Running head image of police and peoples’ safety 1 imag

Running head: IMAGE OF POLICE AND PEOPLES’ SAFETY 1
Image of the Police and Peoples’ Safety
Alex Love
Eastern Illinois University
IMAGE OF THE POLICE AND PEOPLES’ SAFETY 2
Definition of Terms
For the purpose of this literature review, the terms referred to in

this study are defined as follows:
Police: A group of people established to keep the law in check,
follow procedure, and keep
communities safe. (“Police,” n.d.).
Police Brutality: Any unnecessary or extra power or force given
by a police officer (“Police
Brutality,” n.d.).
Police Socialization: A process of how a police officer learns
values, ethics, and their job titles
through schooling and the police academy.
Race: A group of people with similar genetic makeup and
characteristics (“Race,” n.d.)
Ethnicity: A group of people who have a common belief system,
way of speaking, religious
beliefs and customs (“Ethnicity,” n.d.)

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Statement of the Problem
Due to police brutality and the negative image of the police,
people are less likely to trust
police officers and feel safe around police officers. This is a
huge problem because the police are
put in place to make sure people are following the law and are
keeping communities safe.
Without trust in the police, society is in jeopardy.
Introduction
In today’s society, millions of crimes are occurring every day.
One of the first things

people do when crimes happen is call for help and the police
arrive. Recently, many occurrences,
whether in the media or in the common neighborhood, are
happening and are shaping the way
the police are being perceived on a daily basis. Research has
shown two things; brutality and bias
in different race and ethnicities are changing people’s
perception of the police and also reports of
crimes are changing people’s perception of the police. Studies
have shown that trustworthiness in
police forces and the belief the justice system will prevail has
fiercely shaped the public’s beliefs
(Sivasubramaniam & Goodman-Delahunty, 2008). Through
social media, news media, print
media, and other forms of media, the police image is being
reshaped in a negative way. With this
shift of police perception happening, there is a shift in how the
media is handling the reporting of
crimes. Police officers are making efforts to change this
perception, but unfortunately this
lacking of trust in the police is leading people to feel helpless
and unsafe in communities around
the country and around the world. Due to negative images of the
police, people are less likely to

trust police officers and feel safe around police officers,
becoming a huge culture shift in today’s
society.
Perception of the Police
There are many factors as to why people do not feel safe
around police officers, but
police brutality may be the biggest one. Police brutality is how
police officers react to situations
in which a police force has to be used. Police brutality is
dangerous, excessive and even deadly,
which instills a specific fear in the police, especially among
different races and ethnicities.
According to McGregor (2015), police brutality creates uproars
and feelings of unrest; leading to
long protests, similar to the civil rights protests in the 1960s.
One huge police brutality case recently in the media was the
killing of Michael Brown
and Erin Garner. This previous autumn, through popular
Internet media and protests, people held
police officers responsible because of feelings that the police

committed wrongful deaths
(Charles, Himmelstein, Keenan, & Barcelo, 2015). These
protests struck a flame across the
United States and are the beginning of the police brutality we
know today, beginning the fear in
the police. Whether these deaths are wrongful or not, this is
where the most recent distrust
among police officers in today’s society began. Different races
and ethnicities feel differently
toward the police. Schuck, Rosenbaum, and Hawkins (2008),
findings are that people of African
American and Hispanic descent have the worst perception of the
police, over Caucasians who
have a positive perception of the police.
This negative image of the police doesn’t only happen in
America, but across the world
as well. It is important to note that police brutality is not only
prevalent in the United States, but
also in other countries. Sivasubramaniam and Goodman-
Delahunty (2008), show how ethnic
minority groups in Australia are feeling toward law enforcement
officials. “When asked to

