perceptions and also the media and public backlash that has occurred.
Historically, the police have been associated with justice and enforcing the law in media. Their motto is “to protect and serve”, which is true because the jobs that they do require them risking their lives to incriminate lawbreakers, however, the media hyperbolizes them as heroes. “This notion has permeated through culture and portrayed in the media through television shows and movies” (“Police, the Good Guys”, 2014). “Shows and movies such the NCIS series, the CSI series, the Shield, and the Die Hard movie trilogy are examples that showcase this” (“Police, the Good Guys”, 2014). In contemporary society there have been instances in which instead of the police adhering to the law, they have
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This makes them seem more like villains than heroes. One case of this is in the murder of Kelly Thomas, “a Californian schizophrenic man who police beat to death in 2011. The story goes that the owner of a club called the police because they were suspicious that someone was breaking into the vehicles. When they arrived, the police saw no evidence of this. They did spot Thomas and they tried to question and frisk him. After not realizing the mental condition of the man, they thought he was being difficult. One of the officers then told him, “you see these hands here are about to mess you up”. After more officers appeared, they beat him down, he did not resist and