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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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205<br />

Not if my life depended on it. I don’t like tell<strong>in</strong>g other people what to do.<br />

Bust<strong>in</strong>g people for stupid stuff.<br />

Black youth<br />

No. Police <strong>of</strong>ficers get treated dirty. People be throw<strong>in</strong>g rocks at them.<br />

No. You might get killed or someth<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

No. Because I see a lot <strong>of</strong> police gett<strong>in</strong>g shot. Hispanic youth<br />

No. Because by the time I am old enough to be a cop there will be way too<br />

much crime and drugs and guns. I don’t th<strong>in</strong>k I ever wanted to be one.<br />

Native American youth<br />

Mmhmn. A sniper.<br />

I’d like to be one <strong>in</strong> a great big city. I like the violence.<br />

When I was younger, I said, “When I grow up, I wanna be a police<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficer,” cause every little kid wants to be the good guy, cops and robbers<br />

and that k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k. It’s still a little thought <strong>in</strong> my m<strong>in</strong>d.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Native American youth were the only group that actually wanted to be police<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficers. <strong>The</strong> Native American youth also appear to see the role <strong>of</strong> police <strong>of</strong>ficer <strong>in</strong><br />

association with violence. If they become police <strong>of</strong>ficers, then it is okay to be violent (see<br />

quotes above).<br />

<strong>The</strong> police <strong>in</strong> Woodbury county are sometimes seen as humorous characters by<br />

some <strong>of</strong> the white youth. At different times throughout the <strong>in</strong>terviews the white youth<br />

convey that many times the <strong>of</strong>ficers are <strong>in</strong>ept <strong>in</strong> their pr<strong>of</strong>ession. A particular white<br />

youth, when asked, “. . .do the police do a f<strong>in</strong>e job...” sums it up by say<strong>in</strong>g:<br />

<strong>The</strong>y do what they can because they can’t catch us. Me and my friends<br />

just know the area too well and they could never catch us. We would leap<br />

fences, crawl <strong>in</strong>to places, run on the tops <strong>of</strong> cars to get away. <strong>The</strong>y don’t<br />

patrol…well, they do, but never when anyth<strong>in</strong>g is go<strong>in</strong>g wrong. Dom<strong>in</strong>os<br />

would get there first.

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