indicate the percentage of time police are biased against their
own ethnic group, 45 per cent of
respondents indicated that they believed the police were never
biased against their own ethnic
group, and 0.3 percent of respondents indicated that they
believed that police were always biased
against their own ethnic group” (Sivasubramaniam & Goodman-
Delahunty, 2008, p. 394). These
feelings are occurring in Australia, and the same feelings are
being experienced here in the
United States.
Police bias is strictly being monitored and reported to ensure
bias is being recognized by
police officers of all ranges of hierarchy. By an act called the
Hate Crime Statistics Act, police
officers are required to report any type of bias motivated arrests
or stops, which are then reported
and sent to the state police (Cronin, McDevitt, Farrell & Nolan,
2007). By using this type of
monitoring system, people are able to see that police officers
are indeed quick to be biased and
use that bias when dealing with citizens’ arrest. Police officers
deal with thousands of people per

day who come from different walks of life and police officers
are carrying out different
procedures, some of which proven to be bias motivated.
One of the most common duties of law enforcement is to
perform routine traffic stops. A
study done by Fallik and Novak (2012), found routine traffic
stops show how police officers
react to different ethnicities and races. It has been shown that
people of minority status are most
likely to get stopped and searched, Blacks and Hispanics
specifically, but Whites not nearly as
often (Fallik & Novak, 2012). The term bias is commonly being
attached to how people perceive
the police and police brutality. A study done by A. Hall, Hall,
and Perry (2016), found that a
person’s race is one of the biggest factors surrounding the
police killings of people of African
American descent. A study done by Schuck et al. (2008), found
African-Americans have the
most negative feelings toward the police. People of African
American and Hispanic descent feel

as though police officers would be bothersome to their
ethnicity, as opposed to White people
(Schuck et al., 2008). Police brutality instills fear and negative
feelings toward the police.
Media and the Role of Police
In society today, all news and important information comes
from the different forms of
media. There is social media, news media, and print media
millions of people are reading every
second of the day. “Government organizations as diverse as the
Federal Bureau of Investigations,
the Environment Protection Agency and a host of state and local
governments are using
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to improve their
communications with citizens” (van de Velde,
Meijer, & Homburg, 2015, p. 4). Social media creates a
platform nearly everyone in society uses
to get the first-glimpse of what is happening across the world,
including what is happening in
regards to the police and police brutality.
Law enforcement and negative news stories are nothing new in
today’s society. These
stories have been occuring since the 1960s and officers are

trying to maintain a positive image
ever since (Motschall & Cao, 2002). The problem with news
stories in the media is that different
people have the ability to report anything, whether it is true or
not. People in different are also
receiving information in different ways based on geographic
location, access to news media, and
the culture in which the community resides. There is no
question that police are being shown in
the news, but there is not a connection between the arrests and
how police are following through
with police reports (Chermak, Scheer, & Wilson, 2014). Thus, a
negative image of police
officers is being created in the news media. If the news media
were willing to follow through
with the steps and procedures the police went through to make
sure justice is served, people will
be able to understand better how much the police actually do.
To improve the communication between the news media and law
enforcement, public
information officers are in place. This public information

officer is in place to gain support from
communities and use public relations techniques. Public
relations can be used to keep millions of
people more aware of a certain topic, or to promote positive
messages if something bad has
happened. As more and more people are relying on the media
and technology, having a liaison
between the police and the information the public is receiving is
detrimental (Motschall & Cao,
2002).
This gap between the media and law enforcement has been
around for years, and little
improvement is being made in the area. However, people are
certainly trying to close that gap.
“Although police reform efforts and accreditation mandates
have attempted to professionalize
the police, widespread media attention to local and national
level events involving questionable
police tactics continue to have a negative effect on the overall
image of law enforcement”
(Motschall & Cao, 2002, p. 154).
Improving the Image of the Police
The negative image of the police is not only affecting

populations, it is affecting officers
themselves. Police officers have a negative stress level and have
a problem with safety and
wellness. This can be detrimental for people in danger who
needing the help of a law
enforcement officer. It is crucial a person has a good overall
sense of well being within a
person’s established career (Kohan & O’Connor, 2002). With
the negative image of the police
and people being so fearful of the police, it is not uncommon
for a police officer to feel unworthy
and not satisfied in the law enforcement career path.
A study done by Mumford, Taylor and Kubu (2015), shows how
a law enforcement
officer’s health is affected. The findings of how much stress and
how much a police officer is at
risk for negative health effects are alarming (Mumford et al.,
2015). Findings can be correlated to
how much negativity surrounds the police officer image. One
study done by Wilkins and
Williams (2009) examined if having a specific minority group

