6.11. Current Issues: Accountability 
TIFFANY MOREY 
One of the most significant issues with police accountability is knowledge of the job of a police officer. 
If a person is ignorant about policing policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and how police operate, then 
there is going to be a disconnect when the media portrays police in different situations. All too often citizens 
get their knowledge of how the police operate through television shows. Miranda admonition is a classic 
example. The television show ‘Law and Order’ is notorious for showing the actors playing detectives, giving 
Miranda to a suspect, every single time; they place a suspect under arrest. The classic clip shows the hand-
cuffs ‘click, click’ going on, and then as the detectives walk the suspect to their vehicle, they are verbalizing, 
from memory, Miranda. In reality, this could not be further from the truth. 
Police have a considerable amount of power. Due to the temptation to abuse assigned power police 
must ascribe to a higher standard than someone in a non-policing profession. However, members of the 
public cannot appropriately identify police misconduct at all levels. “Most citizens possess an incomplete and 
incorrect understanding of what it entails. Often…American citizens frequently believe the police guilty of 
misconduct when, in fact, they are not…Dirty Harry is a hero of sorts to many Americans. When a Dirty 
Harry-type officer engages in curbside justice aimed at a local bully, for example, people tend to be very 
supportive of this type of misconduct. 
1 
Miranda Misconceptions 
Thanks to the CSI Effect, Miranda is misunderstood by the general population. Shows such as Law and Order, 
show the detectives slapping the hand-cuffs on the suspect, after the investigation is completed, and immediately 
verbalizing the Miranda requirements aloud to the suspect. This is not how Miranda is applied. The Miranda 
decision requires officers to read certain statements when those officers plan on INTERROGATING a suspect. 
If the suspect is NOT free to leave and the officer wants to question the suspect, in an attempt for the suspect 
to make incriminating statements, the suspect must be read Miranda admonishments AND must understand the 
admonishments. If an officer sees a person break the law, the only time that officer needs to read Miranda prior to 
interrogating the suspect, is if the officer wants to question the suspect. If the officer sees the crime, there generally 
1. Perez, D.W. (2011). The paradoxes of police work. Florence, KY: Cengage Publ. 
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