ABSTRACT
What image comes to mind when someone says police officer? Some people conjure up Norman Rockwell's vision of the friendly cop offering a lost child an ice cream cone. For others, it is Dirty Harry looking down the barrel of his .44, begging some scumbag to “make my day.” Some of us grew up being told that police officers are our friends, someone to turn to whenever we are in trouble. Others were raised with the warning to be good or “the police will take you away.” Many of us remember the disturbing TV images of the police decades ago letting loose dogs and firehoses on civil rights protesters, then a few years later clubbing protesters outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Younger
generations are more likely to recall the graphic images of Los Angeles burning after the senseless police beating of motorist Rodney King or LAPD officers beating protesters at the 2007 May Day immigration rally at MacArthur Park. Still others may see the police as battling drug gangs, tracking down international terrorists, or trying to protect school children under siege from some gun-wielding lunatic. Or, perhaps, we recall a long funeral procession for an officer who had died in the line of duty. Maybe our most vivid memory is the police officer who gave us a speeding ticket or arrested a family member.
