The Perception Of The Police Officer - 1287 Words

Abstract One of the biggest questions we face today involves the perception of the police? What is the perception of how we look at our officials in law enforcement? Is this something that’s based on personal experiences? Is it media driven? Over the last year, we’ve had to examples in the media that pertains to this discussion. In Ferguson, MO there was the Michael Brown case involving the shooting of an unarmed man by police officer Darrin Wilson. There was the death of Eric Garner involving the New York Police Department. Depending on what media news outlet you’ve watched, the reader was given different point of views. On some news channels, the media outlets played the role that the person killed was committing no crime. On another†¦show more content†¦(Engel 2005) states that since most citizens have very limited contact with the police, the media tends to shape beliefs and expectations about the police, especially given the growing rise in the amount of cri me-related media over the last thirty years. The way that crime is being covered, it’s coverage with the media is growing. The growing coverage of crime in the media also brings in a huge profit to these media companies. According to (McCall 2007), roughly about a third of all new stories on television and in papers are related to the police and or crimes. In the last decade, the only terrorism and war stories that have surpassed crime in the America. News organizations gather their information on what the public wants and needs based on the constant polling that these media organizations conduct. The media knows that sensationalism and violence equals ratings. The news companies that when they’re able to send a reporter or a correspondent into the field of danger, this creates drama and draws a larger viewing audience. The sensationalism of crime on the news has also resulted in an enormous amount of crime shows and movies being developed over the years. Almost a third of the top 40 shows on television in the mid 2000’s had to do with crime (Phillips and Frost 2010). With all of these shows on television, some wonder