Devin Berniger

Trotter

Brit Lit 2

3 February 2019

Annotations

Why do people have negative perceptions of the police and how can we remedy this

perception?

1. How does the media affect the public’s perception of the police?

Dowler, Kenneth. “MEDIA CONSUMPTION AND PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD CRIME

AND JUSTICE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEAR OF CRIME, PUNITIVE

ATTITUDES, AND PERCEIVED POLICE EFFECTIVENESS.” Journal of Criminal

Justice and Popular Culture, 10(2) (2003) 109-126. California State University at

Bakersfield. Department of Criminal Justice.

https://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is2/dowler.html

In this article, Dowler examines the effects that mass media have on the public’s

perceptions of law enforcement. He mentions many researchers who have a variety of views on

the subject (his citations are incredibly long). The article talks about how not only does the

media affect the public’s view of law enforcement, but also their view of criminals. He explains

how the media creates a skewed, “mean world” perspective. My capstone is based on the

relations between the public and the police. According to this article, and many others, the

middleman is the media. It will help me dig deeper into the issue regarding police relations, in

turn helping to find a solution.

 2. When did relations with the police begin to fall?

Jones, Jeffery M. "In U.S., Confidence in Police Lowest in 22 Years." Gallup News. 19 June

2015. 05 Feb. 2019 <https://news.gallup.com/poll/183704/confidence-police-lowest-

years.aspx>.

In this report, Jones gives his take on the decline of public confidence of police. He bases

his claims on the information gathered by Gallup, an incorporation that does polls all across the

country. Jones analyzes the findings of Gallup, expressing his assumptions of why this decline

has taken place. He explains that confidence tends to drop whenever there is a big scandal during

the year. This news report gives me an idea of when relations with the police begin to falter.

According to this, the US was at its lowest confidence rating since 1993, at a 52% in 2015.

Currently the police’s approval rating has barely improved, only moving up to a 54%.

3. How have people tried to help the police?

Guariglia, Matthew. “'Blue Lives' Do Matter - That's the Problem.” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 30 Nov. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-

history/wp/2017/11/30/why-blue-lives-matter/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.af9d3bf57dac.

Matthew uses this article to delve into the validity of the “Blue Lives Matter” movement.

He uses statements and statistics dating back to 1863 to build his argument. He wants to show

that the “Blue Lives Matter” movement is merely another step in a long history of police trying

to show the world what kind of people they really are (good people). He wants people to not

reject the idea of “Blue Lives”, even though it seems like police are never the ones persecuted.

His research gives helps me in that I now have a better grasp of the battles police have already
been fighting. It gives me insight into how the police have been handling these harsh criticisms

in the past and current years.

4. What is police brutality?

Holmes, Malcolm D. (2000). Minority threat and police brutality: Determinants of civil rights

criminal complaints in U.S. municipalities. Criminology, 38(2), 343-367.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2000.tb00893.x

In Holmes journal he defines police brutality as “use of excessive physical force”. He

cites a plethora of sources to convey a specific message. He wants to show the imbalance of

police brutality cases against white people and minorities. He brings much evidence supporting

the idea that police brutality is much more often brought up when minorities are the victim.

Some guy in classed asked me “How are you gonna deal with police brutality?”. Well jeez man I

don’t know. But I tell you what, this article reminds me how serious this subject is, and how

dangerous bringing a group of californian high school students to a police station can be. But it

shows me plain and simple the issues that the police face. They face them because of their own

actions, I’m not defending them, but getting past these things and trying better to understand

each other is an essential step to a more successful system of law. I’ve had the police’s side of

the story, this article is the people’s.

5. What has the police done to help relations with the public?

Cecil, A. (2000, Sep 11). BOARD WILL HOST OPEN TALK ON POLICE PANEL SEEKS TO
 BUILD COP-RESIDENT RELATIONS. Detroit Free Press Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com/docview/436286053?accountid=172748

Cecil is reporting on how the Board of Police Commissioners plan to have a town hall

meeting about improving public relations. He quotes police officials describing their hopes for

the meeting, also shedding light on the events that led to this meeting. He simply wrote this

report to inform, presumably to get more people involved. He fills the article with many quotes

from officers and other officials sharing their hopes for a better police department, and a better

relationship with the public. It’s a great resource for me as it shows the effort of the police as

well as the public in making the police department a better entity. It also gives many great

examples of negative altercations with the police.