Rhetorical Analysis Of Melvin Russell's Tedtalk

Relationships between police officers and the general public have been a roller coaster ride over the past 30 years, when it comes to the way some officers act when put in bad situations, or even if they are just acting out of anger. Melvin Russell explains in his speech that police officers need to do a better job of working with the public and treating them as if they are a customer. Russell has been a police officer himself for nearly 40 years, and is the Chief of the Community Partnership Division of the Baltimore Police Department. The TedTalk, “I Love Being a Police Officer, but We Need Reform,” by Melvin Russell was very persuasive and proposed a strong argument by using pathos and having an engaging voice, being credible in his words,

Some issues include police departments bringing in new tactics and ways of controlling instead of asking the community first on some ideas about how they should change their ways. Russell explained that police officer’s know how to protect, but what they forget to do is to serve. All police officers have a patch on their sleeve that says “To Protect and Serve” however Russell says the serving part of the sleeve is not practiced enough. This is the big part of the reform Russell is trying to find a fix to. He expresses that police officers need to stop thinking it's the community versus the police and more of a one team one mission type mindset. With Russell making connections back to real-life examples made it easier to listen and visualize his message. EXAMPLE When Russell included his examples it was just another piece his audience could buy into. Giving the audience a description of an example helped them picture Russell's message he had intended to deliver. Russel also explained that he had a community meeting about what changes needed to happen in the community relations with the police and the community members.