With a fresh layer of wax on his bright red paint and a high-tuned exhaust system that echoed melodiously off the walls of his garage, nothing could keep him from enjoying a relaxing cruise in the California sunshine. 
As he slowly reversed his car out of his driveway, he glanced across the street and noticed two police vehicles adjacently parked.
“I panicked,” said Ernie Cuiriz, a 21-year-old student at Modesto Jr. College. “I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but my instinct told me to just park the car because it is bright and it would get their attention” Before he had a chance to do so, one of the police vehicles slowly drove up to his driveway, parking directly behind him.
“I rarely have any interactions with police officers, but I see a lot of things in the news that makes me sort of freak out when I do,” said Cuiriz.
Which is exactly why he was shocked when the officer got out of his car and said, “Hey… is that a Nissan Silvia?” referring to the model of the vehicle which is only made in Japan. “It turns out he was a super cool guy,” said Cuiriz
Law enforcement officers have been in the news a lot as of late, however, it may not always be for the most favorable of reasons.  Coverage of law enforcement officers on a National scale has its benefits, and its harms, both of which has had its impacts on the level of trust between people and local law enforcement.
 “I always wanted a job in public service, a job in the community that I grew up in, where I would have the opportunity to make a difference,” said Raul Dominguez, a Supervisor for the Stanislaus County Probation Department and former California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State) alumni. 
However, he has noticed change with regards to trust and cooperation between people and law enforcement officers here in Stanislaus County.
“Technology has changed, everything is video taped, recording both good and bad things,” said Dominguez, “The benefit is that it keeps officers honest; however, some recordings can easily be misinterpreted and don’t necessarily tell the whole story.”
Dominguez, who grew up in Modesto, explains that he has always recognized the barriers of trust between people and law enforcement. Whether it derives from specific cultural upbringings, social constructs, or preconceived notions stemming from what is depicted of Law Enforcement in the media. Though he recognizes the importance of news coverage on all sides of the spectrum, he feels it is equally, if not more important for people to understand there are plenty of good officers doing great things.
 “Unfortunately, this happens all too often with regards to news coverage. The actions of the few, have detrimental effects on the whole,” said Dominguez. “Regardless of what is depicted, it is our civil duty to understand why that distrust is there and work on rebuilding the important relationship between the public and the officers who serve and protect them.”

 It is good to see local law enforcement officers understand the necessity of coverage, continuing to improve relations with the people of within the community as well as our campus.  
“We provide foot and vehicle patrols throughout the campus daily…provide Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) courses for women and also have a booth set up in the quad for special events such as alcohol awareness, New Student Orientations (NSO), etc.” said Steve Olsen, Sergeant for University Police Department (UPD).
UPD believes it is important to stay connected with the public in order to continue building and maintaining trust.
“The media in my opinion plays a huge role in this area because of what is reported or shown on the news or social media,” said Olsen. “Currently, I have not seen a negative impact directed solely at our department.”
Although there has yet to be any issues between students and UPD, Olsen hopes to continue to maintain a peaceful and positive relationship.
“With anything we do, we are going to have bad apples in the bucket to say.  Just because an officer in New York makes a bad decision or does something wrong should not carry over to a CSU Stanislaus Police officer who is doing something right,” said Olsen.
With more and more law enforcement officers in our area working on strengthening the relationship with the community, one can only hope we reach a point where the “bad apples” cease to exist and coverage on law enforcement can highlight all of the great things being done by the “good apples”.