Public view on Police

[MR Chi city]

Good Morning,
Why in your opinion does the public views on the Police change in a heartbeat? For example after major tragedies such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon Bombing the public supports the Police but after say Ferguson the public does a 180 and does not support the Police? Thank you.

[ateamer]

Media. The media manipulates the public to keep ratings and thus profits up, and for the same purposes gives a platform to people who would otherwise be employable only as nightshift janitors at a bus depot.

[Iowa #1603]

Media. The media manipulates the public to keep ratings and thus profits up, and for the same purposes gives a platform to people who would otherwise be employable only as nightshift janitors at a bus depot.

Very true

[PhilipCal]

My only critical comment concerning Post#2 is this. Many of the people he references would have extreme difficulty(s) in functioning as nightshift janitors at a bus depot. If I owned a taxi cab company, I wouldn't trust someone like, say, Ocrappa to drive one of my cabs.

Far too much common sense, reasoning skills, integrity, required.

[ateamer]

Mea culpa, frater.

[PhilipCal]

Mea culpa, frater.

Ego te absolvo.

[Name Taken]

Good Morning,
Why in your opinion does the public views on the Police change in a heartbeat? For example after major tragedies such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon Bombing the public supports the Police but after say Ferguson the public does a 360 and does not support the Police? Thank you.

I do not think the public view changes at all. I think the it's the vocal minority that gets more media attention at times instead of the silent majority. By and far the average person either A) Doesn't care either way or B) Like the police.

But when you have media and government officials trying to paint a certain picture the news is going to put on the yahoo who rambles all day about how the police are bad.

I'm in a very liberal and dangerous part of the country. By and large when you look at comments on news articles about the police the comments are very favorable. The majority of folks are friendly towards the police in most of the contacts.

You can look deep into statistics and write a long drawn out essay on the topic. The public has a skewed view on policing due to TV shows and Hollywood. The small amount of bad cops that make the news do not help things. The fact that most folks only counter the police at their worst moment (argument with wife, fight with neighbor, or on a traffic stop where they might be out a few hundred bucks instantly) also adds to it.

But with that said by and far I think most people still support the police. Don't let the vocal minority dictate how you view society.

[tanksoldier]

I agree that generally you only hear the complainers. Those who are content have no reason to say much most of the time.

It's also true that our country was founded in defiance to lawful authority, rather than in obedience to it like Canada and Australia.

Lastly, much of our populous is under-informed. They follow the five second soundbites on TV, they get their information from talking heads regardless of that head's agenda and they quickly forget the past.

[Country_Jim]

The OP edited his/her question, but to me it seemed like he was looking for answers to a school assignment.

Stay safe.

[Florida Smokey]

I don't know that the average person's opinion really changes all that much. I think, like another poster mentioned, that most people genuinely like and respect us. Quite frankly, in my career I have met very few people that were outwardly hostile to law enforcement. Now if you read comments in internet news stories it looks like everyone hates us but the "Anti's" are much more vocal.

In the age of the internet things seem to get blown out of proportion. Twenty years ago the only people that would hear about a police shooting were people that read the local newspaper or watched the local news. Now if there is a shooting in the northwest people in the southeast know about it in real time.

In the last several months I've actually noticed an increase in the number of people taking the time to say thank you for the work we do. My herd and I try to get together for dinner every shift if possible. A couple weeks ago anonymous donors paid for our meals three times in one week.

As cops we get upset when citizens paint us ALL with the same brush when one dufous does something stupid . We should probably be careful not to paint our citizens with that same brush.

[tj05]

Media plain and simple. "Those who control the media control the masses" - Malcolm X.

[SgtScott31]

Most of the vocal anti-police types are either hiding behind a keyboard or yelling in front of a camera when the media is dumb enough to allow their 18 seconds of glory. Most of them won't go face to face with a LEO unless required to and even then they normally won't say anything until the contact has ended and they're running their mouth to their friends. One of the local anti-checkpoint kids comes to mind that stirred up a big debate how he got treated at a sobriety checkpoint by an officer one night. The kid sacks groceries at a local store and is part of this anti-LE group that tries to get stopped at sobriety checkpoints and stir crap up. He looks like he's going to crap himself when approached in a normal setting (like at his normal job), but with his little camera running at a checkpoint he tries, albeit politely, to bait LEOs and refuse commands. It hasn't worked out too well for him and his cronies, but to me that's how a bulk of them are. They've never personally ever been a victim of any type of police corruption and wouldn't walk a day in our shoes if it paid $100k a year, but they'll try to be the loudest when the camera is on.

[rookie2006]

Good Morning,
Why in your opinion does the public views on the Police change in a heartbeat? For example after major tragedies such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon Bombing the public supports the Police but after say Ferguson the public does a 360 and does not support the Police? Thank you.

The public loves to bitch and moan whenever something happens. Cop saves a puppy from a flood,he is a hero. Cop kills drug slum lord he's a dumb mother [email protected]#$%^ The news media runs with the story's like the officers they are talking about have some magic shield around them sorry we don't. In the academy and on the streets or whatever you work never forget your job is stop the threat. Doesn't matter if it's a 20 or 60 year old never underestimate what a person can do. I recently had a 93 year old person use a plastic coke bottle as a weapon. Just imagine if I would have used thee wrong amount of force I would not have a job,and headed to jail.

[BNWS]

Good Morning,
Why in your opinion does the public views on the Police change in a heartbeat? For example after major tragedies such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon Bombing the public supports the Police but after say Ferguson the public does a 360 and does not support the Police? Thank you.

Ask Ray Kelly what happened. In 2010 70% of NYC residents approved of the way he ran the NYPD. A few short years later he was being accused of running a racist police department. Policy did not change.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/loves-ray-nypd-police-commissioner-kelly-popular-mayor-bloomberg-survey-finds-article-1.195590

In short Politics and the media.

[MR Chi city]

One more question why do members of the public think that Police have ego problems? Thank you.