Police Stereotypes
University Police Department “Man, FUCK the Police!” is a phrase I’m sure we have all heard and some of us have even said it. Police Officers are generally viewed as cocky, donut eating a-holes who think themselves above the law and like to flex their authority. These stereotypes are largely due to television and some based upon personal experience. However, this isn’t entirely true for all police officers, especially here at USM. Here at Southern Miss we have our own University Police Department which has a positive role in our community and people respect them here on campus. People understand that they are here to keep our campus safe and the things that they do are indeed for everyone’s safety. Although people here at USM generally
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What is the reason behind some of us having a, f*ck the police, type of attitude? When I asked Chief Chandler about this he said, “Well there are as many answers as there are people. Sometimes people are involved in illegal stuff and don’t want the police to know. Other times people feel as though someone else should not have authority over of their own lives and dislike the feeling of a restraint on their own authority…” Basically we hate to be told what to do and when we cannot do anything about it we, as people, tend to get frustrated. Although we try to have some small acts of defiance we still have to respect them as the law and we do it …show more content…
Our officers are very active around campus patrolling, conversing with one another and sometimes conversing with other officer. While speaking directly to one another you speak in a basic normal everyday language. It is no different than when I have a conversation with a friend or another student. It is usually only when they use the radio do they use codes for faster communication. During my observation I noticed the radio would come on and the speaker would use numbers sometimes usually starting with the number ten. They would say things like, “10-4” or “10-20.” I asked Chief Chandler, who is the head of the patrol unit about these code-like numeric sequences. He responded, “We use 10-codes, things such as 10-4 which means, ok, or 10-20 which is indication of a location.” They also shorten the names of different buildings around campus using abbreviations. These codes allow them to communicate just a little
What is the reason behind some of us having a, f*ck the police, type of attitude? When I asked Chief Chandler about this he said, “Well there are as many answers as there are people. Sometimes people are involved in illegal stuff and don’t want the police to know. Other times people feel as though someone else should not have authority over of their own lives and dislike the feeling of a restraint on their own authority…” Basically we hate to be told what to do and when we cannot do anything about it we, as people, tend to get frustrated. Although we try to have some small acts of defiance we still have to respect them as the law and we do it …show more content…
Our officers are very active around campus patrolling, conversing with one another and sometimes conversing with other officer. While speaking directly to one another you speak in a basic normal everyday language. It is no different than when I have a conversation with a friend or another student. It is usually only when they use the radio do they use codes for faster communication. During my observation I noticed the radio would come on and the speaker would use numbers sometimes usually starting with the number ten. They would say things like, “10-4” or “10-20.” I asked Chief Chandler, who is the head of the patrol unit about these code-like numeric sequences. He responded, “We use 10-codes, things such as 10-4 which means, ok, or 10-20 which is indication of a location.” They also shorten the names of different buildings around campus using abbreviations. These codes allow them to communicate just a little