Assignment 1- "Through a Blue Lens"

Overall, I thought that “Through a Blue Lens” was a very eye-opening, interesting, and impactful film.  I think that for me the most powerful part was seeing how compassionate the police officers were to the people who lived on the streets.  With all of the recent media attention focused on the uproar over police brutality and societal racism, I thought that this view of a compassionate officer’s work was a much needed breath of fresh air. 

Recent protests have definitely been causing a lot of tension between law enforcement and citizens

  I was very touched at how close the officers got to the people that they were monitoring and recording, and I appreciated that even though they came in with the “hard cop” attitude to stop the illegal drug activity, they were able to change their mindsets and realize that they had a more important goal of helping out the citizens that they swore to protect, regardless of the illegal activity that was going on.  They took the time to get to know the people around the area, asked them how they were, took them for meals, got them Christmas presents, and even visited them in the hospital.  They encouraged them to turn their lives around, and this dedication clearly helped make a change in the addicts’ lives.  It was apparent that the addicts were very grateful for the actions of the police, which is starkly different from recent views of law enforcement.  The supportive mindset of the police made me reflect on how we treat addicts and homeless people.  Homeless people are often passed by and ignored completely on the streets, and in doing this society practically strips them of all dignity that they had left.  However, the cops who made this documentary did the opposite, and gave them the attention and the humanity that they deserve as humans.  While it didn’t always help them out of their situations, it definitely made me realize that society as a whole needs to realize that these people on the streets may have problems, but they are still just as human everyone else, and they deserve to be treated as such.  These cops learned a lot of valuable lessons that society continues to ignore, and the compassion and genuine care that they showed touched me deeply and thus to me was the most powerful part of the film.