Police Vs Media Policing

In today’s media policing is a very sensationalized topic. Yet, we as people do not rationally discuss how we can improve our current system. In most instances a new situation will be brought to the public’s attention by the media and then the majority of people will place themselves in one of two categories. The first category of people is the all police are bad group and the second category of people are the police can do no wrong group. This creates a very unhealthy us versus them narrative that media outlets like to capitalize on for views. I think instead of instantly dividing ourselves, we ought to examine each individual case a possible police misconduct and find the most practical solutions. In this paper I will discuss the use of higher
education, transparency, and community based policing to help improve our current system of policing.
The first possible solution is states requiring law enforcement officers to hold a bachelor’s degree.
In North Carolina to be a police officer the only requirements are that the person must be 20 years of age, a US citizen, have a diploma or GED, and finish BLET (North Carolina Department of Justice ). According to neuroscientist Dr. Sandra Aamodt “The brain is not fully finished developing until about age 25” then continuing to explain that the prefrontal cortex, the part that helps with behavior and decision making, is only about half way developed at age 18 (Aamodt). By requiring officers to hold some sort of bachelor’s degree the average age a person could realistically become an officer would be around age 23 or 24. This would not only allow the brain more time to develop, but also allow time for a person to gain more life experience. Most people straight out of high school have lived in a bubble their entire lives. College would allow them to experience diversity and formulate their own views and opinions. Yet, I must address the biggest flaw in this idea which is money. By states requiring officers to hold degrees they would have to compensate them more. Most states do not the extra money that this change would ultimately require. It would still be interesting for one or two states to implement and see what effect the change
makes.
The next idea is for police to be more transparent with the public. There have been many instances of alleged police misconduct where they have footage of the incident and refuse to share it with the public. By withholding the footage, they cause many people to jump to the conclusion that they must be trying to cover something up. By releasing footage instantly it shows that the police department in question has nothing to hide or is willing to admit possible mistakes. With the introduction of new technologies into policing such as body cameras transparency should be easier than ever. A study conducted in Washington, D.C. showed that body cameras have little to no effect on officer’s behavior (Ripley and Williams). Yet, protect officer against false claims of misconduct and help win over the public’s trust. The final possible solution is to implement more community based policing.
The basis of community based policing is that the police only can only do so much and to truly be effective they need the trust and collaboration of their communities. It has been proven that the relationship between civilians and police directly effects things such as whether a crime is even reported (Groenewald and Peake). The use of community practices will help foster a greater trust. A person is far more likely to rely on and cooperate with an officer they see as a friend and part of the community versus the almost militaristic style that some departments use
today. If higher education, transparency, and community based policing are all possible solutions to help improve policing then we should find ways to implement them into our current system. I personally believe mandating officers to hold a degree is the most unlikely solution, but transparency and community based policing are both things that would be easy to integrate.