Character matters. Image, in policing, matters.

There is no denying that the U.S. police profession has taken some major image hits from the Rodney King incident; the inception of cellphone video capabilities; Ferguson; the repetitive media coverage of police misconduct stories; and even Hollywood’s depicture of “bad cop, worse cop” stories. This is not an attempt to blame the media or Hollywood for the profession’s black eye; nonetheless, the media fans the flames of police malpractice stories that continue to tarnish the profession’s image. This negative repetitiveness of the media reports, coupled with Hollywood’s need to glamorize bent copping, have contributed to the damage of this respected and once-revered profession and public-police relations on so many levels.