Police and Criminals Law Enforcement

Police and Criminals

Law Enforcement and Criminals:

Similarities and Differences

Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster The Dark Knight followed a city prosecutor battling to bring justice for the city against corruption, thugs, and thieves; but, over the course of this film, the white knight lawyer that tried to help the city had endured several situations that had galvanized a change for him to turn to the dark side. The transformation observed in the lawyer over the course of the movie illuminates how easy it is to slip from good to evil. The movie captures the essence of the subject at hand, the ironic similarity between good and evil. The transitions between the two sides in the movie appeared to be so effortless that it ignites curiosity to find out the difference between police and criminals in our society- what are the differences and similarities that law enforcement has with those that they seek to take off the streets.

Foremost, there a myriad of similarities between law enforcement and criminals including but not limited to their propensity for violence, endure the same stresses and are entrenched in the same reality of "cat and mouse." To become involved as law enforcement officer in any capacity, one must be comfortable with the idea of violence and carrying weapons, including a gun and a taser. Both criminals and law enforcement officers are comfortable with being violent if the situation arises were force needed to be used. For instance, if a law enforcement officer incorrectly exhibits violent force when arresting someone, then the officer can actually be a criminal. The fine line between police action and criminal action can be shattered with a few wrong actions or thoughts. To that end, it seems appropriate that there to conclude that there are only a few degrees of separation between what is justified and what is criminal, thus bringing both criminals and law enforcement closer together. Furthermore, in this game of "cat and mouse," the law enforcement officers being the cat, they have to think and act in the way that criminals do in order to catch them- officers need to anticipate criminal actions. By doing this, officers need to be "at one" with criminals thus making criminals and officers to employ very similar ways of thinking. Thinking and operating in the same manner and anticipating one another's moves allows criminals and law enforcement officers to utilize the same skill set and mentality in order to stay one step ahead of the other.