Alex Grieves is a criminal justice major at WCC. At 19, he talks easily about his ideas and aspirations in the criminal justice field. Photo credit – Sara Faraj
By Danny Villalobos
Staff-Writer
Q: Not all students show so much enthusiasm with their studies, but you seem confident in your career plans. Can you talk about that?
A: I’m not really what people would picture as a criminal justice student. I was raised to question things and to just be myself, you know? I always thought about things critically.
I’m also stubborn as a mule. It’s one of my biggest flaws and one of my biggest pluses. There’s things I want to do in my whole life and I never want to stop until I complete it.
My father is a teacher, that’s where I got my ability to speak and articulate so well. My mother has some health problems and that’s formed me as a person, it’s shown me compassion; treating other people with compassion, try to understand another person’s story.
Q: And all of this led you to pursue a career in criminal justice?
A: I really didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I went through a point in my life where I wanted to quit high school and go right into the Marine Corps.
My parents said, “Go to college and get a degree and then you can enter into the military.”
I’ve always had a strong sense of justice. You have to understand one another, that’s why there’s so much violence. Because, I’m primarily from a white-European origin… people from my community sometimes are ignorant to the plight of others, but it can also go the other way around.
So, with me in the case with criminal justice, I just want to bring to people’s attention that we’re all human and we all deserve a basic need of compassion.
I guess it’s a combination of things that led me toward justice… everybody deserves equal opportunity.
Q:How would you like to engage with members of the community, especially the ones who have a distrust for the police?
A: I would, first and foremost, try to be friendly. Try to get to know the people around you because it’s really menacing, you know? I think we can all agree, when you see a police officer drive down the road it is kind of menacing, no matter who you are, you know? I’d rather just be friendly, get to know my community, and just try to be –I’m here to serve. I’ve had teachers at Washtenaw, who have been very helpful in understanding that ethic.
To interact with these marginalized people and people who have been hurt by the police, is that I want them to know when I become a cop is that, “hey, I’m here to be here for you. When you have a problem, call us. We’re not here to punish you, we’re not here to terrorize you, we’re here to protect you, and that’s what we’re here for,”
Q:How have instructors at WCC they helped you?
A: I’ve had teachers who have vast experience, who told me some very interesting ideas, and how to communicate with one another. People, we’re human beings and to understand humanity first; and to do an approach in which not all people who live in crime-ridden areas are bad people (most of them are very good people who are just caught up in a bad situation), and that’s something that really changed my point-of-view, because where I grew up in the media portrays people (both sides of people) being very negative and being just very horrific and it’s just toxic.
Q:After you get your degree, you said you wanted to go into the military, what drove you to that goal?
A: My family has been in the military for a long time. My dad’s side have been in the British military for generations and my mom’s side has fought in the American [military] for a long time. Military tradition is something that I grew up with. It’s just a part of who I am.
Q:You mentioned, the heroin and opiate crisis, what would you would like to see to done solve this?
A: The opioid and heroin epidemic is something that is kind of close to home. I haven’t lost any family or friends, but I have known people who have. It’s very rough to see that, people who are so full of talent and life and who could’ve gone so far, and instead fall. It’s horrible. I would like to see a greater sense that it’s somebody has an issue, whether it is mental, spiritual, physical, or drug related you can go and get help. What I would like to see is communities come together and say “that’s enough.”
What I think we need to do more is go after the people in power and work with other countries and say, “hey! these people are exporting drugs into our country and they’re also victimizing your people and our people.” Instead of going after small-time drug dealers and going after people who have drug problems, go after the big people, go after the suppliers. If you remove that, you will see the drug trade evaporate.
Q:What’s your ultimate goal ? What do you hope to achieve in life?
A: Knowing that I’ve helped people, knowing that I have helped an innocent person, know that I saved somebody from something horrible. I don’t expect anything too crazy out of life, you know? I just want to get married, have a wife and children. That’s all I really want and to be a good person, be a model individual for people. I’m not obsessed with fame or money, I don’t want to be chief of police or the head of the FBI. I just want to help an innocent person and know that I’ve helped a person become a better individual through my service. That’s really it.
This interview has been
edited and condensed.
