[adam-a]

There seems to be a weird popular misconception about Paw Patrol being some sort of police recruitment propaganda for toddlers. I've (unfortunately) had to sit through hundreds of episodes and it really isn't. The police dog is not particularly treated as a main character as all of them are given pretty equal screen time and storylines (out side the recent film, which does focus on him). And even when the episodes do focus on Chase it's barely police work, certainly he doesn't go around pointing his gun at immigrants. His main ability as a police officer seems to be that he has a megaphone.

[TeMPOraL]

Indeed. And even if it had some police propaganda, this wouldn't be that bad anywhere in the developed world except the US. The perception of police spending most time harassing minorities and exacerbating humanitarian crises? That's a US problem. Literally no one else has it. Which is what makes the attitudes to LEO that US exports sad, and perhaps even dangerous.

[civilitty]

> The perception of police spending most time harassing minorities and exacerbating humanitarian crises? That's a US problem. Literally no one else has it.

France just had weeks of riots because the police shot Nahel Merzouk [1] due to similar dynamics that have been developing in France since at least the Algerian crisis [2]. I don't know if "spending most time" is a fair characterization of French minorities' perception but the antagonistic relationship between police and minorities is far from a US only problem.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahel_Merzouk_riots

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961

[stavros]

I think that merely the fact that people are bothered enough to riot shows that the problem in the US is much more extended, where shootings by the police were such an everyday phenomenon that the biggest reaction you'll get is an extra-high shrug.

[civilitty]

The French do love a good riot but don't forget that the George Floyd protests just a few years ago were the largest in US history - during pandemic lockdowns, no less. They devolved into something resembling riots in only a few cities but "extra-high shrug" is hardly how I'd describe that series of events or the other smaller protests since. The Minneapolis ones only wrapped up in May of this year after the criminal cases were resolved.

I think with US suburban sprawl it's just a lot easier to ignore what's going on in the cities.

[stavros]

Ah, interesting, I may be wrong then. I remember the George Floyd protests, but didn't know of any more recent.

[rsynnott]

Well, also, it is _France_; proud tradition of very large dramatic protests and riots going back over two hundred years. It's kind of their thing. French farmers routinely shut down whole cities when they're vaguely irritated about something; it's unsurprising that protests around more serious and emotive matters than France enforcing an EU ban it was already meant to be enforcing on a pesticide get a bit dramatic.

[stavros]

I don't know if that's just a France thing, I remember here (Greece) ten years or so ago, when a police officer shot a teenager, and the whole country was in flames for a week from the riots. There are still marches and protests every year, on the anniversary.

[autoexec]

> And even when the episodes do focus on Chase it's barely police work, certainly he doesn't go around pointing his gun at immigrants.

If he did go around pointing is gun at immigrants that would be the opposite of police propaganda wouldn't it? Most young kids don't interact with police directly, so nearly everything they know about police comes from the media they consume. The question comes down to what kids need to learn about police and what role media plays in that education. Families in certain communities have been educating their children on how dangerous police are for a very long time.

Is it better to introduce an idealized version of police to kids and let them learn on their own that police are dangerous or is it better to present police in children's media realistically so that they're prepared when they see their 8 year old classmate thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested because they acted up in class or so they understand when they see protesters march past their house because police officers beat and murdered another person on camera without consequences?

I suspect that it's better to show kids what police are supposed to be like before introducing them to the harsher reality we live in, but I can't blame people for looking at shows like Paw Patrol and thinking that it's giving kids a very unrealistic view of policing at a time when they should be increasingly made aware of the issues and the risks they face.

[ztrww]

> the harsher reality we live in

as terrible as it is if we focus on the whole developed world “we” is just a tiny minority (even in the US, just unfortunately not as tiny…)

> unrealistic view of policing

so maybe they could do a separate version for Americans?