Trust In Policing and How It Is Changing

 By Mary Grace Sprissler

JRN-100 Staff Writer

After the widespread video of the police beating of Tyre Nichols, American trust in law enforcement dipped significantly, a recent study found.

As social media has become more popular, videos such as those showing the Nichols tragedy are seen by millions more people than they would have been a decade ago, according to a 2023 study by the Pew Research Center titled  “  Before release of video showing Tyre Nichols’ beating, public views of police conduct had improved modestly”.

“Cell phones and video have changed everything,” said Philip Adams, deputy chief of Easton police department. 

Adams has been a police officer since 2009 and now works as the head chief in Easton overseeing the day-to-day operations.

Social media has been growing since it developed and caused people to change their views on many things, like police brutality, said the 2023 study. In the year 2016, 62% of adult Americans believed that the police do a good or excellent job at protecting people from crime. Six years later, in 2023 after multiple videos of police brutality cases and other mistreatment by the police came out that number dropped to 47%.

Professor Jack R. Greene is a professor emeritus of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. 

Greene studies the relationship between the police and the people they are policing.

Greene said he does not believe that police brutality cases have increased significantly over the years, but the public is more likely to know about them because of social media. Not only do more police wear cameras today, but people with cell phones can also film events and post them online.

The video of Trye Nichols getting beat to death by five police officers went viral on social media and was seen by 43% of Americans according to, “Two in five Americans saw Tyre Nichols video; 84% of them say officers' behavior was not justified”.

Media has changed the way people see crime and how it is shown to other people. With changing technology and social media people have more access to how they see crime or police brutality. The Nichols video trended on many social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The story also skyrocketed on every news outlet and their social media platforms as well said the article “Two in five Americans saw Tyre Nichols video; 84% of them say officers' behavior was not justified”.

“Negative news is what leads,” said Adams.

Stories that show police in a bad light tend to gain national news attention and go viral on social media. 

Adams said he believes that people see less and less of the good stuff that is happening in the community because only the bad stuff gets published. While there are stories out there of police helping the community and supporting people in the area, they do not get run nearly as much and Adams believes those stories are the ones that should be going virial. 

“Policing is more than just law enforcement,” said Adams. 

They do so much more around the community than just arrest people and that is just not shown. While the cases of police officers beating up people do happen, it is not as common as social media makes it, said Adams. 

“Police officers beating up people in the community is not normal,” said Greene. 

The survey also found that Black Americans feel they are often not treated equally by law enforcement. 

The study showed that Black Americans are less likely to feel that color and ethnic Americans are treated equally, while white Americans in large numbers feel they are treated well by police. 

In 2023, 12% of Black Americans said that the police treat racial and ethnic groups equally, compared to 49% of White Americans, the study found. 

This drastic difference shows the discrepancy between how the people who do not fall into a minority group feel and the people who do fall into that group. 

Greene said that this is said because of the newer younger generation who feels that everyone needs to be treated equally no matter what. 

Greene said that the younger population brings up more issues now than any other population. They want to challenge the police to get their voice out there. 

“Younger people challenge the status quo,” Greene said.

Adams said that while not everyone needs to be arrested, there are more arrests in these communities of color.

The study also found that Americans continue to feel nearly the same about the police using the right amount of force in situations and holding officers accountable when misconduct occurs.

From the year 2016 to 2023 both of these categories dropped by one percent but in between the percent dropped significantly then rose again. 

In 2020 there were significant drops from 2016 and then they rose back to the same as 2016 in 2023. This was said by the study to be caused by the murder of George Floyd and how that was not the first murder by a cop, but it was the first to go viral. 

This murder was of a Black man in Minnesota who was killed by a white police officer when he was suspected for using a counterfeit bill at a convenience store. There were videos taken by many bystanders and security cameras that were released for the public to see, says “How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody”.

These videos went viral in 2020 and caused people to look more at short videos that come out on either the news, Instagram or other social media sites. 

Although social media can be difficult to deal with, Adams said it also has its useful sides for police. Social media is not just used for bad and it spreads awareness to things happening in and around our communities. 

Adams said that social media is not going away anytime soon so it is important for the police to learn about it and know that everything they do is going to be published quickly. 

“Social media allows the public to see important news and stories in real time,” said Adams.