Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

MEDINA – Recently in the Security and Law Enforcement classes at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center, Medina Police Officer Brian Marsceill stopped in to talk to the students about the role of police in a community.

The conversation took an interesting direction about how the press and social media have portrayed law enforcement in light of current events.

Officer Marsceill was invited by teachers Steve Browning and Gene Newman to talk talked about what it takes to become a police officer, what is involved in the exam and interview that is given and his own career path.

Marsceill also opened a dialogue about how police are perceived by the public with the national coverage of assaults and shootings and the general feeling of mistrust in local communities towards law enforcement.

He told the students like any career, you will have people that are not good at doing their jobs and how that is affecting law enforcement and their role in the community.

“It’s really pretty sad that when you talk to children to introduce yourselves and build a relationship and their parents will pull them away and tell them not to talk to us,” Marsceill said. “They tell them that we will take them away if they are bad. It makes our job ten times harder. One of our goals as a police officer is to have transparency with the public and keep the lines of communication open. Bad officers should be held accountable for their poor conduct, but it is not fair to view us all in that light. Most of us got into this career to help people.”

The students were cautioned not to believe everything posted on Facebook and Twitter and in some cases in the media.

“People can say whatever they want on social media and many times they are lies,” he said. “Videos can be edited or not show the whole situation. The news asks very pointed questions so they can write the story they want. It has become a big problem. Many police departments are giving more training on how to deal with the community and change that negative perception.

“We are also getting more training on less lethal methods to take someone down, like tasers, pepper spray and bean bag shotguns. We are trying to change the way people view who we are and what our role is. Involvement is our community is very important and we are working hard to build that trust with the people we have sworn to protect.”

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