize with different perspectives. The Black
Lives Matter movement, I think about what that means as a minority, woman, daughter of
immigrants, a student, and the history of injustices. I think about the justice system, what it does
for the community, and how that plays into what is happening today. During the Black Lives
Matter Movement, I have not talked about what I feel towards the police. I think that not all
police take part in police brutality, but when defending police officers who don’t abuse power,
my community labels me as the oppressor. It becomes a battle of law enforcement versus
minorities. I do not justify what happened to George Floyd to be correct, but I can explain the
good intentions some law enforcers have in keeping our communities safe. Identifying with the
'oppressor,' I would be against my people and throwing everything my community stands for
away.

Utilitarianism 

When police brutality occurs, most of the time, police officers receive little to no punishment
because their actions are justifiable. Most of the time, police officers who are accused of police
brutality receive leave with or without pay, a few training hours then moved back onto the force.
The primary purpose of the police is to keep communities safe and enforce laws. This standard is
believed to be beneficial to the majority amount of people. However, when seeking safety
becomes fatal, it draws tension between law enforcers and communities.

The decision the chief can create a barrier to maintain trust in the community and in force trust
front line law enforcement. Ultimately this can lead for people to establish justice within their
terms. By understanding the cycle of how trust is built within communities, it helps me know
how easily that trust and rapport can be destroyed. If minority neighborhoods are looked at, it is
unlike any law-enforcement it's called. Racial profiling becomes the distrust between a
community with law enforcement which can become challenging to resolve the dilemma. My
beliefs are to treat others the way I want to be treated, meaning that I will always respect police
because of what the department stands for rather than proper representation.

Deontology 

In talking about police brutality, it becomes a sensitive topic to talk about because of the gray
area of determination, the abuse of power, and the appropriate use of force. Minority
communities are affected every day with police brutality, and the potential racial profiling. Each
year there are a large number of minorities who are murdered by police brutality. Law
enforcements job is to ensure the community is safe and enforce laws. This can include using
force when the police officer feels there is a threat to safety. The definition of danger to security
is comprehensive because of the different interpretations of each person. Many police brutality
actions have resulted in the death of people who are not considered a threat.
At times when these officers are declared innocent based on having the appropriate
discretion of threat, it creates fear within minority communities. Minority communities begin to
feel attacked by police in where simple meaningless behavior it can become fatal. However, that
same officer that has the discretion of determining a safety threat has taken an oath to maintain
the community safe. It becomes difficult to understand the intentions of police officers because
we see so much inconsistency in what police brutality is. If your questions come in to place one
asking why did the Police officer use the force, was that officer threatened, was there a safety
threat? Then intentions of police officers are to help the most amount of people, which is where
they can rationalize their actions. However, there is an excellent area on what that means and the
determination of the proper discretion a police officer has.
When facing this dilemma, I look at it from an individual stats points. I don't see that all
police are wrong; however, in this specific case of George Floyd, I don't agree with the outcome
of police officers' actions. In my opinion, I would like to say that police officers' intentions are
good. However, sometimes they can exaggerate the threat of safety to justify violent actions. It
becomes difficult to face my community with defending police officers because It becomes a
game of us versus police officers. I tried to understand how human behavior an impulse can
Influence us to act irrationally and impulsively at the moment. I do think that when facing a
dilemma experience, can make us look at individual circumstances rather than judging based on
general stereotypes. I believe that Kant would talk about police having to act in a reasonable
matter treating people how they would like to be treated. Kant does have a point within treating
those how we would like to be treated. The difficulty changes come when safety concerns fr the
public begin to imply. How much force is excessive, what would be needed to have a use of
force, how should police respond if it becomes an immediate danger.

Virtue Ethics 

Still, another reasoning behind police brutality is accurate to ensure the ending of
fatalities of innocent people. In my community, the intention to and police brutality is to ensure
deaths because of racial profiling ends. My position with the black lives matter movement should
have been towards my community, rather than justifying police his actions. What makes it
challenging to side solely with my community is the judgment of a line for Sears. Right now, it
has become a difficult time to be a first responder Because of the reputation police officers have
received within these past few weeks. The disclosure rule would justify the actions of the police
officer, whether the intention to kill was appropriate or not. The disclosure Robert also talks
about the threat, and an officer would feel during the encounter without the mention of racial
profiling. It becomes difficult to set a Barrier between those who serve our communities and
those who intend to help our communities but become a danger to the community.

Michelle Obama would have to be my ethical role model no. I feel like Michelle will talk
about the concerns with police brutality, but in the back of her mind would enforce the empathy
for police officers. I think that Michelle Obama has a solid background in what it means to
appreciate those who serve our communities, but also understand that with those who are
correctly serving our communities some abuse of power against our communities. I also feel that
as a black woman, she knows how common and difficult it is to have trust in agencies' lawn
force hertz, who consistently attack those inside Your community.

If it's one thing that has taught me how to deal with ethical dilemmas is listening to
listening to Michelle Obama's response. I feel like she understands me because we come from a
place where it's so easy to get stuck in cycles of minorities outcome. However, with our career
and educational advancement, we can emphasize with every party to determine what is right and
wrong based on our code of ethics.

I feel like my decision-making process consists of a lot of evaluating what my personal

beliefs are and observing different perspectives. I like to observe the different types of
perspectives to assess the appropriate and most beneficial outcome. I'm a person that doesn't
want to speak up or talk about problems, so the most natural solution for me would be to do what
I'm told without asking questions. Out in my community, I almost decide based on what is most
appropriate fitting for me during that time. For example, when I was highly involved with a
Hispanic group in college, I advocated more for the undocumented community. In contrast,
when I moved to Cedar City to finish my undergrad degree, the undocumented communities
seem to be in the shadows, which causes me to be less vocal about it. In making decisions, I like
to identify what the needs are, what do I need to achieve my goals, and what my barriers will be
based on choices.

I consider myself to be by us both for law forces and my community because of the great
experiences I have had with both. In law enforcement, I have met a lot of great people who take
great pride in ensuring safety in our community. I've learned a lot of reasoning for law-
enforcement actions through learning about the justice system and understanding multiple
perspectives. The biases with my community become more of a personal perspective because of
how fearful I grew up with life enforcement. In considering how long enforcement treats let you
know people with injustice, deportations, separations of families, or even assuming immigration
status can become difficult to overcome. It was challenging to have a voice in the Latino
community when justifying law-enforcement actions or the justice system. It's hard not to
establish the role of police officers who are trying to get us in trouble or create problems.
Anytime a person is involved with any sort of law-enforcement agencies, it means questions,
investigations, and considering harmful consequences.