Detective Work and Justice Anonymous

“10-64. CODE 10-43! Suspect Heading Northeast!” she said while running in her heels, dodging cars and people. Suspect five feet away. Jumps the fence, gets cuts on her palm from the shattered glass on the floor. Suspect takes out a gun, but she is ready to shoot before him. Click, chick chick, Boom.”

From watching Criminal Minds to playing pretend as a private detective, my interest in justice began. My criminal investigation course sparked my passion to pursue a career in criminal justice. I initiated police academy and took more crime-related classes at ELAC. I especially enjoyed a class I took with a professor who was a former detective. To gratify my curiosity I researched cases, started paying attention to the news and became aware of issues in my community.

Knowing that poverty is not just a community issue but a global issue, I decided to give away most of my belongings to homeless people every time I traveled to Mexico. During these moments, my eyes unlocked. No longer seeing just a person’s face, but instead seeing a burst of doubt floating above my head. Asking myself, “what is this person doing? Thinking? feeling?” My fragile mind could not resist asking. Soon enough, I had questioned everything.

Ending up with an...