I choose police officers, because they are a part of everyone's lives in one way or another. Police officer's have been stereotyped in many different ways. From both good and bad perspectives. As far as the bad perspective goes, most people believe police officers are nothing more than power-happy jerks who do not have anything better to do than harass regular, everyday people. I personally have experience with this stereotype. Recently I was pulled over for speeding a couple of miles over the limit. While being pulled over, I reached down to lower the volume of the radio. When the police officer saw this he thought I was putting on my seatbelt, which I already had on. He proceeded to call me out of my truck. After I stepped out of my vehicle he told me once his lights were turned on it was to late for me to put on my seat-belt. The officer continued to say that I couldn't afford a two hundred dollar ticket. Luckily he didn't give me one. Many people also believe the only thing police officers do is eat doughnuts and sleep in their police cars all day. Many of these beliefs come from the way police officers are shown on the television. Other stereotypes include police officers being criminals themselves. Examples of these accusations are that police officers take bribes, take the drugs they happen to come across, or they just beat people for no reason. The horrific ordeal with Rodney King did not help the police force's image at all. Although there are "bad cops" out there that do these crazy and terrible things, generally police officers do not fit these descriptions. We never see all the positive things police officers do on the televison, just the negative.
The good stereotype is one that I wish was completely true. Through my experiences I have noticed that this stereotype is usually viewed through the eyes of the older population.
