Degree Year
2001
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Sociology
Advisor(s)
William Norris
James Walsh
Keywords
Police, Reform, United States, London, Community, Authority
Abstract
American interpretations of the police officer's role in our society span the distance between two distinct and opposite poles. On the one hand, many Americans, especially those living in middle or upper class, non-urban, predominantly white areas, believe that a police officer is a hero, "a courageous public servant [and] a defender of life and property." If they are victimized in some way, they believe they can call the police, and that the police will come to their aid. There is however, a considerable segment of our society, often those living in poor, urban, non-white areas, that understands police officers purely as agents of oppression; as thugs who harass, abuse, and sometimes kill innocent civilians because of personal racial and class biases.
Repository Citation
Rosenbloom, Philip, "Shaping the Thin Blue Line: American Police Reform from the London Model to Community Policing" (2001). Honors Papers. 506.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/506
