LONG BEFORE INDIVIDUALS DECIDE TO APPLY TO THE POLICE ACADEMY, THEY HAVE FORMED OPINIONS ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT FROM THE VARIETY OF MEDIA SOURCES THAT NOW INFLUENCE THE ENTIRE LANDSCAPE OF POLICING, AFFECTING THE PUBLIC AND POLICE ALIKE.
As social media becomes a routine part of most people’s daily lives, many feel empowered to post content and disclose information that depicts law enforcement activities. On popular YouTube channels, audiences can readily scrutinize the actions of police and community members, viewing footage from surveillance cameras, public recordings of police, and body-worn cameras. A growing number of people in the United States believe that it is important to document police encounters to limit abuses of power.
Read the article that Renee Hobbs and Anne Li Kringen published in Police Chief magazine about a pioneering program to empower police instructors with media literacy pedagogical principles for using video in instruction.