Police Role Descriptions in the Media

Misconceptions about the role of policing are due to how the media relays and portrays information to the public. The way that police are portrayed in the media gives the impression that the main role of a police officer is to fight crime. Fighting crime is not the only role of policing; the role involves many different elements that the media does not report unless there is some element of excitement to gain the public's attention (Dantzker, 2003).

Image depiction is "a popular conception projected especially through mass media" (Dantzker, 2003, Ch. 1, pp. 4, ¶ 5). The image depiction (through entertainment and news) is impressed on society and is usually aimed toward the crime-fighting element of policing. Movies such as Die Hard give the public misconceptions of how the police operate and perform daily duties.

The television also offers society a wide array of television shows that are also geared toward the crime-fighting elements of policing. Television shows such as NYPD Blue attempt to imitate the real lives of police officers in addition to crime-solving, giving a viewer an extra element to make the show more believable.

In reality, the events that happen on these shows do not happen to law enforcement on a daily basis and the many of the other duties of policing are consistently overlooked because they are not considered to be "glamorous" (Dantzker, 2003, Ch. 1, pp. 4).

The image depiction of police being crime-fighters also comes from the public's news sources. The news reporters decide on stories that show drama and some over zealous news reporters may even mislead the public through inaccurately reporting events (Dantzker, 2003).

Policeone.com reports news relating to policing. While the website is very police friendly, this website is also geared toward presenting mostly crime-fighting articles (further adding to public misconceptions) that grab attentions of the readers.

One article, N.D. police chase naked suspect by car, foot, and air, is a report about the police chasing a suspect over a period of 19 hours after receiving "a report of a naked man sitting in a pick-up truck" (PoliceOne, 2008, ¶ 1). While the event that took place was real, the media dressed up the facts to gain readers attention when in fact; the article only mentioned that he was naked once. The article is an image depiction based on the fact that the popular conception of the public is that crime-fighting is a police officers main duty when in fact, crime-fighting is a very small part of policing (Dantzker, 2003).

There are several other duties that officers perform on a daily basis that impact society but rarely get reported because they are not exciting enough. Maintaining order is another role of an officer which includes responding to "disturbances such as loud parties or unruly juveniles, or when having to direct traffic" (Dantzker, 2003, Ch.1, pp.4, ¶ 8). A news article titled 2 N.Y. Officers injured breaking up 40-person brawl, also has an eye catching title in addition to adding an element of danger into the mix to intrigue people to read the story. The police officers happened upon a group of juveniles who were already fighting. As the police officers tried to restore order among the juvenile fighters, both were injured when a juvenile resisted arrest (German, 2008).

The article is real in that its depiction of the event that took place and the participants involved reported the event tastefully, truthfully, supported by facts, and the author did not over exaggerate the facts of the event and portrayed the role appropriately. While the officers were crime-fighting, they were truly trying to regain and maintain order.

Another very important duty of a police officer is preventing crime. The article, L.A.'s anti-gang initiatives working; gang killings drop sharply, discusses the LAPD gang-related deaths citing in 2007 there was a "27% drop from the recorded number in 2006" (Helfand & Rubin, 2008, pp.1, ¶ 2). The mayor and police chief of Los Angeles stated that the drop came as the result of crime prevention method in which they identifies the most dangerous gangs and took them down with "teams of police, federal agents, probation officers, and prosecutors" (Helfand & Rubin, 2008,pp.1, ¶ 5).

This article then takes a turn to inform the public that the statistics may look good, but it doesn't mean the streets are any safer. The authors then included statements from criminalist's and gang experts such as Wes McBride, the executive director of the California Gang Investigators Association whom stated, "Gangs respond to suppression efforts, no doubt about it. But, does that solve the problem? Absolutely not!" (Helfand & Rubin,2008, pp. 1, ¶ 11). Hearing this from the director of a gang association makes a reader believe that if the director makes a statement like this than it must be true. Facts that are coming from professionals can be misunderstood or misrepresented by the media leading the public to believe that the news is completely true and accurate giving the public an image depiction that the program sounds good but it won't solve the problem.

Another role that continually goes under reported is that of a social servant. Being a social servant is one of the main roles of policing, and can become a part of their personal lives as well. This role is associated with helping the public by not only protecting them, but serving them through checking on loved ones who are reported missing, helping a motorist who is stranded, in a domestic disturbance, or to be a shoulder to cry on if a victim is in need (Dantzker, 2003).

The role of a social servant is imperative to the community and because the issues are sensitive and deal with individual's needs and family affairs, they are often unreported because they are personal matters of citizens who will not share with the event with the media.

During the holiday seasons, the media will try to find feel good stories about good Samaritans and community helpers that give meaning to the holiday season and through these stories, the public is able to get a glimpse of a police officer in a social servant setting.

One article that is titled, Pa. officer helps deliver Christmas, reports how an off duty police sergeant was driving to his mother's house to deliver some Christmas gifts when he heard a woman screaming. The woman was lying on the sidewalk and was about to give birth. The officer, who had never assisted in this type of situation, used what he had learned through training and delivered the baby girl (PoliceOne, 2008). This story is a real depiction of what policing is; protecting and serving.

The media is in constant competition with other media sources. In competing for audience, they often choose stories about law enforcement that are exciting. While some areas of policing are not interesting enough for the media to report, all the various roles of policing are just as important as those that the media chooses to share with the public.