7 ways the Media Affects Police Officers

On the news and other media platforms law enforcement are broad cast as a threat to those who are involved in criminal activity when they are really trying to be the solution. I choose this topic because my dad has been in Law Enforcement ever sense I was really little, and I’ve grown up watching the stress that comes with the job. In my mind, police are there to protect us and keep the community safe, and it upsets me when police officers, like my dad, get bad press. With my experience I have learned that most who don't like the cops just get off on the wrong foot. I’ve learned this by knowing people that have had rough runs in with local law enforcement and in the end they don’t respect them anymore. This has affected my life because being a cop's daughter has certain strains on your life.

1. Scared of Losing Their Jobs

Nowadays most cops when doing their job may lose their job because of something the media doesn’t like. If the situation is big, and it makes it in the news and the audience doesn’t like it. When it’s a big enough problem the Police Department they work for may not have any choice but to fire them, so their department doesn’t look bad. In these cases could make it very hard for them to find another job or in more extreme cases some may not even be able to work for law enforcement again.

2. Can’t Correctly do Their Jobs

With some cops losing their jobs over trying to make things right they may be scared of doing it correctly. When they have difficult situations and may not know how to handle it because of what people may say in the media may affect the efficiency of the task they need to proceed in. If they need to handle something a certain way, but are scared of the outcome it ends in someone getting hurt that could have been prevented or the investigation may be done wrong. Not being able to do their jobs perfectly will end in unnecessary outcomes that could have ended in a better way.

3. Viewed as Aggressive

On the news and other media platforms policemen are viewed as being very aggressive and unfriendly. With this being said many people are scared of the police and don’t want to seek help. Which may result in someone not wanting to contact the police in a situation they need to be involved in and that situation going terribly wrong. Being viewed in this way compromising how efficiently they can perform their jobs. Although some police aren’t the best people and can be aggressive there are very few and a lot of them are very good and kind people.

4. Emotional Stress

Being a police officer comes with a lot of personal stress. The things they have to see and do everyday has a huge impact on their emotional health. If they are in an extra stressful situation and have to make a hard decision it may impact the decision they make and may not always be the right call. Even though some decisions aren't because it is very hard to make them. With the stress of the job there are a lot more health problems that can occur in police officers.

5. Can’t Please Everyone

In doing their jobs everyone isn’t going to be satisfied in the actions that occur on the job. With stuff being put on the news there may be some people that totally disagrees with the actions that took place and some may agree. With this police officers shouldn’t be judged by the decisions they make while trying to best do their jobs because everyone has their own opinions and no matter what happens no one is going to be happy with how they handle whatever the issue was. The media should allow the officers to do their jobs without so much judgment on their actions as they were just trying to solve the situations as best as possible in the time given to keep their communities safe.

6. Better Understanding of the job

I feel people who rush too fast into believing cops are bad or not trying to help people should understand their jobs in more detail. To most people's knowledge they don’t know how hard it is to do the job of an officer. The choices they make everyday don’t come lightly. They take as much time as they can and go over the best actions for problems brought to them. The things they deal with are too great to have the perfect solutions. No one can make things perfect and in the work of a police officer someone is going to be upset about the outcomes.

7. Family Involvement

Not only the police officer, but the family undergoes a lot of stress. The family has to worry every time their family member goes to work whether they will come home safely. They also feel the stress of how hard law enforcement can be. In some of my experiences, if a peer gets in trouble with the officer who is related to you they like to take it out on you by saying things to you personally or to other friends. The stuff they say is towards the officer like telling you they are a bad person or other things related. The stress on the family could also affect the way the officer can efficiently do their job.

Conclusion

All this being said, cops are here to do their job and keep everyone safe. Sometimes things don’t always go their way, but they do their best. Most people bring them down saying they could do better, or they aren’t good people from just doing their jobs. With my experience the media should provide the good things our officers around the country do. People never see the good things they do. I've known officers that have done amazing things to help their community and that is the stuff people should see, not the tragic and unpreventable things the news shows. People everywhere should do their best to support their local law Enforcement community.

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