Essay On Police Legitimacy

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Police Legitimacy Under the Spotlight

“When you realize that incompetent police officers are harassing you, you need to call 911 and demand that a police supervisor be immediately dispatched to the scene. In the mean time you need to be video recording everything, as police officers are known for their blatant lies and fabrications.”- Steven Magee (G. (Ed.). 2008, January).

In today’s society we are captivated by the news and the coverage of crimes. You cannot turn on the television without something horrible occurring and living in a word dedicated to their phones, with access to cameras, everything is posted to social media. The police have it difficult, everywhere they go they must act appropriately and uphold the law set in place for civilians. Police legitimacy is important because it allows everyone to be equal to the law, putting civilians and police on the same level. There have been a variety of cases with police being under fire using excessive force, in other words police brutality. This essay will focus on use of force and how media has helped change police legitimacy using cases brought to societies attention due to media coverage. Statistics showing that Canada is very
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Canadian news shows us police unlawfulness in the US, making Canadians think we have issues with police legitimacy. When reality is the media propaganda is wrong and does not truly focus on Canadian issues at hand. Canadians have had their fair share of media stories about police brutality, as mentioned Sammy Yatim and Robert Dziekanski, and due to these stories within the media changes have been made to reform the use of body cameras and tasers used by Canadian law enforcements. Therefore, media has helped change police legitimacy using cases brought to societies attention due to media

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