In Police Chief Magazine researchers from Montana State University conducted a study that viewed the public view on law enforcement. The studies went on to show law enforcement is a tough and risky career choice explaining officers can go from being thanked one minute, to being spit upon few hours later. As for the public view on a police officer, the public "distrust" them, no matter the community or the agency. Miles apart from each other and the public views are very similar. Researchers asked the officers, why their views are similar? and both responded with, negative press coverage seen on television.
One example that took place back in June 2009, a black male was killed by three police officers, this example was important because the man was to be married just a few hours later, while police where investigating the incident, media had limited information on what happened to generate a story, and the information they did gather are from angry and grieving relatives. That then leads to the story being very one sided, leading the public to believe police are violent, untrustworthy and corrupt. However the article then goes to explain that studies show police officers and administrators do not give the public enough credit
Studies showed that up to 80 percent of the public actually supported and felt safe when police where around, compared to the other 10 percent who disagreed. My question, is why is this image, and why do officers still feel they are considered untrustworthy, or corrupt when the statistics show otherwise? Media I believe is the reason for this.
In a more recent article, created May 20, 2016, the National Institute of Justice studies show that minorities claim police treat them worse or even single them out because of their race or ethnicity. Is media at fault of this assumption? Perhaps so, data shows that Caucasians hold the police to a high regard compared to a minority. The studies showed when a good quality police encounter took place, no matter the neighborhood, education or income, the effects of race nearly disappeared. So again, does media ultimately hinder the reputation of law enforcement?
I think your choice of topic on your blog is very interesting and very controversial. In my opinion, the media does play a big role on how society views the police. The media is very good at telling a one sided story. The media is also very good at being very bias. Staying neutral is very hard to do. It is really hard to say one way or the other. In my opinion, just because their are a few "bad" apples does not mean that all police officers are "bad" or corrupt. It seems that society looks at police officers as a whole in that if one does a horrible act then that must mean that the entirety of them are going to or already are committing the same or similar acts. So the judgement comes into play and fingers get pointed and the blame seems to fall on all their shoulders at no fault of theirs. This is not right or fair. We need to punish the individual who is doing the wrong and breaking the law, not the organization such a the law enforcement all over the united stated. I feel that unless we are in the police officers shoes we really do not have a leg to stand on. We can comment and judge all day long, but really if mentally, psychology and emotionally we were not present like the officer was in the situation, who are we to say what should or should not of happened.
ReplyDeleteI think your choice of topic on your blog is very interesting and very controversial. In my opinion, the media does play a big role on how society views the police. The media is very good at telling a one sided story. The media is also very good at being very bias. Staying neutral is very hard to do. It is really hard to say one way or the other. In my opinion, just because their are a few "bad" apples does not mean that all police officers are "bad" or corrupt. It seems that society looks at police officers as a whole in that if one does a horrible act then that must mean that the entirety of them are going to or already are committing the same or similar acts. So the judgement comes into play and fingers get pointed and the blame seems to fall on all their shoulders at no fault of theirs. This is not right or fair. We need to punish the individual who is doing the wrong and breaking the law, not the organization such a the law enforcement all over the united stated. I feel that unless we are in the police officers shoes we really do not have a leg to stand on. We can comment and judge all day long, but really if mentally, psychology and emotionally we were not present like the officer was in the situation, who are we to say what should or should not of happened.
ReplyDeleteWow... How relevant is your topic with everything going on right now. You posed some great questions about why the police feel unlinked or that society isn't grateful for the job they do for us. You asked the question about the media helping to aid in the publics opinion about police. I would have to say that is very accurate after what as come about the last three days. I do have a question for you... White cops killing colored people make the news all the time. Why doesn't colored police killing white people even make the news? Is there something deeper going on here?
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