The image of police in the United States has changed over time in popular culture . The role of policing has also changed from only fighting crimes and responding to emergencies to act as a social peacekeeper. Police are bound by a code of ethics that demands high professionalism when dealing with society by ensuring they uphold the law. Over the last century, the methods used by police to resolve crimes have changed as well as media portrayal of the same.. The mass media play an integral role in shaping citizen’s perceptions and attitudes towards policing. Broadcast and print media rely on police agencies for information when covering crime stories. The popular media shapes the public's perception of the police. Today, a good deal of effort has been put in place to improve the image of policing, especially in their relationshi p with the community and changing societal attitudes. Changes in policing are understood through phases of the slavery era, political era, the reform/professionalism era, and the current community policing era. In every era, the media played a crucial role in shaping the public perception of the police.
Slavery and Political Era of Policing
The history of policing is traced back to the 18 th century, during the slavery period in the South. Policing forcing during that time was known as slave patrol and started in Carolina colonies in 1704. The patrol involved three to six men riding horseback and armed with ropes, whips, and guns ( Potter, 2013) . Society understood the role of the police as hunting slaves who have escaped colonies, releasing terror on slaves to prevent demonstrations and riots, and keeping owners of plantations in check. The media mainly reported issues pertaining arrest and capturing of runaway slaves. A police force was established in Boston in 1838. Other states like New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Cincinnati formed their police force to curb crimes and keep order ( Potter, 2013) . Police forces were bureaucratic, and police officers used to report to the governmental authority. Also, every city started to develop detective units to investigate criminal activities. The media started to reported crime activities and also disclose corruption among police officers.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
A new police system commonly referred to as the political era began in the 1900s following reforms by August Vollmer, known as the father of modern policing. Vollmer established policies like college education for students, establishing a separate system of juveniles and punishments different from that of adults. Also, in the early 1900s, federal and state police forces were established to stop crimes like alcohol and substance abuse. J Edgar Hoover created the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) in the 1920s, which significantly changed the face of the police force ( Potter, 2013) . FBI focused on fighting street crimes which were growing at a higher rate in major cities. Police officers patrolled the neighborhoods by car and arrested those found breaking the laws.
Police during this era used to represent local politicians whom they protected during the patrols. Police officers were fired and managed by local politicians since there was no civil service system. The major role of the police was to keep politicians safe and performed duties that they assigned them. Police officers used to be selected for their services in politics, and the officers owed their allegiance to the ward boss and captain who chose them. Police officers used to patrol the community by far and were aware of every section of the community that they served. The officers recognized various problems faced by the community since the media used to provide them with adequate information. Police officers used a “call box” to report to the stationhouse.
Chief August Vollmer developed new policing policies, including psychological and intelligence testing for all candidates. During this period, the popular media in America was not fully developed. Very few cases of policing were reported, and there were minimal investigations by the journalist. Most media stations were owned and controlled by high-class elites; they controlled the media o ensure they only aired information that favored their commercial interest. Since there was less supervision, and the popular media was less involved in police affairs. There was minimal reporting of the police officers' engagement in peddling and other illegal activities. Corrupt cases by police officers were not aired since the police were under the control of local politicians who also controlled media houses.
Professional Era of Policing
The restructuring of the police department characterized the professional era from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Police departments were made bureaucratic with a chain of commands ( Potter, 2013). The primary aim of this era was to isolate police departments from a politician as the basis of forming civil services in the US. The civil service system was formed to govern police conduct and change their practice to enforce law and order and stop being influenced by politicians. The police force became a centralized unit to ensure maximum control. Various police practices introduced include police science and police training programs like the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The invention of radios made the work of the police officers easy as they used to carry them in their cars. Radio represented police mobility, conspicuous presence, control of officers, power, and professional distance from citizens ( Potter, 2013). Police officers focused on the criminal law as the basic source of police legitimacy by controlling crimes and apprehending criminals. This era of policing also reduced police interaction with the community creating a gap between the police and community members. Since the US was experiencing Civil Wars, police focused on protecting the status quo. The heated conflict was witnessed between the community, especially the minority races and the community leading to conflict. Police officers were used to set off riots by defusing the situation through aggressive stops and frisk methods.
Due to the poor relationship between the police officers and the community, the minority groups began to challenge how police treated some communities, especially the Blacks neighborhoods. During the 1960s, African Americans started challenging police use of force and harsh treatments. As racial profiling intensified in the US to challenge racial profiling, several boycotts, riots, and peaceful demonstrations were held, especially in the South (Nodjimbadem, 2017). Police officers responded by harsh treatments, including high-pressure water hoses, tear gas, and attack dogs. The popular media became actively involved in covering these harsh treatments. The 1960s policing symbolized a society that denied Black Americans equal treatment and justice. The actions of the police intensified racial riots in all US major cities as the US became divided into two nations of the Black community and White community. Apart from police riots, Blacks were also underrepresented in the police force, and more police officers were deployed in the Black neighborhoods.
