Name: Jacob Campos
Hometown: York, SC
Major: Sociology
Concentration: Criminology
Minor: Legal Studies
Year: Sophomore
What are you involved with on campus?
The biggest thing I’m involved with on campus is the fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. The other biggest thing I’m involved in other than Pike, is BCM, or Baptist Collegiate Ministries. I’m not a regular attendee of BCM, but I’m apart of a catalyst group and those guys are really awesome and they help keep me accountable. Like I said, I don’t even really go to the big group meetings but I do have a small group I meet with and hang out with and share life with them pretty much.
Your major is very interesting and unique. How did you choose to major in that?
It’s funny you would ask that. It’s pretty much where my life has lead for the most part because my dad has been both in the military and the police force and that’s just something I’ve always been around and something I’ve always had passion in. So, that’s pretty much the biggest reason why I decided to major in what I’m majoring in…from example, I guess.
Where is your father in the police force?
He’s a York County Sherriff, so it’s just up the road where he works.
There have been many upsets and controversy surrounding police. How has having family in law enforcement affected you in the past year?
I feel like it hasn’t necessarily affected my family per say, but it has affected the police family as a whole. Things like Black Lives Matter are good social movements, but when it gets crazy and crosses the boundary, it starts to take away from the overall arching goal of what police officers are there to do, which is to protect and serve them. Yes, sure there are going to be the officers who do crazy stuff like shoot innocent people and not necessarily do their jobs the way they’re supposed to be doing them–but I feel like these movements are taking away power from the police. It’s almost like the police have their hands tied and the force is giving more power to other police who don’t necessarily know what to do with that power–and that’s when and why we run into these bigger problems like shooting at the protests and that’s why they get out of hand. Basically they just have too much power and they don’t know what to do with that power.
How have BCM and your fraternity help cope with the hate in the media towards the police family?
They both are such good support systems for me, but they aren’t the only support I get–I get it from a lot of people on campus too, and I think that’s the most interesting thing about Winthrop. It’s like, everybody here is very tolerant of different things and so it’s kind of given me a wide range of perspectives to look through.
What are your hopes for the future of the police?
First off, what I want to do is shed light on the other side and let people know police are here to help you. Yes, police may be the people who don’t necessarily do the right thing all the time…but they’re all humans, and I think a lot of people expect them to be perfect but they’re not robots. Nobody is perfect. It’s unrealistic. But, what I hope is that I can change the way people look at police. In this age, people are so quick to judge the police, thinking that they’re there to be evil and make everyone’s lives harder. But the truth is, they’re there to protect us, and that’s all we can remember.