The Effects of the Media and Police Corruption on Community Policing

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Media and Police Corruption Effects on Community Policing

Erin Allen

JADM-260

January 8, 2017

Professor Hullar

      The Effects of the Media and Police Corruption on Community Policing

                                Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to further understand the effects that the media consumptions has on public opinion towards community policing, police misconduct and discrimination. There has been studies done to confirm that people whom ingest media on a daily basis are more likely to believe that police misconduct is an everyday recurrent event and that discrimination and bias tendencies are overlooked. Whereas there also has been studies done that shown there was little impact on public perspectives. It has been shown that even though there is negative impacts on public opinion there has been an overwhelming amount of positive impacts that has help strengthen community policing and the relations with the public. This paper will also explore how the news consumption and social media sites that over dramatized police misconduct had no significant effects on the general attitudes the public has towards police, and community policing.  The news media coverage however did have an impact on citizens and the officers who was involved. This paper will conclude with possibilities of future issues that can be related to the role and effectiveness of community policing and media.  

                                Introduction

Community policing has become a theoretical approach that allows the support and corporation of the police and community to interact together to reduce the fear of crime, social disorder and crime itself. In order for this to work there needs to be a combined partnership between the public and police, to develop the solutions to the problems to promote well needed trust in the policing community. In order for this to be successful there needs to be a strong trustworthy partnership with the government, police, community, social service providers, private businesses and the media (Hunter & Barker, 2011). However, effects that the media has can hinder the outcome of community policing and the way that it is viewed. The media portrayal of the way policing is done across the nation is juxtaposed, this not only produces a positive influence but with a negative interpretation. This has resulted in a very complex relationship that now exists between the media consumption and the public opinions that have been reflected towards the police and corruption that does exist today (Gary, 2015) .

With the rise of social media many turn to it for the news that unfolds here in the United States. With doing this the general population has become more likely to believe that the police corruption and misconduct happens on a daily basis. There are a majority of people have formed a strong opinion that the White race receive more adequate treatment, than those who are from a different ethnic background. Then there are the ones that watch the shows such as NCIS, Law & Order, Homeland and other crime solving shows that feel the wealth the victims have impact the outcome of cases. Despite of the negative effects social media has helped community policing rise to a new level, and has helped the police to openly engage the public (Basu, 2012).

                           The Positive Impacts

Community policing and relations are the efforts that seek to foster better relations among groups of citizens, especially minorities and juveniles and is to help assist social service agencies in the efforts to rehabilitate drug and alcohol abusers.  Community policing is well-known to help police agencies to become more dynamically involved in their communities in order to earn the trust and confidence of the people who they serve (Scheb & Scheb II, 2005). Over the past fifteen years there has been an increase in the usage of smartphones and tablets. Today, dependence on mobile devices and social media along with online news media has become the normal and ubiquitous tendencies of many (IACD, 2014). Law enforcement around the world has also turned to the media of all forms to get adapt a more cultured method of communicating. This has resulting in a higher trust among citizens and the police departments in their neighborhoods.

When law enforcement use social media to help promote community policing it allows for the eradications of traditional barriers, such as geographic location, that can have the ability hinder the access to reliable resources.  The use of social media has also allowed for integrated police operations during emergency crisis situations. It has been shown that during crisis situations there has been an enhancement of the situational awareness and where the public can get vital resources for survival all the real-time intelligence with social media (IACD, 2014). During Hurricane Sandy many government agencies turned to social media before during, and after the hurricane had made landfall. The Police department and Public officials was able to communicate effectively with the public in order to share vital information, to maintain awareness of community actions and need such as; inform the public of bridge failures and road failures, lack of critical resources, such as water, the location of shelters and other support and how someone can volunteer for recovery efforts (Homeland Security, 2013).

Community policing today has also extended the aspects of social networking to help locate missing children (Hanson, 2011). A 9 year old girl named Carlie Trent was taken from her school in Rogersville, Tennessee by her uncle Gary Simpson.  The local police department in Hawkins County and The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) turned to social media and the news to help locate her. Within a few hours of the little girl being reported missing pictures of Gary and Carlie, a picture of the vehicle they was suspected to be in and even a video surveillance that was captured, was being circulated across Facebook and Twitter. Within in two days two gentleman who had been following the information on social media discovered the two of them camping on private property. Carlie was reunited with her family unharmed and her uncle was charged with kidnapping (Goldstein, 2016).

With the use of social media law enforcement are even able to notify the community of suspicious activity and even inform the public about crimes committed in their neighborhoods. When the Boston Marathon Bomber attacked Boston, it was a day that took many by surprise. The Boston Police took to social media to help communicate effectively with the public. With duel cooperation the Boston Police Department and the FBI utilized the power social media to recruit the public to help locate the suspect. The department used Twitter to release the suspect’s photo and even the possible license plate. Social media then erupted into a too-responsive tip line (Zoltick, 2014). This ultimately led to the capture and arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. These examples has shown that social media has brought forth many positive benefits such as: increased detection of criminal activity, the ability to combat crimes, improved public satisfaction, improved operational effectiveness and intelligence (IACD, 2014).