as police officers affects police
during routine traffic stops. The results show that having a
person from a minority group as a
police officer, in this case Latino, is positive in regards to
traffic stops by Latino drivers (Wilkins
& Williams, 2009). Having minority officers in the law
enforcement field is beneficial to
everyone, including police officers themselves and the
communities being served, based on the
study.
Another study by Conti and Doreian (2014) focuses on different
races in a certain police
force and the positive and negative effects different races could
have on the community the
police force is serving. This study ties together different
ethnicities to create bonds among the
officers, as the hope is to make a positive affect on the police
force. With so much segregation
among different ethnicities and races in society, people may
think having different ethnicities
and races in a police force might be a negative thing. The study
found that the term “we’re all
blue” is accurate; relationships among the officers, regardless of
race and ethnicity, were created

and will have a positive affect on how police officers
accomplish and experience their daily tasks
(Conti & Doreian, 2014).
Police officers are improving the image by exposing themselves
to different minority
groups within police academies, making their police routine
outside the academy positive.
According to a study by Cochran and Warren (2012), there is a
connection between minority
police officers and a positive change in the way police officers
and residents interact with each
other. It is found that people of minority status are more
receptive to minority officers and are
more questionable if the officer is white (Cochran & Warren,
2012). Minority police officers
make people feel more comfortable, ultimately leading to a
more positive image of law
enforcement. Law enforcement is constantly working on ways to
improve their image, improve
their way of reacting to situations in a non-bias way, and
making sure all people, especially

people of minority groups, feel safe in the presence of police
officers.
Government officials are seeing the need for improving the
image of the police.
McGregor (2015) found the government wants to put new laws
in place to try to decrease the
fear of the police and try to clear up any confusion within bias
crimes. These may be through
body armor, more cameras for each law enforcement unit to use,
to have certain people put in
place for certain investigations, and to have people go through
each crime to see what steps were
taken and why (McGregor, 2015). This will not only benefit the
image of the police, but it will
clear up any problems with the media fabricating stories and
police brutality in general, therefore
leading to a safer place for everyone to live.
Conclusion
Police brutality is any excessive and unnecessary amount of
force given by a police
officer to a person who is dealing with the police. Police
brutality is creating a negative image on
how people perceive law enforcement. With this being a major a

problem in society, many
minority groups are retaliating against the police and protesting
law enforcement for wrongful
deaths suits and occurrences of police brutality. Every minority
group feels a different way
toward the police and studies show the amount of distrust in the
police. Bias is feeling a certain
way toward a group of people and is another important topic in
today’s society. Bias is an
important word to understand because police brutality stems
from bias behaviors and thoughts by
the police. It is proven that law enforcement officers let bias get
in the way of actions, leading to
the use excessive, unnecessary force. Through wrongful
killings, wrongful traffic stops, and
performing everyday procedures with a bias motive, a negative
police image follows. Media is a
huge factor affecting how people view the police because
anyone has the ability writes about
police issues and police brutality, whether it be factual
information or not. There is a need for a

positive media reform regarding law enforcement or people will
continue to feel helpless about
police. Media stories may be fabricated and stretched leading to
an outcry from minority groups
who may only know about certain police encounters from the
media stories. Law enforcement
officers are well aware of this negative image and are trying to
improve the police image.
Through combining minority groups within police forces,
creating bonds within minority groups,
and improving relationships between citizens and officers,
police officers are dedicating time and
are wanting to improve the image as quickly as possible.
Starting in the police academy, police
officers are seeing a positive effect by instilling relations
among officers of different minorities.
The image is slowly but surely returning to a more positive
note, and will continue if changes are
made.
One gap in the literature is specifically how the everyday
college student feels toward law
enforcement and what college students would do in a time of
crisis. College is a time of growth,
change, and new experiences; some may even be dangerous,

