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I have seldom had encounters with law enforcement; however, there was a situation in my undergrad that distinctively remember. I was leaving my classes and was on my way to work, which was at a bakery 5 minutes down the road. I was dressed in my chef's uniform so it was quite clear where I was headed to. On my way, I was pulled over by a police officer and was instantly shaken. My initial reaction was tears. This was my first time being pulled over and I had no idea what to do or what I was doing wrong. When the officer came to my window he informed me that I was speeding. I was so caught up on getting to work that I had not even realized I was going over the speed limit. Although I ended up with just a warning since it was my first time, I remember feeling so out of sorts the rest of the day.

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My dad is a police officer, so I was never really afraid of law enforcement until I moved to New York for undergrad. I has just picked my boyfriend at the time up from a bar while he was visiting West Point for a game, and we were driving back to my school when I was pulled over. I was EXTREMELY nervous, and my boyfriend was actually making fun of me for how nervous I was. He had asked if anyone had been drinking, which I hadn't, so I guess I was pulled over for being a bad driver. Once he saw that I was sober, and another car had passed us going way over the speed limit, he got back in his car and left us without a ticket. I was still really shaken up for the rest of the night.

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My father became a police officer when I was about 4 years old, so I have grown up always have a strong admiration and respect for law enforcement. I remember years when we had to celebrate Christmas on the 26th because my father had to work and couldn't be home for the holiday. He was always very intentional not to bring his work home with him or expose us to what he had to deal with on a daily basis, but as I've grown up I've obviously gained a better sense of the reality. It has gotten increasingly hard knowing the extreme danger he is in on the job. I struggled a lot at times in college when other students would hold truly hateful and disrespectful demonstrations against cops. I guess it is easy to dehumanize them and just see them as an authority, not a person doing their best at an extremely difficult job, but too many of us lie awake at night wondering if our family member or loved one is going to come home in the morning.

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One time in high school I was laughing at a friend's joke, but the teacher thought I was laughing at her. She called me out in front of the entire class and embarrassed me. She wouldn't give me the chance to explain myself. I had a hard time accepting that I was asked to leave the room and miss out on the class. My friends found it funny and so did I, quite ridiculous actually. To not be given a chance to explain yourself leaves you with no room for growth or fixing the problem. The teacher and my relationship from that point on was sour. She gave me no opportunity to try again or talk to her about it and I just felt control-less.

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Encounter with law enforcement - Lilyann Cotas 

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Encounter with law enforcement - Lilyann Cotas 

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I've been pulled over a few times by the cops. The thought of even seeing a cop gives me anxiety never mind being pulled over. I remember this particular moment vividly. A car was driving fast and kept swerving into my lane in broad daylight. I was getting anxiety that he'd somehow hit my car so I sped up to pass him out. There was a cop hidden on the highway and pulled me over for going fast. I knew why I did it, but there's not explaining it to a cop who won't believe you anyway. It really hurt knowing that the reason for it was to possibly prevent this person from steering me off the road, but now I had to undergo a panic attack and pay 250 dollars on top of it. It was a terrible experience on way to a weekend visiting my friend at college. The officer actually let me off the hook from an ever bigger ticket that I was suppose to get because he saw my Quinnipiac sticker and asked if I was in school. This relieved some stress knowing it could've been worse but overall terrible experience.

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One time I was pulled over because my car was the same make and model of a car that was used in a burglary. I was driving home from work when I was getting pulled over and I was terrified. I kept thinking about what I could of done wrong and it gave me so much anxiety. The cop wasn't walking up to my car and just sitting behind me. I just kept thinking and thinking and I soon started to feel frustrated, there was nothing that I did on my short drive home. The cop finally came up to my car after a few minutes of sitting behind me and apologized. He explained how the same car as mine was used in a burglary but they had just found the suspect right as he was pulling me over. I was so relieved to hear this but just sitting there with the cop car behind me made me feel so much anxiety.

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Encounter with Law Enforcement-Megan Chittenden

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Encounter with Law Enforcement-Megan Chittenden

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I myself have never dealt directly with Law Enforcement, but I have been the passenger in one encounter. I was being driven home by my boyfriend and his best friend late at night, probably past midnight in Boston. We were driving past a sober checkpoint and got randomly chosen to pull over. We were all sober and were able to be rather kind and polite to the officer who talked to us. I still felt some level of anxiety because I was worried that we were doing something wrong, or even something was wrong with my boyfriend's car. He still has that car now, but back then it was in interesting shape and often needed some type of tune up. I was particularly worried that that was the situation we were in, but the officer thanked us for being so polite and let us just go on through.

