The social media is full of videos and news of excessive use of force by the law enforcement officers. These stories have given rise into activists advocating for respect of human rights. Connecting the police brutality and the American History of civil rights has led to the public growing distrust towards the law enforcement officers and viewing them as enemies. To curb the hostilities the police officers are getting from the public, the law enforcement department came up with various programs to ensure good police-community relationship. Surprisingly the programs have not led to any changes. The relationship between the police and the public is a strained one. This paper discusses how social media and the news have affected how the public perceives the police officers, the negative and positive issues arising out of the influencers reflecting on the current happenings.
The social media has influenced the public perception about law enforcement through airing news and sharing videos of police officers using excessive force. The current police brutality has been tied to the history of America on civil rights making the public have no confidence in the police officers. For example the recent case of George Floyd’s death as he begged the police officer to let him breathe stirred the whole world has seen people demonstrate and confront the police officers. The issue of police brutality did not begin with this case. According to Nodjimbadem, 2017, although the black Americans are around 5% of the whole populace, 30% of those killed by police officers are Blacks. When people are exposed to videos of police brutality, they believe that all the police officers are racists and brutal. This has created hostility making the police working hard as the public is in direct confrontation with the police officers, some being attacked.
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The influence social media and mainstream news outlets has on public leads to targeting of cops and increased resistance which has led to an increase in criminal activities. shooting of Michael Brown was reported by the social media as one that Brown’s hands were up but the police officer shot him. This led to demonstrations with people bringing buildings down to justify the black man’s killing. However, this information was not true as witnesses said that he continued misbehaving even after the police warned him (Morrow, 2019). Such fake news when supported by fake videos have made the public attack the cops and destroy property.
An advantage of reporting police brutality is that the police officers will be cautious when giving their services to the public. The police officers have for long time used excessive force while dealing with even non-violent criminals. With the social media exposing their activities, the police officers will be kept on toes and held responsible by the public on their actions. If social media does not expose such behavior the world will be living in the past where people had nowhere to air their points of oppression.
In my opinion, the law enforcement officers are not being treated fairly by the public because some innocent and non-racist police officers have been assaulted. However, it is upon the police officers to watch over their colleagues. For example, during the killing of George Floyd other police officers watched but they did not help. Let the police officers be responsible enough and serve all the citizens instead of promoting white supremacy.
In conclusion, the social media and mainstream news outlets has exposed the police brutality and racism. The public has bought the idea by relating it with the civil rights history, making it hostile to the police officers. This has led to targeting of cops and increased criminal activities. Exposing the cases will make the police more cautious and accountable for their actions.
References
Morrow, S. (2019). Media’s effects on Law Enforcement . Global Journal of Forensic Science and Medicine 1 (4): 52-56; doi: 10.33552/AJGH.2019.01.000516
Nodjimbadem, Katie. (2017, July 27). The long painful history of police brutality in the U.S. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-painful-history-police-brut ality-in-the-us-180964098/
