Police Image

Public View of Police

Police men and women are there to protect people. Their job is to risk their lives to ensure your personal safety, safety of your property, and the protection of the environment. The public's opinion of the police force is quite varying because of a variety of factors. Personal experiences with police influence most people's outlook and opinion towards the entire police force no matter what city, county, or department they have dealt with. Most commonly among teenagers and other young people, a negative image of the police is extremely common, but only because the police stop and prevent the total freedom to "have fun" and go party all the time. Although this is true that you may have more fun without the prescense of the police force to stop you from using drugs and drinking alcohol while driving or being underage, they are ensuring that there is a strong effort to maintain safety for all citizens. Regions play an extremely large part in the opinion of police. Poor areas, although use and have the need for police more commonly than other areas, seem to be the quickest to publicly speak out against the police. Although movies are not a completely accurate portrayal of law enforcement and their situations, it does show the underlying issues that policeman face. A bad part of town in downtown Dallas is going to have police patrols and responses on a more common basis, its just a fact that won't change. Smaller suburban towns that are not poverty stricken seem to have less of a need for police and therefore have a somewhat more optimistic approach to their work. Completely understandable by most wealthy areas is the fact that they are not bothered by police as much and therefore have more of a positive outlook towards their interaction.
Brutality and racial profiling, that often is exaggerated and sometimes made up, play a huge part in the public opinion. One must look at the society without police. Yes, everyone will disagree and see no need for certain laws that they feel shouldn't exist, but without police there would be common murder, robbing, burglary, rape, and any kind of other acts of a negative nature. Complaining about the police getting involved is utterly ignorant. People in general have to have someone or something to blame for their personal problems and most pick on the police. This needs to change very quickly. When it comes to someone entering their house with a weapon wanting all their personal belongings of value, they'll decide and finally see the need for police. While the people with negative opinions of police get their business clothes and ties on for work every morning, policeman go out in a danger zone to the point where they must be armed with a sidearm and usually a backup, along with other secondary weapons, all while earning less than the people complaining about them. The department of justice claims that the public's opinion police in general is up near 85 % with average contact with police responses, but is not 100% correct in their findings. This number seems significantly high, but as soon as the public takes an interest in the risk and passion to help others that most officer's have that number will begin to rise.