Policing and Youth: Propaganda, Indoctrination, and Power

Introduction

The Strategic Targeting of Our Children

In an era where police accountability is under intense scrutiny, law enforcement agencies have increasingly turned to a more subtle yet powerful strategy: winning hearts and minds through carefully orchestrated interactions with children.

From viral TikTok videos of officers playing basketball with kids to school resource officer programs that position police as mentors and friends, these "feel-good" moments are far from innocent. They represent a calculated campaign to normalize police presence, build unquestioning trust, and shape public perception from the ground up.

This essay examines how police target children through propaganda, indoctrination, and power dynamics—exploring the historical roots, modern manifestations, and far-reaching consequences of this systematic approach to building compliance and control.

"The most effective propaganda is that which shapes minds before they learn to question."

Normalizing Police in Schools

The Legacy of D.A.R.E.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, launched in 1983, represents one of the most successful propaganda campaigns in American history—not because it prevented drug use, but because it normalized police presence in schools.

Despite decades of research showing D.A.R.E.'s ineffectiveness at preventing drug use, the program persisted because it served a different purpose entirely: establishing police as authority figures in children's daily lives and creating a pipeline of information from children to law enforcement.

The Information Pipeline

D.A.R.E. officers were trained to build rapport with students, encouraging them to share information about drug use in their homes and communities. Children became unwitting informants, reporting on their parents, siblings, and neighbors—transforming schools into surveillance networks.

This normalization of police in educational settings laid the groundwork for the massive expansion of school resource officer programs, zero-tolerance policies, and the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately affects children of color.

75%

of American schools had D.A.R.E. programs at its peak

$1.3B

spent annually on D.A.R.E. despite proven ineffectiveness

14,000+

school resource officers now in US schools

Copaganda

PR Stunts and "Feel-Good" Policing

In the digital age, police propaganda has evolved into "copaganda"—a sophisticated blend of public relations, social media manipulation, and emotional manipulation designed to rehabilitate police image through interactions with children.

The Formula

Modern copaganda follows a predictable pattern: officers are filmed engaging in seemingly spontaneous, heartwarming activities with children—playing sports, dancing, giving gifts, or "surprising" kids at schools. These videos are then amplified across social media platforms, generating millions of views and positive sentiment.

Strategic Timing

These "feel-good" stories often surface strategically during periods of intense criticism of police misconduct. Following high-profile cases of police violence, departments flood social media with content showing officers interacting positively with children, shifting the narrative from accountability to redemption.

The Psychology of Innocence

Children represent innocence and authenticity in public perception. By positioning themselves as protectors and friends of children, police departments tap into deep psychological responses that bypass critical thinking. If police are good to children, the reasoning goes, they must be fundamentally good.

Case Study: The Basketball Cop

In 2020, as protests against police brutality swept the nation, viral videos of officers playing basketball with Black children became ubiquitous. These carefully curated moments served to counter narratives of systemic racism while avoiding substantive discussions of police reform.

Why Target Children?

Power, Perception, and Control

The systematic targeting of children by law enforcement serves multiple strategic purposes, each designed to reinforce police power and control while minimizing resistance and criticism.

Developmental Vulnerability

Children's brains are still developing, particularly areas responsible for critical thinking and risk assessment. This neurological reality makes children ideal targets for indoctrination, as they are more likely to accept authority figures at face value and less equipped to question motives or recognize manipulation.

Future Compliance

By establishing positive associations with police early in life, law enforcement agencies create a generation more likely to comply with police authority, less likely to question police actions, and more willing to support increased police funding and power.

Emotional Shield

Interactions with children provide police departments with powerful emotional ammunition against critics. Questioning police tactics becomes more difficult when departments can point to their work with children as evidence of their inherent goodness.

Community Penetration

Children serve as conduits into family and community networks. Through school programs and youth activities, police gain access to information about families and communities that would otherwise require warrants or formal investigations.

The Long Game

Police targeting of children represents a generational strategy. Today's child who high-fives an officer at school may become tomorrow's adult who doesn't question police testimony in court, supports increased police budgets, or fails to recognize police misconduct when it occurs.

