Police officers were implemented into society to be protectors of the public and to serve the community whenever they were in need of help or justice. They are here to enforce the “laws of the land” and to keep society safe from any harm. The police are suppose to be our “unsung heroes.” With this knowledge, citizens should respect these individuals and trust the officers to implement justice and protection. However, not all citizens respect the law enforcement or trust them. Many would like to see police officers like this, but there are a lot that happens in society that make’s one rethink their image of a police officer. There are many people in the community that have negaitve attitudes towards the police and see them as corrupt or brutal (Brown & Benedict, 2002, p. 551). The individuals that are unfavorable towards the police are those from a low social statues, minorities like blacks, from areas of high crime, single or divorced or widowed individuals, and especially juveniles. Juveniles that have had high contact with officers, minorities, tolerance to illegal behavior, and low socioeconomic group status believe that they are treated unfairly, targeted by the police, and believe that they were wrongly accused (Janeksela, 1999, p. 314). Juvenile attitudes toward the police is an important issue to examine because these children are the next generation and outline the perception of authority to future generations and a negative attitude towards police can lead the youth
As I witnessed the videos and sound recordings of the police killings of these Black youth: Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Darnisha Harris, I, too, lost hope for racial equality and developed a fear of law enforcement that still exists to this day. These emotions are quite common amongst Black youth, yet the presence of such is
This time I hated how it felt to be stereotyped. I really felt what people say about police officers. Police officers supposed to be the nice men or women in uniform. This time it felt awful to be on the side of questioning and feeling like a criminal just for minding our business. A group of friends and I were at Fort Lauderdale Airport, waiting for the arrival of two friends coming from their trip. While we waited in the garage filled with cars a security guard in his patrol car came and told us to move before the officers came. The Police officers approached us and asked us why we are here? We all politely answered that we were waiting for our friend to arrive. Thinking that the matter is resolved the officer radioed for backup. In a matter
Young adults pass perception on everyone they encounter. Law enforcement organizations are prime subjects to their perceptions. During my twenty years of service as a New York City Police Officer, I have encountered daily hassles, uncooperative behavior and hostile behavior. In essence, a general lack of no respect for police authority. I interacted with young adults in various capacities from minor to felonious crimes, domestic disputes, rowdiness and other calls for service that may alter their opinion of police. The purpose of this study
Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.
There is recent controversy over police use of force, especially in minority communities such as in African American communities, Hispanic communities, and other publics with large populations of minorities. Increased levels of force among these communities have created challenges for police departments. These challenges include a lack of trust from the community towards law enforcement officers and an absence of respect creating situations that lead to police use of force. There are already various programs in place that attempt to decrease this challenge by educating the public, respecting one another, and giving those who were on the wrong track second chances. A combination of these solutions and the implementation of more of them would decrease the number of contacts between police and minorities that lead to the use of force (Roberg & Novak, 2014).
The text, “Anything Can Happen With Police Around,” examines the several studies that have been constructed about the countless views and interactions with the police, also taking into account the more detailed interactions with the police in a matter of race or gender. These studies have included the importance of how school surveillance, youth perspective, the general public’s perspective, attitudes toward the police and even sexual harassment from police towards females impact the lives and experiences of those around them. Throughout the years, there has been a growing concern of the criminal justice system to secure problems, from troublesome youth to the increasing crime rate that has had an effect on urban cities throughout the nation. Statistics show, from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website, that from the year 2009 to 2014 the crime rate has steadily increased by 6%. The studies constructed, have detailed responses and experiences of both the minority and majority races that have had encounters with the police or those of higher authority. The perspective of the youth has brought an increasing amount of attention to those concerned about the matter. This survey was created to engage the youth and allow them to express how they felt towards those in higher authority, in a sense of both a safety issue and safety concern. According to the many topics discussed most viewed the adults as untrustworthy, but leaned towards their parents,
A great deal of society views law enforcement officers as heroic and honorable individuals, whose main purpose is to protect and serve the community. For many officers, this description is accurate, however for others; violence and brutality against innocent citizens is part of getting the job done. For years, minorities have fallen victim to police brutality based on racial profiling, stereotypes and other
Cooperation from members of the public is important in order for police officers to effectively fight crime within the community. In order to obtain cooperation from members of the public, police officers must gain their trust and confidence. It has been known that African Americans and Hispanics have lower levels of trust and confidence in police because of racial disparities and racial profiling. This paper will discuss the public opinion of police by different ethnic groups and how racial minorities hold lower levels of trust and confidence in police.
