The media image of Polands Municipal Guards

The purpose of the paper is to present the results of studies on the image of municipal police in the Polish daily press. Two research questions were asked: (1) Do the press reports concerning municipal police actually focus on the negative aspects of their functioning? and (2) Does the press provides the society with a false or incorrect information about the tasks that might be performed by the municipal police? Methods: Using qualitative content analysis, examined were all the articles about the Polish municipal police, published in 2014 in the four most widely read polish national dailies (n = 328). Research contained two mainstream national dailies (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita) and two tabloid dailies (Fakt, Super Express). Findings: The studies confirmed the hypothesis that media contributes to the consolidation and development of the negative stereotypes about Polish municipal police. No evidence was found for the media dissemination of false knowledge about the competence of the municipal police. Tabloids demonstrated its disinformation. Research limitations: Given that the research was limited only to one year (2014) and to one medium – press the results should be treated with caution. With the key role of the television and increasing role of the new media in creation the social perception of crime and crime fighters (police, municipal police etc.) further studies concerning those media would be needed. Originality: This paper shows the results of first studies of this subject in the relations to municipal police.