Judge — May 1, 1926 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This political cartoon satirizes police marksmanship and public safety. The sequential panels show a police officer at a shooting range, progressively missing his target while innocent bystanders (represented as round-headed figures) are struck instead. The joke operates on two levels: it criticizes both police accuracy and the collateral damage of law enforcement practices. The subtitle "Judging by Results in Public" suggests the cartoon is commenting on actual police shooting incidents affecting civilians. The cartoon likely references early-20th-century concerns about police incompetence or recklessness in urban environments. By showing bystanders increasingly harmed while the intended target remains untouched, the cartoonist mocks police training and accountability—implying law enforcement cannot reliably distinguish targets and endanger the public they're meant to protect.