The Andy Griffith Show was a popular American sitcom televised during the 1960s, portraying a sheriff of a fictional community of Mayberry, North Carolina. One of the main characters of the show, Deputy Barney Fife, was an ideal professional policing agent that illustrates some of the elements of the idea of police professionalism.
The primary purpose of professional policing was crime fighting. As demonstrated by the character, Deputy Barney was inspired by the county rules for sheriffs that “an officer of the law shall enforce the law and order without regard to personal welfare and safety” (Beck & Clark, 36). When criminals come to Mayberry, he stated, “It’s my job as a lawman to stalk him and run him out. That’s my number one job-stalking” (22). It shows the main focus of the police professionalism ideal is crime suppression. As Sklansky puts it, authority within the department should fight against crime objectively and free from political influence. Deputy Fife thought that the law applied to everyone equally regardless of class, rank, race, etc. When the Governor’s limousine was parked illegally, he gave it a ticket. “I don’t care if this car belongs to the Governor himself, he’s gone and bought himself a traffic ticket compliments of Barney Fife.” (45) He even put himself in jail after he found that he made an illegal U-turn. These are manifestations of professional policing that law enforcement should be strictly based on rules and codes. The county was autonomous command and control that even those with power can’t impact the consequence of its law enforcement.
Moreover, the professional policing workforce should be hired based on their expertise and skills, not political influence or connections. Deputy Fife himself was familiar with every code, case, ordinance and regulations on the books. He even kept a copy of the codes under his uniform hat. Although he was the cousin of the Sheriff, he wanted the folks in this town to realize that the sheriff picked him, because he looked over all the candidates for the job, and he judged their qualifications and their character and ability, and come to the fair, the just, and the honest conclusion that Fife was the best suited for the job (16).
Besides, the persona of Barney Fife also exhibits that professional policing relies on sophisticated technology to achieve its goal of crime control. He tried to purchase more guns, cameras for high-speed photographic surveillance and asked for more devices such as anti-riot gear, teargas, a fingerprint set, etc. in order to advance the police department’s ability to fight against crime. As a result, he did successfully root out crime from Mayberry by using these new technologies.
From these examples, Deputy Fife exemplified the ideal of professional policing in the sense that he tried to accomplish the ultimate goal of crime suppression by being highly professionalized, maintaining the police department’s autonomy, minimizing involvement of others, and relying on technologies.
Work cited:
Beck, K., & Clark, J. (1985). The Andy Griffith Show Book. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Moreover, the professional policing workforce should be hired based on their expertise and skills, not political influence or connections. Deputy Fife himself was familiar with every code, case, ordinance and regulations on the books. He even kept a copy of the codes under his uniform hat. Although he was the cousin of the Sheriff, he wanted the folks in this town to realize that the sheriff picked him, because he looked over all the candidates for the job, and he judged their qualifications and their character and ability, and come to the fair, the just, and the honest conclusion that Fife was the best suited for the job (16).
Besides, the persona of Barney Fife also exhibits that professional policing relies on sophisticated technology to achieve its goal of crime control. He tried to purchase more guns, cameras for high-speed photographic surveillance and asked for more devices such as anti-riot gear, teargas, a fingerprint set, etc. in order to advance the police department’s ability to fight against crime. As a result, he did successfully root out crime from Mayberry by using these new technologies.
From these examples, Deputy Fife exemplified the ideal of professional policing in the sense that he tried to accomplish the ultimate goal of crime suppression by being highly professionalized, maintaining the police department’s autonomy, minimizing involvement of others, and relying on technologies.
Work cited:
Beck, K., & Clark, J. (1985). The Andy Griffith Show Book. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
As someone who grew up watching the Andy Griffith Show, I find your argument compelling. Typically, I have always seen Barney as a "goofball," though he does take his job extremely seriously. As we briefly discussed in section, I am more intrigued in the dramatic shift over the last 50 years of the media's portrayal of law enforcement. The Andy Griffith Show is a lighthearted sitcom, including (among others) a main "level-headed" character, a goofy deputy, and a drunk man who chooses to more or less live in their holding cell. The nature of the show is rooted in comedy and there is no hesitance to "poke fun" at law enforcement a little bit. That being said, TV shows today are much different when it comes to law enforcement. A few examples I can think of include Cops, Law and Order, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Bones, etc. In each of these shows, the Police appear much more serious. For example, Cops emphasizes the stupidity of the criminals more so than anything else, focusing the comedic light-heartedness away from the actual police. The other shows are considered "dramas" and portray intense, suspenseful, and above all else, POWERFUL law enforcement. The power dynamic changes dramatically from the 60s until now. Because of this change in the media, I'm curious to know if there has been a change in the structure and performance of actual law enforcement as well.
ReplyDelete-Kim Newton
Yu, Wow! The Andy Griffith Show is even before my time! Still, you effectively draw upon the character of Barney Fife to identify some of the ideals of the professional philosophy. It would be interesting to see how current crime shows model and violate those ideals. So, even Fife, when he invokes expulsion as a guiding practice, seems to operate outside those bounds while, most of the time, he does embrace them --- ticketing the Governor's car is a good example. Best.
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