The role of the mass media in forming the population's trust to the police

Abstract

The scientific article is devoted to a topical and interesting topic of research on determining the role of the media in building public confidence in the police.
 The paper proves that the media is the main tool for influencing the opinion of modern man, and accordingly the media play a decisive role in building public confidence in the police. Scientific research of this tool and its competent use will help increase the level of trust of the population of Ukraine in the police.
 Two components of creating a positive image and authority of the National Police of Ukraine are distinguished: the actual work of the police and the media image of the police officer.
 The author classifies the media into the following types: traditional (periodicals: newspapers, magazines, etc.); new (radio and television); the latest (the Internet, which includes electronic versions of printed publications, electronic publications, social networks, blogs, Telegram channels, YouTube channels, etc.).
 It was found that three main functions are involved in the formation of the image of a police officer: informational (placement in the media of relevant information about the results of the National Police, social processes related to police performance of official duties, etc.); communicative (aimed at discussing in the media information about the activities of the National Police, public relations between police and citizens, etc.); ideological (the ability of the media to reflect and shape public opinion of the population as a whole, a particular community and individual social groups about the activities of the National Police).
 It is concluded that the process of creating a media image of a police officer may not be spontaneous, but may be formed as a result of specially developed algorithms for specific actions (strategies, tactics, technologies) in management, marketing, image strategy, and linguistics, including political linguistics. But such technologies are still not fully used by the National Police.
 It is concluded that the media image of the National Police in general and individual police officers in particular is both a tool and an object of management of law enforcement.