Instruction: Respond by Day 6 to the postings of at least two of your colleagues, responding to the same colleagues in both the Week 2 and Week 3 Discussions. Work with your colleagues to determine your statements feasibility and appropriateness as it relates to your topic. Use their feedback to hone and refine your problem statement.
Evaluate your colleagues problem statements, judging their clarity and strength: To what extent is the problem significant enough to warrant study? What other components or issues might be added to the problem statement? What other feedback can you provide that will strengthen the statement? Explain and justify your decisions and feedback. Support or challenge your colleagues choices of key words.
Colleagues response: Social Medias Impact On The Law Enforcement Profession
Introduction and Topic Selection
The proposed topic selection will be Social Medias Impact On The Law enforcement Profession This research study would examine how social media has negatively impacted the profession of law enforcement. Today our society is fascinated with crime and justice. Everything from social media to the big screen, the need for violence in society has to be satisfied, and people seem to be turning to social media to quench their needs, but what are the consequences? With advanced technology, social media plays an essential role in constructing criminality within the criminal justice system. The media’s influence can influence the risk for violence in today’s society and mold the public’s perception of victims, criminals, deviants, and even law enforcement officers due to how portrayed in social media. According to Wickerman (2016), the relationship between law enforcement officers and society is currently influenced by technology such as social media. This influence impacts decision-making with law enforcement officers, resulting in changes within the law enforcement culture and social culture. The desired outcome is to understand better how social media has impacted law enforcement officers from performing their job and its impact on citizen and law enforcement practices within society.
The interest in this study extends from roughly twenty years of this writer’s professional, administrative, and supervisory experience as a law enforcement officer, state instructor, and SWAT member. This writer sees today’s law enforcement officers having difficulty working within diverse communities and with stakeholders. Social media appears to have disabled law enforcement officers from leading and foster growth within their organization while limiting their contributions towards their communities. This writer is also seeing more and more men and women leaving the profession early in their careers. From social media, any “snippet” of what occurs during their job can negatively impact these officers and the profession when limited information is available. This impact has created a tremendous strain on law enforcement officers and the profession. Social media appears to have created a society that unfairly labels police officers such as racists and murderers. Between the public rants, violent protests, excessive lawsuits, political posturing, and unflattering portrayals in popular culture, today’s law enforcement officers are finding it more and more challenging to perform their job.
RQ1: How has social media impacted the profession of law enforcement according to todays law enforcement officers?
RQ2: How do these hostile perceptions impact society according to law enforcement officers?
Problem Statement
The problem is worth studying due to the negative consequences of this problem on the profession today and the threats it could lead to within society. The law enforcement profession is already considered one of the most dangerous and stressful occupations (Adams and Buck, 2010; Arter, 2007). The impact of social media has resulted in a profession that is beginning to second guess their every action. This type of hesitation comes with severe consequences in a profession that only allows for split-second decisions. A profession where brave individuals put their lives on the line to save another has created a sudden delay that has law enforcement officers second-guessing their actions as they ponder whether their next move will result in them being killed, sued, arrested, or arrested fired. If problems like this are ignored, the profession of law enforcement may change for the worse, dissolve or even become a paramilitary organization.
Significance
The selected topic is significant to criminal justice. Any impression of the public’s confidence, effectiveness, and democratic significance can have many negative consequences that can impact the lives of the men and women who serve in the law enforcement profession. This is such a relevant issue today in the law enforcement profession as well as with other professions. The law enforcement profession is already considered one of the most dangerous stressful occupations (Adams and Buck, 2010; Arter, 2007), so much so that stress has been considered an occupational hazard in policing (Stinchcomb, 2004). One added stress is social media and its influence on negative perceptions of law enforcement officers. We know already that those that law enforcement officers arrest are considered innocent until proven guilty in the eye of the law. Today, law enforcement officers are feeling that they are being viewed as guilty until proven innocent in the eye of society through social media.
Relevance to Criminal Justice
This topic selection will provide research that can help establish ethical guidelines which will improve law enforcement perception and the current practices in todays society. This writers current specialization is currently criminal justice/public safety. According to Singer & Hensley (2004), social behavior can be influenced by definitions, differential association, modeling, and reinforcement. It is this interaction that predisposes one to either conform or becoming deviant in behavior. It is through standards of legal and illegal behavior, peers, and positive or negative reinforcement that influences such behaviors as in the social learning theory. This influence impacts decision-making with law enforcement officers, resulting in changes within the law enforcement culture and social culture. According to Moran et al. (2014), this cultural change, in turn, will affect interaction morally, ethically, and behavior towards law enforcement officers.
The Waldens Doctoral Capstone Resources are there to help PhD students keep track of the various steps to completing the dissertation. I understand that every journey is a little different, so it is important to stay on track utilizing all available resources including the guidance of academic advisors and supervisory committee.
References
Adams, G. A., & Buck, J. (2010). Social stressors and strain among police officers: It’s not just the bad guys. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 37 1030-1040. doi:10.1177/0093854810374282
Greene, J. R. (2007). Make police oversight independent and transparent. Criminology & Public Policy, 6(4), 747-754. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9133.2007.00477.x
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Routledge, New York, NY.
Singer, S. & Hensley, C. (2004), Applying social learning theory to childhood and adolescent fire setting: can it lead to serial murder? Int J Offender Their Comp Criminal 48(4):461-476.
Sterling, G. (2013). Marketing land. Retrieved on May 10, 2019, from Pew: 61 Percent In US Now Have Smartphones: http://marketingland.com/pew-61- percent-in-us-now-have-smartphones-46966
Stinchcomb, J. B. (2004). Searching for Stress in All the Wrong Places: Combating Chronic Organizational Stressors in Policing. Police Practice and Research, 5, 259-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/156142604200227594
Wickersham, E. (2016). Spotlight on police culture: Seeing the red flags of organizational cultures gone wrong. Public Management, 14-18. Retrieved from http://icma.org/en/press/pm_magazine/about_pm
Last Completed Projects
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