T.J., a serving police officer, and Rowan, a member of the public, sit opposite each other in a dimly-lit interview room. They begin a conversation.

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T.J.: Being a police officer teaches you how to accept

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that people are different, that they live their lives differently.

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You get to share moments with complete strangers.

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Rowan: I couldn’t do your job

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T.J.: Why?

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Rowan: I was just worried about...

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what my family would think about me.

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T.J.: People are gonna have an issue with it.

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I know that from personal experience.

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I lost friends when I joined the police.

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It was difficult.

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It is difficult.

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But I fight on

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because if... I don’t do it then

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everything will be the same for the next generation.

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You are me, 14, 15 years ago.

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You know, saying:'It can’t happen.'

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Rowan: I know for me, when I was thinking about

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joining the police,

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I wanted to be a dog handler but then my look started changing,

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started to get tattoos, grew dreads.

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You don’t really see Black police officers with dreads.

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T.J.: There’s loads of Black officers with dreads.

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Rowan: Really?

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T.J.: Yeah man.

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Rowan: What like long formed? Or...

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T.J.: Yeah. Long down to their back, dreads.

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Rowan: Wow, OK.

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Rowan: So I got stopped and searched a lot.

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T.J.: Yeah.

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Rowan: Just, you know,another Black guy,

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looking suspicious, I guess.

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T.J.: Yeah, I’ve been told that I fit the description of a recent robbery

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and I was wearing dark clothing.

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I wear dark hoodies all the time.

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Rowan: Yeah.

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T.J.: You know,

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Why? Why have you stopped me?

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Now I have the knowledge,so I ask the right questions.

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Rowan: Uh-huh.

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T.J.: Personally believe that stop and search is a good tool to be used

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in the right way,but at the same time,

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we have been stopped and searched unnecessarily.

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I have been stopped and searched unnecessarily.

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I don’t want my children,nor their children after them

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to be concerned about that.

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I want them to drive past,you know, a police car,

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‘ah there’s a there’s a brother in there, there’s a sister in there’.

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It will be natural to see ourselves in these roles,

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it will be natural to see high ranking

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police officers who can effect change.

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But it can’t be done from outside,

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it has to be done from inside.

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We need people like you,

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so that we don’t have to feel uncomfortable.

We see a brief close-up of a whirring tape deck recording the conversation, before cutting to a wide shot of the two men.

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Rowan: So being a Black police officer,

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what do you think about the whole BLM movement?

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T.J.: It pains me that, you know, I had to see somebody that is me

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lose their life again for the vehicle to start up again

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and I just think that we need to keep the pace with that.

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Conversations like this,
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are giving us seats at tables that we

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should have been sitting at a long time ago.

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And I am just

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aware that we need to make sure that the correct voices

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are sat at these tables.

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Rowan: Have you seen more Black police officers joining?

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T.J.: Yeah man, yeah definitely.

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We are in areas that we wouldn’t have been before;

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Firearms. You know, detectives and...

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We are in these roles and we are excellent.

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At everything.

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Rowan: What’s your proudest moment so far?

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T.J.: Proudest moment in the job was

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stopping a murder.

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It was a domestic incident.

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On the way to the actual flat itself, we could hear screams.

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Eventually gained access, ran up to the second floor,

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Just got there, what would have appeared to be, in time.

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You know, what she kept saying afterwards is:

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‘He probably would have killed me in the house.’

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So that is my standout moment

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from my career up to this point.

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Rowan: So what is your most favourite part of the job?

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T.J.: Strangely enough just 

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being able to communicate with different people.

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Communication, you know, is what we use to solve things.

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Being a police officer teaches you how to accept

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that people are different, that they live their lives differently.

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You get to share

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moments with complete strangers that blow your mind.

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You get to do things in special ways for people that,

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You know, will literally,

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they will come back and tell you that you changed 

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their life for the better.

We see a close-up of the tape machine, clicking as the recording ends, before cutting to a shot of Rowan.