Role of Media in Shaping Police Image during Professional Era
Events of police use of force on protestors were aired on national televisions and their grievances. During that time, police officers highly profiled the LGBTQ community across the US cities by raiding bars and nightclubs and arresting patrons. For instance, police officers raided Stonewall Inn in New York City on June 28, 1969, and began lasting patrons and neighborhoods (Nodjimbadem, 2017). The riots lasted for six days and were intensively covered by the media as gay rights movements take on the streets to fight against police harassment. Several studies and media showed that professional policing in patrolling police cars was ineffective in reducing crime. Instead, the system led to the negative image of the police officers as the community revealed dissatisfaction with the police force. According to Potter (2013 ), the use of professional police force to suppress the Civil Movement creates irreparable damage to American policing. Also, the way police handled demonstrations on Vietnam War was controversial and increased political instability.
The media played a huge role in addressing the failures of professional policing during the Civil War and Vietnam War. The media widely covered demonstrations and riots are showing the brutality of the police among the minority. The nightly news was filled with images is students and Black’s youths armed with an endless list of non-negotiable demands. As they matched over the University Administration, they met police unleashing tear gas and dogs into the protestors. The states responded by sending more police officers into the scenes. The media showed how Black panthers were targeted by the police and military units killing and injuring thousands of peaceful demonstrators. Several movies and documentaries were released in the 1960s condemning racial profiling by the police (Mustafaj & Van den Bulck, 2021). Black Like Me film release in 1964 featured the book Black Like Me by journalist John Howard Griffin describing the lives of Black Americans in the South and increased cases of police brutality among LGTBTQ ( Parkerson, 2018 ). Elizabeth Hinton also published a book, "From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America," exploring the mass incarceration of Black Americans following the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s. Popular media also covered several interviews with civil rights movements who campaigned against racial profiling by the police. The speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, "I have a Dream," was highly covered by the media, who shed light on the increasing racial profiling, police brutality, white supremacy, and incarceration of innocents Blacks. In the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the media covered the ordering of 23,000 police officers by Mayor Richard J. Daley to attack innocent protestors (Potter, 2013). Increased tension and community rebellion against the police called for a change in the policing procedure. Also, the rise of Black Lives Matter gained popularity in the media as they campaigned for changes in policing system.
The information presented by the media helped in changing public perception of police officers. The story shared about the police shooting people from minority races raised questions on their professionalism, accountability, and effectiveness. The media influenced the societal view of policing as many saw them unfavorable to protect them. Society revealed the pervading attitude of dislike, distaste, and reluctance to talk to the police. The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders Kerner Commission responded to the tension by establishing police-community relations programs to enhance communication between the police and racial minorities. The department also took affirmative actions to recruit Blacks in the police force. In addition, several policies were established to reduce police use of force and shootings on minority races.
Community Policing Era
The era of community policing which positively changed policing image, began in 1980 and is currently practiced in the 21st century. Community policing was adopted to solve the rising number of crimes in the US through a different method since the traditional methods had proven ineffective and had highly damaged the image of policing in America. Community policing seeks to improve the image of the police by reducing crimes, disorder, fear and increasing communication between the community and police departments’. Tremendous advancement in technology and practice of media freedom has positively improved police relationship with the community members. In the 1980s, several strategies to reform the police force were recommended, including hiring more police officers, random motorized police patrolling, rapid response to service calls, foot patrols, and routine criminal investigations ( Kappeler & Gaines, 2012) . Science and technology have made it possible for society to survey policing by reporting crimes and exposing their corrupt and evil deeds.
A major responsibility of community policing is to control illegal drugs, which have been on the rise among some communities, especially Black neighborhoods. In the 1990s, the US reported a significant rise in violent crimes, especially drugs, that led to enactments of the bipartisan crime bill. The public lost trust in the police, especially due to their involvement in the drugs war and their racial bias when investigating and arresting lawbreakers. According to Nodjimbadem (2017), 233 Black Americans were shot and killed by police officers in 2016, which is 2.5 times higher than Whites killed by officers. Five decades after the end of Civil War, the Black Lives Matter still hold protest on the streets with placards showing frequent police shooting on the minority race. Advancement in technology has made it easy for the media to report police involvement in drugs, which has led to the rise of federal expenditure on drug control. Even in the current community policing reforms, the Black remains high targets of police search, arrest, and incarceration. Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 oversaw an increase in police grants that led to the hiring of 100,000 officers Kappeler & Gaines, 2012) . The policy also allowed federal investigations of law enforcement to eradicate racial discrimination and police misconduct which hinders equal justice enhancement. Another reform aimed to improve the image of police in the 1990s was the enactment of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF). LELDF aimed to recognize challenges faced by police officers, imperiling danger of politics in their performance, and prosecution of police who engaged in misconduct while in the line of duty.
