There is no secret that shooting as it is portrayed in Hollywood movies is quite removed from reality when compared to a real-life shooting incident. In reality, shootings tend to be significantly more messy and dangerous, leaving a lasting impact on an officer’s life, as shown in the video “Hollywood vs. Reality Officer Involved Shootings.” Although the issue of police brutality and the use of violence by police has been discussed profusely in the media lately and condemned accordingly, it is also important to look at the other side of the coin to embrace the complexity of the situation.
The presence of legal repercussions combined with psychological trauma is one of the main factors that distinguish the instance of a real-life police shooting from a movie. Whenever such a shooting occurs in reality, people are deeply affected by the events that ensue the conflict (Nix and Pickett 27). Therefore, it is important to consider the emotional trauma that police officers receive when forced to start shooting by the training that they receive.
The video titled “Hollywood vs. Reality Officer Involved Shootings” has become admittedly controversial in light of the recent events associated with police brutality. Namely, the shooing of George Floyd and the changes that it has entailed for the police across the U.S. have made people look at the issue of police-induced shootings in a slightly different way (Nix et al. 41; Wolfe and Nix 1). Specifically, Floyd’s tragedy has allowed seeing the photos nomenon of police brutality (Johnson et al. 15879). However, while providing an important perspective, the specified alteration has affected individual police officers who perform their duties diligently and never overstep boundaries.
As a rule, the reality of shootings is much less spectacular and much more socially loaded than the phenomenon of shooting as it is introduced in Hollywood movies and other types of visual meum. The described phenomenon is exacerbated by the presence of multiple prejudices, which also affect the way that stereotypes are created and applied in a strikingly different way (“Hollywood vs. Reality Officer Involved Shootings”). Thus, the video has helped to discover the problems that police officers face when having to open fire in accordance with the existing guidelines.
References
“Hollywood vs. Reality Officer Involved Shootings.” YouTube, uploaded by EugenePoliceDept, 2011, Web.
Johnson, David J., et al. “Officer Characteristics and Racial Disparities in fatal Officer-Involved Shootings.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116, no. 32, 2019, pp. 15877-15882.
Nix, Justin, and Justin T. Pickett. “Third-Person Perceptions, Hostile Media Effects, and Policing: Developing a Theoretical Framework for Assessing the Ferguson Effect.” Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 51, 2017, pp. 24-33.
Nix, Justin, et al. “Command-Level Police Officers’ Perceptions of the “War on Cops” and De-Policing.” Justice Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 1, 2018, pp. 33-54.
Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix. “The Alleged “Ferguson Effect” and Police Willingness to Engage in Community Partnership.” Law and Human Behavior, vol. 40, no. 1, 2016, p. 1.