Week 5: The Investigation Continues
Hello everyone! In terms of what I’ve done this week, I am sorry to say that it was not totally groundbreaking. However, I have been able to observe and note down some differences between the two departments, as well as how departments are presented on television, that I am excited to present to you all!
My day at Prescott Valley Police Department was spent much like the previous, which was working with Community Services. In this case, it was spent cutting stickers that would be given out during the leadership training that I mentioned last week. As well, I took another FEMA lesson, this one on how command structures are supposed to use social media during crises. While both are not the most exciting things in the world, it did lead me to an interesting conclusion regarding my research. Many police shows that feature the work of non-detective cops really just stick with the same format that detective shows have. That is, they really just focus on criminal investigations and procedures. But that’s only half of their job! The other half of the job that is not touched on is just generally keeping the public safe, both in times of peace and crisis. Police officers actually play an extremely important role during emergencies, as they are the ones who direct evacuation routes and keep guard over the zones that people evacuate to. Not only that, but also during non-criminal fires and medical emergencies, officers can be called in to help, whether that is just basic assistance, or life-saving help through things such as CPR. So why do these police shows not present this reality of the job? I present my two theories:
- Theory 1: It is limited by public perception. My interest in criminal justice gives me a bit of a bias against this theory, but I am sure there are many people uninformed in the ways of the police and whose thoughts about them first come to officers and detectives taking down the evil criminals and rogues. If they were to tune into an episode and see their favorite police characters just… helping out during a wildfire, or creating a evacuation zone, the show could receive false criticism of being unrealistic, or have similar episodes be called “boring”. Thus, the makers of these shows decide to focus on the more interesting stories of criminals being taken down, especially since a lot of them are detective-focused, who are not expected to deal with emergencies in the first place.
- Theory 2: It has limited the public perception. This is less of a theory why such topics are not explored by police shows, and more why we don’t expect them to be covered. The creators of these shows could have initially decided to just focus on the criminal part of the job, since they found it more interesting. Thus the general public, who likely only ever get a glimpse into police life through these shows and maybe being pulled over for a ticket, only sees this part of the job, and begins believing that the entire job is just like that. Then, as time goes on and new shows are created, they take into account what their audience wants or believes, and keeps giving them exactly that. In this case, police taking down criminals.
Sorry for a bit of my rambling, but I found this conclusion to be extremely fascinating in regards to my project! I’ll try to keep the next parts short.
You all know the drill with Prescott Police Department. Print papers and put them into folders. But I did find out something interesting while working. Now, if you read my previous blog posts, you know that Prescott Valley Police Department has their own Community Services division. Well, so does Prescott PD. But, the two are actually very different! One of the main differences between the two is that Prescott Valley PD uses civilian employees, while Prescott PD has officers working in the division. They even have their own specific positions at Prescott PD, such as a School Liaison Officer and Recruiting Officer, who is, in fact, my advisor Officer Hilton. At Prescott Valley PD, while they do have an officer as a supervisor, that being my other advisor Officer Mullins, most of the work is done by the civilian workers, including background checks for recruitment. This just goes to show that, for everything that I say here, every Police Department is unique, and may have differences in its structure, especially when taking into account age.
Speaking of age, Hill Street Blues! I have watched some more episodes of the show, and I definitely have some thoughts on what is presented. In an effort to not reveal too much of what will be in my final presentation/product (whatever that may be), I will reveal a lot of the smaller points of interest I have noticed. However, I will mention that what the show presents of the inner workings of the department is very much different from what I have experienced. The two takeaways I will say are that it is much more chaotic than what I have experienced, as well as much more disorganized, with one specific higher-up character being given many more duties than what I would expect from what I have observed. Now, could these differences be made in order to create a more narratively unique setting and situations? Perhaps. Could it also be because I have only observed small city departments, and this more accurate to larger city departments? Also not unlikely. However, it could also be due to the fact that the show takes place in the early 1980s, which was a time of much confusion for the police world. Just something more to think about, I suppose.
Thanks for reading this gigantic update! Next week is Spring break, so I won’t be updating you all. Prescott Valley PD will have their records and community services closed during that time, but not Prescott PD, so I will still be working! One last note: either the week we get back or the week after, I have another ride-along with Prescott Valley PD planned, so I will definitely be bringing some questions to be answered, stay tuned! See you all later!
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