What the ninth graders should be taught in driver ed?

John Whitmire, who is the Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman, proposed a bill last month which will require the Texas Education Agency to develop a new curriculum for nine graders on how to act during traffic stops. His intention is to decrease the tragedy which has happened during police encounters in years. He wants to protect the children and to inform them about their limited rights when they interact with police officers when they get pulled over.

He states that “If you feel an officer does you wrong, you don’t take it up with them out on the street, you take it up with an administrator. That’s one of the things I think we’ll teach.”

Students need to be taught what their rights are and the best way to express it. The students need to be informed with the truth, data and real life situations. In addition, the new curriculum should contain information in the handbook for the students emphasize negative reactions that can happen sometimes come from interacting with polices. Kevin Lawrence, who is the director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, says, “On the side of the street is not the place to litigate what you believe the officer is doing is wrong or what the officer believes you are doing wrong”. In addition, he suggests that the police officer should hand out to individuals a form which shows the process to file a complaint against that officer if the person feels he has been treated wrongly.  

Furthermore, the new curriculum should raise students’ awareness of racism in some police officers. The white and black students need to know that the regardless of their actions, the situations can be different because of their races. In July 2016, a lot of police officers were shot and injured by a black man in Dallas. The event created fear for the police. Thus, students must realize that police officers have a dangerous job and they must learn how to react in such a way as to show that they are no danger to the policeman. For instance, they can ask the police officers when they need to move or get something out of their pocket since it can be anything, even a gun.

We must teach the students to act respectfully to police officers regardless of the situations. They need to know if they rebel against the law enforcement officers, they run the risk of being shot. Students need to be taught that there are ways to protect their rights, but it is not by being disrespectful to the police officers. Whitmire says, “Increased training and education for both peace officers and our students will help foster positive relations and interactions”. The bill should emphasize better police recruit and training. Police officers should not have aggressive behavior toward a certain races. It is true that we cannot tell ones to stop being racist if they has been that way their whole life. However, they should have been told that they must react properly for their job regardless how they feel about certain races. The police also need to be trained to respect the teenagers. A person does not respect police officers if he feels disrespect by them. Both officers and students should be trained in a way that they will not act toward each other with fear.

I believe that the bill can make an important impact for law enforcement officers and the ninth graders if the education is extended to both. However, trust between the community and law enforcement should begin much earlier than ninth grade. Police officers should be given time to come into elementary schools and participate in activities that will build trust.