PERCEPTION OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AS A FACTOR INFLUENCING THE FORMATION OF THE POLICE IMAGE
This article raises the problem of the police image. The relevance is that in the modern world one of the main factors reflecting the importance of law enforcement agencies is the trust of citizens. A positive public perception of police and a positive image of this service contribute to the support of citizens and interaction with the community that generally affects the activity of this executive body. The image of the police reflects the positive or negative perception of the employees’ achievements, the success of the work performed, the individual image of each police officer, as well as what emotions the population feels when interacting directly with law enforcement agencies. The article is dedicated to the examination of the mechanisms and processes of perception, its influence on the formation of the police image. The analysis of the features of the police profession perception is made. The influence of the stereotyping mechanism on the formation of citizens’ perception of police officers is examined.Since the police ensure the safety of the population, the author analyses the influence of the perception of safety on shaping the citizens’ attitude to law enforcement agencies. When doing the research the author revealed the reasonable fact about subjectivity of perceived environmental factors affecting the level of safety and the perception of the police by society. One of the sections of this study addresses implications of the mechanism of stereotyping for the citizens’ perception of police officers.