Police Force Case Study

1) Do you believe police officers today are more likely to hesitate to use force when it is reasonable and necessary to do so because they fear mainstream media and social media criticism? (Explain your answer)

As we saw in the video, it is evident that police officers are fearful to use force when necessary because they are afraid of how they will be portrayed in the media. It is clear enough to see that the police officer in the video did not fight back because he knew the scrutiny he would face if he would have handled the situation in an appropriate matter. I believe that there has been a lot of media coverage against police officers in the recent years which makes it difficult for officers to do their job. After watching the video …show more content…
I do believe that people would help an officer who is getting attacked but I also believe that it depends where the officer is at the time of the incident. I feel that the many community members have good values and if someone is on the floor bleeding and passed out, I would like to think that they would do the right thing. I know that if I personally had seen this unfold in front of my eyes, I would definitely help the officer out in any way I could. On the other hand, if an officer is in an area that is mainly against law enforcement, then matters like we saw in the video would occur. For instance, I feel like some people in certain districts of Los Angeles area do not agree with the way police officers handle certain incidents. With people making a mockery of the bleeding officer, posting photos on Twitter, and using derogatory language, I feel that this is something only an angered individual would do. For example, if someone has a family member that they felt has been treated unfairly by an officer, then their judgement of all officers changes immediately. From that point on, the officer is now the enemy and they feel that they are not in the streets to serve, but out there to target certain individuals. They no longer feel like they can side with them because they feel disrespected.The officer in the video did nothing to insult the people who posted on Twitter and it shows that due the media’s lack of accurate coverage on police officer incidents, people have turned their backs on police officers. Instead of them being there for people in a crisis, they have become their enemies. I think that with all of the recent incidents occurring over the past few years, many people do not know if they can trust officers because of the news and activists groups portraying