The Consequences

Myths Over Truth, Compliance Over Justice

The systematic indoctrination of children through police propaganda has far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond individual interactions, shaping societal attitudes toward justice, authority, and accountability.

Erosion of Critical Thinking

When children are taught to view police as unquestionable heroes rather than public servants accountable to the community, they lose the ability to think critically about law enforcement's role in society. This creates a population less capable of demanding accountability or recognizing abuse of power.

Perpetuation of Systemic Inequalities

Police propaganda often sanitizes the reality of policing, particularly its disproportionate impact on communities of color. Children who grow up believing police are uniformly good are less likely to support reforms that address racial bias, excessive force, or other systemic problems.

False Sense of Security

The emphasis on police as protectors and helpers creates unrealistic expectations about what police can and should do. This mythology diverts attention from addressing root causes of crime and social problems while increasing reliance on punitive rather than preventive approaches.

Silencing of Victims

When society is conditioned to view police positively, victims of police misconduct face additional barriers to being believed and supported. The cognitive dissonance between the "hero cop" narrative and reports of abuse makes it easier to dismiss or minimize victims' experiences.

The Cost of Compliance

A society that prioritizes compliance over justice, authority over accountability, and propaganda over truth is a society that has abandoned the democratic principles it claims to protect. The real victims of police propaganda are not just the children being manipulated, but the democratic ideals being undermined.

Breaking the Spell

A Call to Action

Recognizing police propaganda for what it is—a systematic campaign to manipulate public perception and build unquestioning compliance—is the first step toward meaningful reform.

Critical Media Literacy

We must teach children and adults to recognize propaganda techniques, question authority narratives, and understand the difference between public relations and genuine reform. This includes developing skills to analyze social media content, understand the timing of "feel-good" stories, and recognize emotional manipulation.

Demand Transparency

Instead of celebrating viral videos of officers playing basketball, we should demand transparency in police practices, data on use of force, and accountability measures that actually address systemic problems.

Reimagine Safety

True safety comes from addressing root causes of harm—poverty, inequality, lack of opportunity, mental health crises, and community disinvestment. Rather than investing in propaganda campaigns, communities should invest in education, healthcare, mental health services, and economic opportunity.

Center the Voices of Those Most Affected

Any discussion of police reform must center the voices and experiences of those most harmed by police violence and surveillance, particularly Black and brown communities who have borne the brunt of aggressive policing tactics.

The Choice Is Ours

We can continue to be swayed by carefully crafted propaganda, or we can choose to see through the manipulation and demand real accountability, real reform, and real justice. The future of our democracy depends on our ability to distinguish between propaganda and truth, between public relations and public safety.

The choice is ours. The time is now.

Sources & References

Academic Research and Documentation

Academic Studies

West, S. L., & O'Neal, K. K. (2004). Project D.A.R.E. outcome effectiveness revisited. American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 1027-1029.
Clayton, R. R., Cattarello, A. M., & Johnstone, B. M. (1996). The effectiveness of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Project DARE): 5-year follow-up results. Preventive Medicine, 25(3), 307-318.
Hirschfield, P. J. (2008). Preparing for prison?: The criminalization of school discipline in the USA. Theoretical Criminology, 12(1), 79-101.
Nolan, K. (2011). Police in the hallways: Discipline in an urban high school. University of Minnesota Press.

Government Reports

U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2003). Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention: DARE Long-Term Evaluations and Federal Efforts to Identify Effective Programs. GAO-03-172R.
U.S. Department of Education. (2014). Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline.
U.S. Department of Justice. (2017). Collaborative Reform Initiative: A Review of Officer-Involved Shootings in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Legal and Policy Analysis

American Civil Liberties Union. (2017). Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff Is Harming Students.
Advancement Project. (2005). Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track.
Justice Policy Institute. (2011). Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools.

Media and Communication Studies

Balko, R. (2013). Rise of the warrior cop: The militarization of America's police forces. PublicAffairs.
Murakawa, N. (2014). The first civil right: How liberals built prison America. Oxford University Press.
Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press.