provide a sense of security when there is the potential for harm. On the front stage, the police display themselves as approachable and dependable. As seen in On the Run and Cop in the Hood, the police can take on two different acts on the front stage. It was prevalent in the ethnographies that the police take on an aggressive front stage display in order for citizens to comply in a manner that officers desire at a particular moment. In On the Run, this is seen during the threats of arrest. “During raids and interrogations, police would threaten to arrest women for an array of crimes (p. 63)”. In this instance, the police used their power to put fear into the women who cared about the men the police were looking for. Instead of the police providing
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Moskos says “police culture is not corrupt […] the vast majority of police officers are clean (p.78).” In this statement, he implies that there are a few officers in the force who do not abide by the same laws that they are hired to enforce. Moskos describes on a moment when an officer stopped a person on a motor scooter and he had $6300 on his person, but when the officer returned the money there was only $4900. The officer was charged and one year later the case was dismissed under the condition that he quit his job and did not work for another police agency (p.77). This is just one instance through the ethnography that presents the backstage of policing. Not all officers are ‘clean’. Furthermore, the laws that are passed by the government are part of the backstage. “In 1994, the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice signed an agreement enabling the military to transfer wartime technology to local police departments (Franklin, 2008, p.17)”. Police forces that gain this kind of equipment have to be prepared and trained to use it. The officers that are meant to keep the peace are now being trained to operate and use military equipment in America against American citizens. “What this has produced is a military mindset that declares war on the American public (p.18)”. Citizens that endure the use of militarized officers in their community can no …show more content…
Moskos interviewed an officer who stated that there is a variance in arrests amongst the offices because some officers are concerned with keeping their arrest numbers up and make ‘bullshit’ arrests, and other officers who are concerned with ‘policing aggressively’(p.148). This becomes an issue of ethics because arrests are not being made for crime control purposes, rather, the arrests are being made in order for officers to keep the arrest stats up, even if it meant making an arrest for an illegitimate reason. “Ethnographers potentially tread a thin line between going along with police behaviour—colluding through inaction when unnecessary force is used—and ‘blowing the whistle’(Westmarland, 2001, p.527)”. Moskos had to maintain his purpose as a researcher looking into the ‘Blue Brotherhood’ and not for the purpose of exposing police officers of illegitimate arrests to keep up with arrest
Moskos says “police culture is not corrupt […] the vast majority of police officers are clean (p.78).” In this statement, he implies that there are a few officers in the force who do not abide by the same laws that they are hired to enforce. Moskos describes on a moment when an officer stopped a person on a motor scooter and he had $6300 on his person, but when the officer returned the money there was only $4900. The officer was charged and one year later the case was dismissed under the condition that he quit his job and did not work for another police agency (p.77). This is just one instance through the ethnography that presents the backstage of policing. Not all officers are ‘clean’. Furthermore, the laws that are passed by the government are part of the backstage. “In 1994, the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice signed an agreement enabling the military to transfer wartime technology to local police departments (Franklin, 2008, p.17)”. Police forces that gain this kind of equipment have to be prepared and trained to use it. The officers that are meant to keep the peace are now being trained to operate and use military equipment in America against American citizens. “What this has produced is a military mindset that declares war on the American public (p.18)”. Citizens that endure the use of militarized officers in their community can no …show more content…
Moskos interviewed an officer who stated that there is a variance in arrests amongst the offices because some officers are concerned with keeping their arrest numbers up and make ‘bullshit’ arrests, and other officers who are concerned with ‘policing aggressively’(p.148). This becomes an issue of ethics because arrests are not being made for crime control purposes, rather, the arrests are being made in order for officers to keep the arrest stats up, even if it meant making an arrest for an illegitimate reason. “Ethnographers potentially tread a thin line between going along with police behaviour—colluding through inaction when unnecessary force is used—and ‘blowing the whistle’(Westmarland, 2001, p.527)”. Moskos had to maintain his purpose as a researcher looking into the ‘Blue Brotherhood’ and not for the purpose of exposing police officers of illegitimate arrests to keep up with arrest