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Encounter with the law enforcement - Sihan Wang

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Encounter with the law enforcement - Sihan Wang

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One day in the afternoon, I was driving on the high way near New Haven. It was on a 4 lanes road, and I just getting into it from an exit. The traffic was really terrible, I was moving really slowly and couldn't really see far ahead (there were many trucks/ big vans on the road). After driving for 5 minutes, I could vaguely see a police vehicle blocking a lane ahead. So I tried to switch the lane. For some unknown reason, the drivers near New Haven seem to be very unfriendly - most of them would not let me switch lane and it took me a while just go squeeze into the lane next to me.  When I was getting closer to the police, I noticed that they actually blocked two lanes, not just one. Again, the unfriendly drivers in the lane next to me aren't letting me switching lane. I was carried by the traffic and was getting closer to the police. Apparently, there was a road flare on the ground, right before the police vehicle. The police yelled at me and gave me a ticket for "Getting too close" to the road flare. I tried to explain to the police that the traffic was really bad and I can't really see road flare because the cars/vans in front of me were blocking my vision.  The police didn't give a damn and still demanded for my driver's licence in a harsh tone.  I ended up complying with his demands. I felt really anxious and was fearing that I was in a big trouble while I was waiting for the police to give me a ticket. I mean I understand that everyone has bad days and it's tough to be a police officer, but I'm still feeling upset by the way which the officer treated me.

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Think of a time you were falsely accused of something. What happened? - Cassie Urban

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Think of a time you were falsely accused of something. What happened? - Cassie Urban

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When I was in high school, I was in a very goofy chemistry class. My table was full of clowns who would pull pranks on everyone in the room. For the most part, everyone thought we were hilarious and the teacher loved us since we lightened the mood. One day, it was prank day, and we decided to use a squirt bottle filled with water and spray a girl across the room. (Keep in mind, this was usual, annoying behavior from my table) The girl got hit with the water, immediately screamed at my table and left the classroom abruptly. About an hour later, my table gets called down to the office to see the principal. We all got accused of bullying that girl. This was a big deal, as my school took bullying very seriously. They got in touch with our parents and the police, and it was a really big deal. We had never gotten in trouble before, so the principal let us off on a warning.

I felt we were falsely accused of bullying. I wish the girl had calmly talked us asking that we don't spray her or play pranks on her. She decided to take it to the next level, which in my opinion, was completely unnecessary and could have caused a huge impact in our lives if police took action. We completely understood what we were doing was wrong, but we never meant any harm and were just trying to make others laugh.

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Encounter with Law Enforcement - Paige Crane

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Encounter with Law Enforcement - Paige Crane

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I have grown up in a family with cops. I was taught how to act if I was ever to get pulled over. The one encounter I can think of was when my mom got to pull over on the way to my cheer practice. The cop came up to the door and asked where we were going. My mom explains to the police where we were going. I was nervous because I was young, and it was the first time I was in the car when my mom got pulled over. The policeman could tell I was nervous because I had a candy cane in my hand, and it was shaking. He looked over at me and started talking to me. He told me his sister was a cheerleader too. He asked me a few questions about cheerleading, and he then looked at my mom and said, I understand how important practice is, and gave her a warning. I always thought cops were kind because of how my uncle and his partner always acted, but seeing another cop act the same way gave me a sense of hope that other cops would be the same way.

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I have been lucky enough to have very few encounters with law enforcement officers. I can only remember one encounter when I was a passenger driving home from hockey practice with my dad. We were pulled over for having a tail light out. The encounter was very short because it was just a warning and to get it fixed right away. Something key I remember was that my dad was wearing a yankees hat and after the warning was issued they talked for like 5 minutes about the yankees, to me this was an experience that really humanized this cop and by extension other police officers. During college there were always cops out downtown at night but I always found them very helpful and necessary to keep the students safe. I have been lucky enough to have a good relationships with the law and have had very few encounters.

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Encounter with Law Enforcement - Hannah Smith 

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Encounter with Law Enforcement - Hannah Smith 

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Last summer I took a week to visit Molly in CT, and I'm from NY so it was around a 5 hour drive. After the visit was over she gave me directions to a nearby gas station, where i witnessed a heated argument between a customer and a worker. Then as I was getting on the highway, I had my window rolled down and I had an actual bird fly into my window and I immediately started screaming and shooing it out of my car. My morning was already bizzare I thought it couldn't get any worse. Anxious to get home, I'm driving on the Mass Turn Pike when a MA police officer pulls me over. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am the most cautious driver out there so I'm thinking, "what possibly could I have done?" I rolled down the window and I was immediately confronted with a rude and pushy officer. He was asking me all these questions about where I was going, coming from. I am answering them honestly and calmly and out of no where he asks what's in the can I'm drinking. I really couldn't believe he's thinking I'm driving with an open container in my car. I show him it's a tea that I bought at the gas station before I got on the highway. I just felt very attacked. He ended up giving me a written warning for driving in the passing lane. He then tells me to pull back into traffic when I get the chance. I was so overwhelmed, I call my dad and just start crying. He's upset for me, wondering why I was even pulled over in the first place, why he was grilling me so hard when I was clearly cooperating. After I got off the phone I was just trying to calm myself down. The next thing I know, he's knocking on my window again. He tells me I need to get back to driving. I just felt so defeated. Did he really want me to drive when I'm visibly upset? I pull into traffic where he FOLLOWS me for 40 minutes. I felt that he was just waiting for me to do something wrong. Drive too slow, too fast, to not put a turn signal when passing...Anything just to make me more upset. Ever since, whenever I drive through MA to get to or from CT I feel a sense of stress unease and anxiety.