The Internal Struggle of the Black Cop: Social Media's Impact on Self-Perceptions and Behaviors of Black Police Officers

• In Event: Police Legitimacy and Trust

Abstract

Police officers are often the first point of contact individuals have with the criminal justice system. The likelihood that an individual will encounter a police officer depends on multiple factors, including the officer’s implicit biases, the organizational structure and work culture of the police department, and relationships with the people of the community they oversee (James, 2018; Nix & Wolfe, 2016; Sierra-Arévalo, 2021; Weitzer, 2014). Conflicts between neighborhoods of color and police officers grow with more intensity after accounts of police misconduct surface on social media and attract national or global attention (Weitzer & Tuch, 2004; Weitzer & Tuch, 2005). There is a limited amount of scholarship concerning how viral instances of police misconduct on social media affect behavioral trends and self-perceptions among police officers, particularly those who are Black-identifying. The current study explores how the consumption of police misconduct through social media platforms by Black police officers affects their behavioral patterns and self-perceptions exclusively. In addition, the study intends to determine if varying levels of social media consumption of police misconduct influence self-perceptions, perceptions of the law enforcement profession, and behavioral practices.

Author

• Eeron Wilson, Rutgers University-Newark