Cute, feel-good stories ‘humanising’ the police seem to be quite popular, but they really shouldn’t be. They avoid larger issues with law enforcement that go buried when they go viral.
In humanising police don’t make the mistake of glorifying them
Tag: law enforcement
Making the law enforcement-mental health connection
Law enforcement encounters with mentally ill people sometimes go horribly wrong. The problems here begin long before the police ever show up.
Mental health crisis teams work — does your city have one?
With perennial cuts to mental health services, police are the first line of response in many communities when mental health crises arise. That needs to change.
A new and creative form of asset forfeiture
Asset forfeiture is extremely abusive and unfair, but it’s in widespread use across the US. In Oklahoma, law enforcement agencies have come up with an extremely creative approach to the tactic.
In fundraisers for killer cops, cui bono?
The last year has been one of almost constant reports of police shootings in the United States, most involving young Black men. Most fatal. Many people in the US are finally willing to admit that the nation’s race relations are in a horrific state, Black president or no, and that politically speaking, the country is […]
When Cop Shows Feel Painfully Out of Step
One of the great flaws with network television is that, because shows film in advance, sometimes an episode can be very off the mark and socially awkward. There’s no way to get around this problem – obviously, networks need time to write and develop scripts, actors need to rehearse, filming takes time, editing and remastering […]
Fear Should Not Govern Law Enforcement Officers
Last year marked a growing and concerning trend among US law enforcement officers: That of ‘frightened’ police officers shooting unarmed Black civilians. While police-on-civilian violence has been a problem for as long as we’ve had police, and it has been a particular issue for people of colour, several notable cases last year sparked widespread protests, […]
Why Do We Glorify Bad Cops in Pop Culture?
I keep coming back to this theme of late because it’s bothering me more and more: why do we glorify bad cops in pop culture? What is it specifically about corrupt, brutal, power-hungry police officers that we find so narratively compelling, that makes us want to tell the same stories again and again? So many […]
Police Aren’t Mental Health Experts
Across the United States, law enforcement agencies are being called upon to act as mental health first responders, in a trend that’s harming mentally ill people and doing an injustice to law enforcement, as well. Police officers are not mental health experts, mental health crisis intervention is not within the scope of their job description […]
No Fourth Amendment on Channel Four
Our heroes are close to the break they need in this case, stalking coolly around the luxuriously-appointed flat of the killer. They know, and we know, that he’s the one, but they haven’t been able to crack him just yet, and he’s politely tolerating their presence yet again as they appear under the guise of […]