new experiences. It is important to
know if college students are willing to reach out and trust
police for the sake of the safety of the
college students and the entire campus. College campuses have
many procedures put in place for
students to carry out if an emergency was to occur. This could
be through blue poles with
telephones connecting straight to the university police
department, a hotline or text message alert
system to alert students of danger, or something as simple as
police walking around making
students feel comfortable. It is important to study how receptive
students are to use the unique
ways law enforcement is trying to connect with college students
and keep college students safe.
Another gap in the literature is how college students of different
ethnicities feel toward
the police and if those specific minority groups feel comfortable
enough to reach out to law
enforcement when in trouble. Colleges and universities are full
of cultural diversity and unique

backgrounds, making every group of people have different
worldviews and beliefs. One minority
group’s belief in the police could stem from past experiences
and the literature neglected to study
how police officers affect college student minority groups. It is
essential to make minority
groups feel belonging on campus and feel comfortable asking
for help, making this an important
gap to study.
Regardless of a person’s culture, ethnicity, or race, it is
important to have people in place
to keep communities safe. Police brutality is a thing in society
today, and will continue to be if
changes are not made and people continue to not feel safe. The
everyday, common person needs
to be just as committed to making the positive change as much
as the police officer to make a
turn around and make police brutality a piece of history.

References
Charles, D., Himmelstein, K., Keenan, W., & Barcelo, N.,
(2015). White coats for black lives:
Medical students responding to race and police brutality.
Journal of Urban Health:
Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 92(6), 1007-
1010.
Chermak, S., Scheer, C., &Wilson, J., (2014). Police
consolidation in the news. Police
Quarterly, 17(2), 150-175.
Cochran, J., & Warren, P., (2012). Racial, ethnic, and gender
differences in perceptions of the
police: the salience of officer race within the context of racial
profiling. Journal of
Contemporary Criminal Justice, 28(2), 206-227.
Conti, N., & Doreian, P., (2014). From here on out, we’re all
blue: Interaction order, social

infrastructure, and race in police socialization. Police
Quarterly, 17(4). 414-447.
Cronin, S., McDevitt, J., & Nolan, J., (2007) Bias-crime
reporting organizational responses to
ambiguity, uncertainty, and infrequency in eight police
departments. American
Behavioral Scientist, 51(2), 213-231.
Ethnicity. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ethnicity?s=t
Fallik, S., & Novak, K., (2012) The decision to search: is race
or ethnicity important? Journal of
Contemporary Criminal Justice, 28(2), 146-165.
Hall, A., Hall, E., & Perry, J., (2016). Black and blue:
Exploring racial bias and law enforcement
in the killings of unarmed black male civilians. American
Psychologist. 71(3), 175-186.
Kohan, A., & O’Connor, B., (2002). Police officer job
satisfaction in relation to mood, well-being,
and alcohol consumption. The Journal of Psychology, 136(3),
307-318.

McGregor, A., (2015). Politics, police accountability, and
public health: Civilian review in
newark, new jersey. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the
New York Academy of
Medicine, 93(1), S141-S143.
Motschall, M., & Cao, L., (2002). An analysis of the public
relations role of the police public
information officer. Police Quarterly, 5(2), 152-180.
Mumford, E., Taylor, B., & Kubu, B., (2015). Law enforcement
officer safety and wellness.
Police Quarterly, 18(2), 111-133.
Police. (n.d.) In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/police?s=t
Police brutality. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from
http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-
pictures-and-press-
releases/police-brutality
Race. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/race?s=t
Schuck, A., Rosenbaum, D., & Hawkins, D., (2008) The
influence of race/ethnicity, social class,
and neighborhood context on residents’ attitudes toward the
police. Police Quarterly,

11(4), 496-519.
Sivasubramaniam, D., & Goodman-Delahunty, J.,(2007)
Ethnicity and trust: Perception of police
bias. International Journal of Police Science and Management,
10(4), 388-401.
van de Velde, B., Meijer, A., & Homburg, V., (2014). Police
message diffusion on twitter:
analyzing the reach of social media communication. Behavior
and Information
Technology, 34(1), 4-16.
Wilkins, V., & Williams, B., (2009). Representing blue
representing bureaucracy and racial
profiling in the latino community. Administration and Society,
40 (8), 775-798.
Ja’Mya Wilburn
Misty Rhoads
PUBH 2800
31, January 2021