The wave of police technology that began in the late 1990s has significantly changed the image of policing in the US. The widespread of technology has increased police efficiency since officers are surrounded by critical, real-time information from their mobile devices, vehicles, and surveillance. Detectives easily access data sources from surveillance videos, license plate readers, electronic transaction records, and social media ( Bayley, 2010) . Also, the administration access performance of the police officer’s in real-time through devices installed in their cars and body-worn cameras. Similarly, advancement in technology has enabled the community and media to keep police officers on the toe. Other reforms established in community policing include policies governing the role of police, recruitments and hiring processes, and training to increase the level of satisfaction. The community policing program is slowly improving the image of the police in America, and the public is increasingly gaining trust in law enforcement.
Media Effect on Police Image in Era of Community Policing
Up to today, the community actively retains a negative perception and distrust towards the police. The media actively highlights aggressions of the police against unarmed minorities, which has placed the police department under scrutiny ( Baker & Bacharach, 2017) . Today, popular media is at the forefront to report instances of police misconduct and police use of force of some individuals. The media has documented several cases of police misconduct. Although the media’s role is to report facts of the story, reporting controversial topics can sometimes face bias and reporting on one side of the story. The recent case of the killing of Michael Brown revealed the negative image that the public holds towards police officers. In 2014, the media actively reported the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by police officers. The killing revived the debate of police brutality and racism that has been a top issue ( Schultz, 2019) . Slogans demonstrates like “Hands up, don’t shoot” showed persistent distrust for police officers that negatively affect the performance of police officers. Media reporting on the racism of white police officers has created a new perception of police in almost every aspect of their actions. The community no longer hides its feelings about the police. The killing of unarmed Black George Floyd in 2020 also raised heated debate on continuous race profiling by police officers (Cappelli, 2020). The media covered the entire demonstration held by the Black Lives Matter movement calling for change and reforms in the policing system. Although not all police officers engage in misconduct, the negative mentality has a long effect on their performance.
The media has significantly pushed for reforms to remove socio-economic and racial prejudice from police enforcement. Among reforms that popular media has managed to achieve is the utilization of body cameras to prevent officers from abusing their positions. Also, the placement of video coverage across the streets, parks, and public places has reduced cases of police brutality. Freedom of the media has made it possible to tame police brutality towards Blacks as the public demonstrates and demands a better and just police force. In today's technology like social media, every citizen actively participates in persuading the government to implement policies that improve police effectiveness, increase confidentiality and public trust ( Miethe, 2019) . It signifies that the community is not blindly accepting media reports on policing as they remain objective and accurate. The public also understands the growing potential untrustworthy and bias of media due to political differences. Therefore, the public ensures that they follow opinions from democratic media when dealing with issues of policing.
Conclusion
In summary, the police force has changed over the years. Initially, police played the role of arresting slaves who have escaped their territories. Duri9ng the political era, police officers were seen as protectors of certain politicians who controlled their practices. Later, the police department became more professional, and several reforms were formed like bureaucratizing the department, introducing patrol, cars and expanding their duties. The negative image of police officers began in the 1960s and 1970s during the Civil Wars. Police were used to shoot and arrest peaceful Black protestors. Since then, the media has been actively engaged in reporting events of police brutality and racial profiling. In the rise of community policing, the media continue to set the agenda for public view policing. More reforms are being established to change the police departments and increase their accountability and efficiency, especially when dealing with minorities. Since the popular media play a vital role in shaping the public image, media programs will continue to be useful in rebuilding the image of police enforcement in the United States.
References
Baker, M., & Bacharach, V. (2017). Police Officer-Civilian Confrontations Caught on Camera: the Influence of Contextual Frames on Judgements of Excessive Force. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(4), 683–697.
Bayley, D. H. (2010). The changing environment for policing, 1985-2008 . Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
Cappelli, M. L. (2020). Black Lives Matter: The Emotional and Racial Dynamics of the George Floyd Protest Graffiti. Advances in Applied Sociology , 9 (10), 323.
Kappeler, V. E., & Gaines, L. K. (2012). Community policing: A contemporary perspective . Routledge.
Miethe, T. D., Venger, O., & Lieberman, J. D. (2019). Police use of force and its video coverage: An experimental study of the impact of media source and content on public perceptions. Journal of Criminal Justice, 60, 35–46
Mustafaj, M., & Van den Bulck, J. (2021). The Media and Our Perceptions of the Police. The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Policing, Communication, and Society , 213.
Nodjimbadem, K. (2017). The long, painful history of police brutality in the US. Smithsonian , 27 . https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-painful-history-police-brutality-in-the-us-180964098/
Parkerson, M. (2018). 1. Birth of a Notion: Toward Black, Gay, and Lesbian Imagery in Film and Video. In Sisters in the Life (pp. 21-25). Duke University Press.
Potter, G. (2013). The history of policing in the United States. Retrieved from . https://www.academia.edu/download/63685153/the-history-of-policing-in-usa20200619-44096-pw7laa.pdf
Schultz, J. (2019). Media coverage of law enforcement and effects of the image created. https://scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=senior-theses