1. When most people are mentally visualizing a police officer, most likely they are picturing a physically fit male who is dominant and powerful. Growing up, that was most certainly true for me. Television films about the police fighting crime always depict it as a male-dominating role, and occasionally only one female officer will be given the same title. I never gave it much thought as a child, but now that I aspire to be a police officer because of my desire to help and save people from following the troublesome paths I have personally witnessed, it is now clear to me that the underrepresentation of women in the police force is a vital aspect we must fix in law enforcement. Women may have a stronger impact on rape victims, fallen teenagers,
Police officers are one of the biggest stereotyped groups in the world. Stereotypes are based on truths of previous events but have been exaggerated. Stereotypes are also a widely believed mental picture of a specific group as a whole. Misconceptions are formed from stereotypes but the views are based on untruths. Assumptions are also misconceptions.
These days, police are often stereotyped as aggressive, corrupt beings. The growing hatred for police officers widens the divide between citizens and law enforcement, causing tension and intensely aggressive feelings on both ends. The recent shootings of young African-American men have also added to the societal hatred of law enforcement. Through media exposure, these shootings have been portrayed as cruel, often times revealing the victim to be an unarmed man.
A study done by researchers Durkin and Jefferey (2000), proved that, just like adults, children see the power of the police uniform too. The researchers showed three illustrated scenarios to aboriginal children aged from five to nine and asked who had the power to make an arrest using these scenarios. The first illustration had a police officer out of uniform, the second picture showed the officer in the uniform, and the third picture had a man who was not a police officer, wearing the uniform. The results were quite interesting, since the children who got it wrong, chose the third illustration, suggesting that children really do see the power within the uniform. When it comes to stereotypes and biases regarding the police, the children are more susceptible to the influences from their parents, which suffered chronic inequality and injustices because of the police.
It has been consistently shown in research that minorities are more likely to be mistreated by the police compared to other people (Dunnaville, 2000). Recent incidents have seen the police use excessive force on people and mistreat minorities. As such, the legitimacy of the police has been put under scrutiny and questioned. Many communities in the United States have demonstrated in reaction to recent incidents of police misconduct and excessive use of force. The people have lost trust in the police because of these issues. The police force has been accused of mistreating people, sexual harassment, violent and careless arrests among people particularly the minorities. As demonstrated in the movie ‘Policing the Police’ police officers are seen mistreating people for instance the scene where the police sexually harassed a teenager by touching sensitive areas. Community members are not willing to trust or work with the police to fight crime. As such, it is critical for the police agencies and department to make improving police-community relationship a top police priority. Policies should be developed that will strengthen the mutual trust between the police and the community. This relationship is critical because the police depend on information from the community to fight crime in the society.
In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.
When you hear the words ‘police officer’, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The people that protect us from the bad guys, right? Well, that might be the stereotypical answer, but is that really what we all think? Most would agree that in today 's society, the words do not have the same positive correlation anymore. It is actually almost the complete opposite. Police officers and others in the criminal justice system have created a poor reputation for themselves from the actions they have taken. Crooked cops seem to be the headliners of countless news stories. Now, that is not to say there are not any stories of people of the law doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, but lately, those stories are like finding a needle in a haystack, abnormal. It is not hard to search for a story on a legal personalities questionable conduct. Now, here 's something to think of: if these are the people that know the ins and outs of the law and are put in their positions to help protect us, why does it seem like us citizens are the victims of their actions in a greater part of these stories? How are we supposed to put our trust in these so-called notable people if they are the ones putting us in danger? The people within our criminal justice system are corrupt by brutality, drugs, money, and just overall abusing their powers.