"Where the hell does it say that you've got a right to kick down doors, torture suspects, deny medical attention and legal counsel? Where have you been? Does Escobedo ring a bell? Miranda? I mean, you must have heard of the Fourth Amendment."
(District Attorney to Inspector Callahan)
The film Dirty Harry is a classic in the criminological realm, most obviously illustrating how policing used to be done in the 1960s and 1970s. Clint Eastwood stars as the title character, "Dirty" Harry Callahan, an inspector with the San Francisco Police Department. It is the first of the Dirty Harry series and focuses on Inspector Callahan's investigation of a murder in San Francisco. However, the film also is a textbook example of not only how policing was actually done pre-Miranda (and shortly thereafter), but also how media - and society at large - viewed police officers and how they do their jobs.
Dirty Harry often does what needs to be done to get the job done. He works within the law in that he is a police officer, but also works outside the law in that he does not abide by police procedure (as illustrated in the quote above). Many people view Dirty Harry as the embodiment of what's wrong in American policing - police brutality, withholding of legal counsel, and torturing suspects before and during interrogations. These sorts of practices were stopped during the criminal rights cases of the Warren and Burger Courts (1960s and 1970s), but some of these issues still crop up, especially when it involves minority suspects and white police officers.
Current police practices are a far cry from those in Dirty Harry, yet movies and television shows still include these as everyday occurrences in police departments across the country. Just about any episode of The Wire or watching films like American Violet make us believe that things really haven't changed in nearly 50 years, when in reality, things are very, very different. The effect of media on people's perceptions of police is widespread, often persuading people that police engage in brutal tactics on a regular basis, when in fact, that is not the case (for example, only 2% of cases involving officer use of force involve lethal force, and most officers do not use any kind of physical force in their interactions with the public). Incidents that garner widespread news coverage, such as the Rodney King incident in 1992 in Los Angeles, also contribute to these feelings of resentment and distrust.
Dirty Harry also brought to light - as did other films of this era, such as Serpico - the issue of police corruption. In the era of the film, policy corruption was rampant and often extended as high as the mayor or governor. Officers who toed the "thin blue line" were put in their place (or in the case of the New York Police Department, their place in the Hudson River). The very real concern of police officers engaging in unethical - not to mention illegal - practices contributes to the reason why certain segments of Americans still, to this day, do not trust police. Police corruption was vehemently combated during the 1980s and 1990s, especially in large departments such as New York or Los Angeles, but there are still incidents that shake our faith in the men (and women) in blue who are supposed to protect and serve.
Dirty Harry is a classic film for many reasons - Clint Eastwood's excellent performance, the mystifying plotline, the believable antagonist, and more - and should be required viewing for any criminology student or enthusiast. However, one must remember that sometimes films have a greater social impact than we believe, so we must encourage filmmakers, television producers, and music artists to be socially responsible in their production of entertainment material.
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