Outline
Topic: Teachers' perception of mental health in the school
system
I. Statement of the Problem
Students encounter stressors for instance cyber and physical
bullying; conflicts with teachers, parents, and siblings; and peer
pressure that negatively affects their mental health. Teachers
are the first individuals to detect mental challenges in a student
due to changes in behavior, academic performance, and social
interactions that the students tend to develop when facing
mental challenges. Many teachers have a positive perception
towards mental health in the school system as they believe
mental challenges are unavoidable challenges that student’s face
,and it is only having the issues professionally resolved that
would help the students to attain academic goals.
II: teachers are the first mental conditions identifiers
a. Students –teacher relationship is strong which makes it
possible for the teacher to detect mental conditions in the
behavior and attitude of the student
b. There are a lot of stressors that makes students to suffer from
mental conditions for instance conflicts within and outside the
school and over 60% of students are victims
III. mental conditions professionals within a school
a. The presence of a counselor within a school setting makes
referrals easy where the teacher is also involved and this makes
intervention procedure interactive and effective
b. Counsellors who are normally a part of the school helps
teachers to also understand behaviors to be on the lookout for
and the necessary steps to make t
IV. teachers are highly skilled
a. Teachers are close and directly involved with students hence
they can extend mental health using the school system in place
b. The teachers are trained how to handle students hence they
stand a good position to help and they appreciate doing so since
they are committed to help students realize their potentials
V. How to detect poor mental health amongst students

a. Change in behavior from good to bad
b. Drop in academic performance without a good explanation
which means that it is likely the student is facing mentally
challenging situations.
VI. How teachers handle mental health in their classrooms
a. Building good relationships with students to create trust that
the student can use to share their challenges with the teachers
b. Referring the students to school counselors to have the issue
professionally addressed.
VII. Upgrading of school system and teachers training
a. Having a school system that teaching socio-emotional skills,
conflict management, and problem solving among others can
help improve students’ mental health
b. Upgrading teacher training from a psychology perspective
would place teachers in a better position to handle mental
conditions affecting a majority of students.
References
DeKruyf, L., Auger, R. W., & Trice-Black, S. (2013). The role
of school counselors in meeting students’ mental health needs:
Examining issues of professional identity. Professional School
Counseling, 16(5), 2156759X0001600502.
Fazel, M., Hoagwood, K., Stephan, S., & Ford, T. (2014).
Mental health interventions in schools in high-income countries.
The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(5), 377-387.
Franklin, C. G., Kim, J. S., Ryan, T. N., Kelly, M. S., &
Montgomery, K. L. (2012). Teacher involvement in school
mental health interventions: A systematic review. Children and
Youth Services Review, 34(5), 973-982.

Guerra Jr, F. R., Tiwari, A., Razo, N. P., & Vela, L. J. C.
(2020). Teachers’ Knowledge, Perception, Sense of Self-
efficacy and Role in Mental Health for Middle School Students.
A Commitment to Teaching: Toward More Efficacious Teacher
Preparation, 113.
Harrap, C. (2016). Primary school teachers and child mental
health: developing knowledge and understanding (Doctoral
dissertation, Cardiff University).
Kerbih, H., Abera, M., Abrha, H., & Frank, R. (2014).
Perception and attitude of primary school teachers towards child
mental health and school based mental health programs in
jimma towm, south west Ethiopia, 2013 (Doctoral dissertation).
Larson, H., & Caldwell, N. (2020). Teachers' Perception of
Mental Health in the School System. Journal of Counseling in
Illinois, 8.
Whitley, J., Smith, J. D., & Vaillancourt, T. (2013). Promoting
mental health literacy among educators: Critical in school -based
prevention and intervention. Canadian Journal of School
Psychology, 28(1), 56-70.

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