Police vs.

The Media 1

Police vs. The Media

Criminal Justice

January 22, 2018

Don Blackburn

Hannah J. Pettersson

Writing Assignment 1
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Abstract

In this paper, it explains the problem between social media and police officers. Why

there’s a problem between police and the public? How could not just the police fix the problem

but the public as well. Black lives matters purpose and it’s creation because of the shooting four

years ago. My opinion and experiences with police officers.

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Police vs. The Media

In recent times, police have gained a negative reputation from the public. Whether it be

from social media, personal experiences, or stories, everyone has their own opinions of law

enforcement. Social media has created a view on police that makes them an enemy or a target.

The ones that hit the headlines are officers who have gone against their code of conduct and have

gone power hungry over the job. With today’s technology, viewers are given front row seats to

police action thanks to cell phone cameras and body cams. An article published on PBS called

Social media plays a role in national debate on police violence ​explains a little of what social

media can do​.​ At the beginning, it mentions, “​Platforms like Facebook Live provided audiences

with a front row seat to violent and graphic imagery that sparked national debate about police

brutality and race relations in America. At the same time, social media provided a platform for

messages of support and pleas for unity.”(Sreenivasan, 2016) The problem with social media is,

you have all these people voicing their opinions and protesting that it’s causing a bad reputations

for not just one officer but all officers. A quote from the man behind the article, Hari Sreenivasan

gives an example of positive and negative from social media.

“​Angry tweets denouncing the Black Lives Matter movement spread quickly

online. With messages like, “Clearly the rhetoric of Black Lives Matters encouraged the

sniper that shot Dallas police officers” and “You did this Obama, you did this liberals,

you did this Black Lives Matter.” At the same time, anti-cop messages like “Don’t feel

bad for those pigs.” and “I’m glad 11 cops were shot. They need to know how we

feel.”(Sreenivasan, 2016)
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Black lives matter has been a huge contribution to the negativity on police. Officers are supposed

to be taught to not have prejudice against anyone and should treat everyone like a human being.

Not all officers learn this coming out of the academy. Some of these officers personal views can

reflect how they do their job. That’s what the media catches. Ethnicity has a huge role in the

Black Lives matter movement. This movement was mainly created because innocent black

people were being killed by police officers and were aquitted for the crimes. They want to be

free from anti-blackness. Their goal is to intervene in communities where black people are being

treated poorly by the state and vigilantes.(BLM)

There’s a problem between the police and the public because there’s this disconnect

between them. A survey done by the Pew Research Center Poll shows the public doesn’t

understand the risks and challenges of their jobs. More than 8 out of 10 officers agree that most

of the public doesn’t understand the risks and that most of the departments are

understaffed.(Clements and Lowry, 2017) Departments are trying more to connect and fix the

problem with the community and youth. They have different programs in schools and in

departments that connect police with the youth. Salt Lake City police, Unified police department,

and Sandy police have started programs that teach youth the duties and responsibilities of a

police officer. They encouraging youth to become officers and preparing them for future careers.

I have a pretty bias view on law enforcement. I’m a Salt Lake City Police Explorer. It’s a

program for youth that work closely with officers. The officers work with a group of youth and

teach them everything they learned in the police academy as well as send the youth out into the

community to represent the department. We represent the good that officers do. They train us
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just as they do. With the training and the classes I take with them, I’ve experienced good and bad

officers. Most of them are good officers. Every now and then, I’ve met an officer that just had a

weird vibe about them. When working with those officers on events, you’d get to see them on

the job. I’ve seen officers treat people in some ways that I wouldn’t want to be treated. I’m not

saying all officers I’ve come into contact with are bad but I do agree with the saying, “there’s a

few spoiled apples.” I believe that some officers take the job for granted. They are some that

don’t learn how to not be prejudice. In my program we’re always talking to youth about police

officers. Some of the usual questions are, “Do you get to shoot a gun? Do you get tased?” But

sometimes we get asked more personal questions like “Do you accept black people? Are some of

the officers you know racist?” There’s always been that separation between officers and African

Americans. Officers are seen as a target. They leave their homes and families to go to a job that

they never know if they’ll come home from. Everyday officers go to war. Not knowing if they

will survive to see tomorrow. There’s so much disrespect for officers when most people don’t

even know everything the job entails. People will say disrespectful things when they talk about

cops but who is the first people they call to for help in dangerous situations. I just wish people

could give the amount of respect officers deserve. I think one of the things that would help fix

this problem is mending that gap between police and black people. For that to happen, that

feeling of being prejudice and being racist needs to be eliminated completely.i’ve been taught

that there’s no such thing as race. There’s one race and that’s the human race. The human race

has multiple ethnicities but we all are human. If we could teach everyone to not be prejudiced

against other ethnicities than it would solve all of the world problems.
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References

Sreenivasan, Hari. Social media plays major role in national debate on police violence. (2016,

July 15). Retrieved January 22, 2018, from

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/social-media-plays-major-role-national-debate-police-bruta

lity

Clement, S., & Lowery, W. (2017, January 11). Survey reveals disconnect between police and

public attitudes. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/survey-reveals-disconnect-between-police-and-

public-attitudes/2017/01/10/65b24f3a-d550-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?utm_term=.5e9

ab4c5d8eb

What-we-believe