I decided to do something a little different this week with a story not about police corruption. As a student in college that wants to be part of the criminal justice profession, I have met many people part of law enforcement from the federal and local levels. I have met some that I wasn’t fond of, but many more that were unbelievably great individual. I enjoy reading up on the stories that sometimes get over looked, because the media does not feel its what viewers what to see.
Acquired at:http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/generosity-immortalized-photo-article-1.1210565
In New York City, NY Officer Larry Deprimo was walking the streets on foot patrol, when he heres people laughing at an elderly gentleman sitting on the ground with no shoes on. The temperature outside was numbing as Officer Deprimo states, “ I had about two pair of socks on and also my combat boots, and my feet were still freezing.” He approached the man and finds out he does not own a pair of shoes. Officer Deprimo went into a shoes store and told the man at the counter “ I want to buy a pair boots, something that will last awhile; I don’t care what the price is.” Officer Deprimo gives the man the boots and socks, and at the same time a women by the name of Jennifer capture the heartbreaking moment.
In the news or internet you really only here about Officers that make mistakes and commit misconduct, but you rarely here the good side of law enforcement. Its heart warming that officer Deprimo would spend his own money and not care of price to ensure this man had shoe that will keep his feet warm. Many officers all over the country do a lot for their community, but they don’t get credit. Much of this is because they do not ask for credit. The media eats up the opportunity of possible police misconduct. If you put in the Internet “police misconduct” you will find hundreds of articles on a “huge rise” of police misconduct. In a report by national police misconduct reporting project (NPMRP) only 6,613 sworn in officers are involved in police misconduct in 2010. In 2010 there were 452,037 sworn in officers in the United States making a percentage of 1.46% involved in misconduct. That is a very small percentage to be calling a “ huge rise.” I hope that many more of these stories like the one about Officer Deprimo come to light, because the public needs to have a better understanding of the officers that protect them every day.
Work Cited:
Associated Press. “NYPD Officer Gives Boots to Homeless Man.” YouTube. YouTube,
29 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013
Packman, David. “2010 NPMSRP Police Misconduct Statistical Report Draft.” CATO
Institute, 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013
Nice story Joshua. I do agree with you, there are little praise given to police officers in the media, but like you said the media is all about showing things that people will watch. And people like seeing bad people doing bad things but loves seeing good people doing bad things. I believe that part of the reason why police officers do not get credits for their actions, is because some people see it as this: police just doing what they get paid for. Just like a teacher or a nurse, a police officer have thank-less job. It takes a kind heart that wants to protect people, to work in these thank-less jobs.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Josh. You have a very sticky topic indeed. Whenever the media is involved it seems to change the reality of nature. What I mean by that is media is a business, a multi-billion dollar business. Media survives on advertising that is how they generate revenue. In order for the media station to be highly desired by advertisers they must have high ratings for their shows. This is what leads the media to promote the sex, gore, good people gone bad and so on despite how small of a microcosm that population may be. One of my concerns in this particular topic is that the roughly 1.5% of “bad” cops the media chooses to focus on is really changing the perception of the general public for the other 98.5% of law enforcement.
ReplyDelete