IN THIS SECTION    Peer Pressure     TV Image PEER PRESSURE It should be obvious to many that peer pressure can block progress in revealing corruption in any environment. Peer pressure in police departments and related agencies is no exception to this behavior.  Male and female officers both can be involved in coverups. The reasons for such behavior can be varied, but often include the following reasons: - perhaps evolutionary, genetic and biochemical innate tendencies in human nature -cultural tendencies, including habits for networking -attitudes like watch my back, I will watch yours -fear of retaliation from other police persons -a sense of things having gone too far, a police officer is in too deep, shared guilt -military culture brought to the force, a tendency of certain types of male-to-male bonding where males are involved -a sense of us (police) against them (the public, the media, women where men are involved) -the sense of defeat in whistleblowing before one even begins - the feeling one’s efforts won’t go far, that the system will work against the whistleblower -fake news in the media, fake lawsuits, blacks and other non-whites pulling cartel/ACLU strings to beef up a false or exaggerated case to make tons of money and get tons of exposure against cops in the news -as an extension of the above points, the general feeling the overall system is corrupt and ineffective -a general sense of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t -the sense that most everyone lies -the sense that everything is relative, no one sees, recalls or perceives things the same way -good cops have been blown away by the public and the system; the good ones got shot in the back and no one in the public gave a damn -pressure can come from other agencies outside the local police department; these other agencies might be seen as higher up (like federal) with more clout or importance (even if they are biased and corrupt and asking local officers to be unfair and dishonest regarding a member of the public) As an extension of he above, see New Mexico Corruption for some examples about how problems and corruption around any race of cop can impact their receiving fair treatment.  People like judges and the head of the Attorney General’s Office are just about one particular group or another; currently the Attorney General’s Office is manned mostly, if not entirely by Hispanics, many of whom have very real racial issues against fair-skinned Caucasians (as of 2020).  There have been other forms of corruption in other departments, as well, over the years lending favoritism and monetary support/gain to certain groups at the expense of others.  Good cops cannot compete with media ganging up on them or system abuse.  The peer pressure can include a buildup of bad behavior over time as a result of others doing it, being exposed to it, then finally jumping in and doing it personally, too.  It can include saying bad things about women members of the public or the police force, using foul process and derogatory jokes or slights in the process.  It can also include deliberately defying a person’s phone call by playing games around him or her and even trying to do the exact opposite.  For example, a woman calls about a guy on steroids, the police using steroids in the department might try to go after her instead and to benefit the steroid user by asking him to join the police department.  It can also include trying to take advantage of the a money exchange between people by getting the person to come pay someone at the police department instead of the member of the public.  That police people in the course of police work might learn of an exchange of funds between members of the public,might try to divert the money toward themselves.  Someone who has been targeting a member of the public from another agency that is corrupt - like the DEA, FBI, etc. - might be listening in on phone calls with the local police department, thinking the member of the public does not suspect it.  This could be one source of the defiance, abuse, obstruction of justice, stealing or taking advantage financially and more.  Another agency might be applying peer pressure to a local police department or officer. TV IMAGE TV image simply refers to the impact police shows have had on the general public, “newbies” like police and detective trainees, and the ongoing feelings of police people with each other and the public.  Young people with comparative little life experience might put too much belief in the TV shows, might have feelings of glamor or sex appeal.  If women, they feel that women detectives are cool, together, powerful and competent, when all kinds of experiences for women can be possible in the real world of day-to-day police work and crime solving.  And TV shows might not show how men can get the short end of the stick, too, from women…men can be passed over for promotions by minority women, for example, or any kind of female; sometimes it is more about political correctness or power games in the department, region or state than a fair shake about who is the most qualified (this statement is written by a woman at PF).  Women can get “it” from men anywhere men have traditionally been the main players.  Female police officer trainees need to know that the extra hardships women police officers face can make them go stale and hard fast so they are no longer emotionally and intellectually available for women in the public or anyone else.  A dried out, non-innovative cop, no matter the gender, is more of a detriment than an asset.  People might go in with starts in their eyes based on their favorite TV show characters and wind up cops who gloss and never get in beyond knee deep.  Rather than soaking in competence, women officers might wind up the second gun, that is the so-called guy-gal the guys send in when dealing with members of the female public they don’t like; women cops might be used as proxies and to cover up deeper layers of corruption and antics mostly played out by guys at the department.  If kept out of the real ring, female cops in this sense might be ignorant of the nuances of an issue and be sent in without fully understanding the scope of the situation.   An example of this is a female activist and the Hispanic and white male cops have some kind of gender battle going on beneat the surface; they know the activist is a sniffer for male discrimination, so they send in a female cop.  They might try to get that female cop to go warn or arrest the activist on a trumped up reason; the real reason is they men in the force are retaliating against the woman activist.  So female cops can be “sent in” or “taken out” at certain critical moments.  When taken away from a case or site, it could be because the male officers have something going on they do not want her to see. Female cops can be some of the most astute people in a department.  Some enter detective work and have unusually high attention to detail and intuition for solving crime cases.  Some have empathy for animals and work well with trained police dogs. Hispanic cops in New Mexico might have gotten into the work to make a difference after seing corrupt cops in their district tear up the place, batter women and drunks and make a joke out of their city and state, as well as put a mar on the reputations of Hispanics.  They want to be strong and ethical and not get bogged into the corruption that their predecessors did.  So too of other minorities, like Native Americans.  They also don’t want to be like the corrupt white police officers they have seen on the news and around town.  They want to be there for their people in a way neither their parents, grandparents, uncles or neighbors were. African American police officers might find real prejudice in jurisdictions around the country.  At the same time, they could be influenced by the equivalent of war mongers, people who never dropped certain facets of the Vietnam Era civil rights movement, people who work with internationalists of various anti-American persuasions.  These blacks can thus get involved in lawsuits that seem to go off on a whirwind tangent, far removed from the facts at hand.  Others have experienced very real abuses in poor and crime-ridden areas and got into police work to try to make a difference by by being centered and ethical against corruption from both white and non-white groups. In summary, people might assume that TV cop shows would not have that much impact on why people go into policing.  They would be wrong.  TV Shows and other media International policing dramas - surprising to most people is how long of a list https //en wikipedia org/wiki/List_of_police_television_dramas 2019-2020 Top Crime Thrillers and TV shows - detectives https //thevore com/crime-thriller-tv-shows-detectives/ Tommy TV series https //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(TV_series) 19 True Crime Shows https //www bustle.com/p/19-true-crime-documentaries-on-netflix-right-now-that-will-have-you-questioning- everything-2440068 Excerpt on a couple of shows: Online bullying is a modern form of evil. Don't believe me? Check out Audrie & Daisy, Netflix's chilling documentary on how online bullies changed the lives of two teenage girls. Team Foxcatcher explores the true story of wrestler Dave Schultz, an Olympian who was killed by millionaire John du Pont after joining the private wrestling facility, Team Foxcatcher. The story was adapted into a major motion picture, Foxcatcher, in 2014. Ten Forgotten Shows of 1980s https //www metv com/lists/10-forgotten-cop-shows-of-the-1980s Updates:  2020/05/30 TV Image section started; 2020/02/16 Page started