On the evening of Oct. 29, I went on a ride-along with a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer in District 1 of Washington, D.C. Before the interview, I created a list of questions regarding the officer’s career path, professional growth and perceptions on policies and the community. I also scheduled my ride-along for 10 p.m.-2 a.m., in hopes of seeing action while on patrol. Although I did not know who I would ride with, I looked forward to hearing a first-hand perspective on a topic that has been dominating headlines in recent months.
I arrived at the 1st District Police Station around 9:50 p.m. to check in for my ride-along. The confirmation email advised that it may take a while for officers to respond back to the station to pick me up, so I was prepared to wait. I waited in the lobby for about an hour with a D.C. native who was trying to file a police report. After bickering with the front desk woman for a while, she came over to sit next to me and asked what I was here for. I explained that I was waiting to get picked up for a ride-along appointment. We began talking about crime in D.C., which I took as another opportunity to hear from a first-hand perspective. “Why do you think crime has been a problem here recently?” I asked.
“It’s the Trump Administration and racism. He used to be a good guy, and now he’s making everyone turn against each other. Why can’t we all just get along?” She showed me pictures of her diverse family, as if to prove humanity is capable of healing. Her view on crime would be much different than my ride-along officer’s.
Around 11:20 p.m., Officer Benson (pseudonym for privacy) picked me up for my ride-along. He was a Black man and appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s. Born and raised in New York City, he moved to D.C. to become a police officer after graduating with a degree in political science and criminal justice. That evening, I did not get to see anything that exhilarating because it ended up raining, and according to Officer Benson, “Cops love it when it rains; no one wants to be out committing a crime when it’s raining.”
Despite the lack of action, I learned a lot from my conversation with Officer Benson as he drove me around District 1. I was saddened to understand that Officer Benson did not seem to enjoy his job and attributed his dislike for being an officer to the Black Lives Matter riots. Overall, his perspective on crime in D.C. was different from what I expected, revealing the gap between the public and officers’ understanding of crime.
Background
Officer Benson has worked for MPD as a police officer for eight years. D.C. officers take 10-hour shifts, unless extreme cases require longer hours. When I asked Officer Benson about his plans for his future career, he told me he wanted to leave the force in two years to work in IT. I remember being so confused. Once he told me he had graduated with a degree in political science and criminal justice, I assumed he wanted to pursue a career in law. So, why did he want to work in IT? When I explained my confusion, he answered:
“I have friends who work in IT, and they work normal five-day-a-week hours. I want that.”
The more I talked to Officer Benson, the more I understood that his dislike for being an officer went beyond the late hours and distaste for prolonged call sites.
“My friends would introduce me to people and be like, ‘yeah, he’s a cop,’ and I’d tell them, ‘don’t say that.’ It’s like they think it’s something to show off.”
“Why don’t you want people to know you are a cop?”
“Because of the bias [stereotypes] that it has.”
Public Relations and Accountability: Black Lives Matter (BLM) Riots in D.C.
When I asked Officer Benson why he didn’t enjoy being a police officer, he pointed to his experience during the BLM riots and the increase in negative perceptions towards officers. Officer Benson compared his experience with the riots to “a movie.” He recalled the exhaustingly long hours, looting, the jugs of urine thrown at him and seeing police cars in flames. When I asked him if he believed in the message behind the movement, he said:
“People believe it’s a problem with the police system, but D.C. is not Minneapolis. D.C. officers don’t put people in headlocks! During protests, I’d be like, ‘Why are you mad at me?’”
This prompted me to look into data on D.C. policing. Contrary to what Officer Benson said, D.C. has faced multiple cases of police brutality. According to the Police Scorecard, MPD has used more force per arrest than 65% of departments (data from 2020-2023) and has had 30 cases involving deadly force (data from 2013-2023). When I asked him if he had to deal with negativity from the public, he described the various threats he would receive while in uniform. Officer Benson also pointed to the difficulty of being a Black officer when he mentioned he would get called a “pig” and a “traitor.” Even after the height of BLM, Officer Benson still deals with crowds of bystanders while making arrests.
“They’d be like, ‘Let him go! He did nothing wrong; he’s just smoking marijuana!’ while they don’t know he’s suspected of murder.”
What would you want citizens to know about urban policing?
“I did not stop you because you are Black. I am Black! Your tail light is out.”
Officer Benson’s experience during the BLM riots and the public scrutiny towards policing that has stemmed from it show how public perception reinforces his negative understanding of policing.
D.C. and Crime
During Officer Benson’s career, he has mostly received calls relating to juvenile crime, mental health and domestic violence. I was curious to hear his opinion on the recent executive orders aimed at reducing crime in D.C. When asked if the deployment of federal police forces had helped or hurt his job, Officer Benson said, “It’s great, it gives us more reinforcements […] Carjacking has lowered from 35% to 0% — I didn’t even know 0% was possible.”
The MPD website provides data on various offenses, such as carjacking. Sixteen cases of carjacking were reported in October, an increase from the 10 reported in August, when the executive orders were put in place. However, this is a 65% decrease in carjackings compared to October of last year, a visible downward trend that has continued since June 2023. I asked Officer Benson his view on D.C.’s handling of juvenile crime, an issue that D.C. has faced for years. “D.C is soft on crime. Juveniles can get away with things because they know they’ll get a slap on the wrist,” he said.
I immediately thought of how Officer Benson’s response aligned with the rhetoric of Republican representatives during the August vote on the D.C. Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act and the D.C. CRIMES Act, where the age to be tried as an adult could be lowered to 14 under certain circumstances. When asked what D.C.-specific policies negatively impact policing, Officer Benson discussed the no-chase policy.
“Criminals can get away with something because if they drive off, they know we can’t chase them.”
Adopted by MPD in 2020 and later becoming law in April 2023, D.C. code § 5–365.02, Law Enforcement Vehicular Pursuit Reform prohibits officers from engaging in vehicular pursuit unless a fleeing suspect has attempted or committed a violent offense. Due to this, Officer Benson tries to avoid any foot or car chases out of fear that he will face jail time. He gave an example of fellow officers who were recently sent to jail for murder after a suspect on a moped ran a red light and was hit by a van during a chase in 2020.
This semester, I have been taking a class at American University called Criminal Legal System: Roots of Mass Incarceration and Racial Disparity. We have done site visits to the D.C. Jail, MPD Headquarters, D.C. Superior Court, district reentry programs and more to get a holistic understanding of the criminal legal system. I’ve also taken similar classes that point to racial disparity as a link to rising incarceration rates, so I was interested to hear about how a D.C. police officer understood the origins of crime.
Systemic racism is often cited as the reason why crime occurs. Why do you think it happens?
“I don’t think it’s because of racism. Dysfunctional families and rap lyrics that promote violence and drugs are why.”
This cultural approach links crime to individual behaviors, omitting the structural factors that I’ve learned about. This represents the informative gap between officers and the public, as represented through my conversation with the D.C. woman at the station and Officer Benson.
Reflection and Conclusion
Talking with Officer Benson made me realize how the recent turn towards police accountability has shaped public perception of policing, sometimes creating stereotypes that depict officers as untrustworthy. Being a police officer is a job that demands patience, morale
and integrity, yet heightened scrutiny and demand for accountability have made the role more challenging. Talking to Officer Benson and the D.C. woman at the police station about crime made me understand the gap between community and officer interpretations of policing: Their
interpretation of crime is different. While individual factors do play a role in criminal behavior, it does not address the systemic issues that fuel them, such as mass incarceration, socioeconomics, racial disparity and other institutional factors. If a structural understanding of crime is incorporated into officer training and public transparency is maintained, it could help bridge this gap.
