Myths About Policing

Policing is surrounded by many myths and stereotypes. The most enduring of these myths is that the primary role of police is crime fighting. This view of policing assumes that police devote most of their efforts to enforcing the criminal law by: patrolling to deter crime, investigating crimes, and arresting criminals. It’s something I like to call the “CSI effect” – after the popular TV series.

The truth is, the CSI-type crime fighter is not an accurate depiction of what police do. The typical police officer rarely makes a felony arrest and almost never fires a weapon in his or her entire career.

This particular myth endures for many reasons. For one, the entertainment media play a major role in popularizing it. Networks offer crime-related stories because they offer drama, fast-paced action, and never-ending violence. Think about the last Hollywood cop movie you watched and try counting how many car chases and firefights break out in a little over an hour.

The news media are equally guilty of popularizing this myth. Crime stories are frequently and prominently displayed on the most popular news channels. The nature of crime draws sympathy, excitement, and anger. For all the rubber-neckers out there, it offers the dramatic visuals of an arrest being made.

Even the police themselves are guilty of perpetuating the crime-fighter image; however, because it does not present an accurate picture of what the police do, the image does cause a number of serious problems. Most importantly, it ignores the order maintenance that consumes most police time and effort. In turn, this effects the public’s perception when evaluating police performance. The end result is a public that suffers from inflated expectations of the ability of police to solve crimes, when in fact only 20% of all reported index crimes are solved.

The reality of policing is that the police play an extremely complex role in today’s society. As the times change, the police will evolve to best accomplish their role. As Herman Goldstein, the ‘father’ of problem-oriented policing, put it “anyone attempting to construct a workable definition of the police role will typically come away with old images shattered and a new-found appreciation for the intricacies of police work.”