Arrests Increase For Police Videos
Full Disclosure: As a former law enforcement officer and a former private detective, I'm not without some bias here. But more importantly, as an American, I'm appalled. I know that the police, along with fire fighters, have some of the most dangerous jobs out there. I get it. I've been there. But why are an increasing number of people being arrested for simply videotaping the police?
A report from ABC News tells the story of 63 year-old Peter Ballance, in Palm Beach County, Florida. Suffering from Asberger's Syndrome, Ballance must use a recording device for his memory. During an encounter with the police, one officer was impervious to Ballance's condition, saying, "You know what? I still don't want that thing on." The 63 year-old refused to turn off the recorder, for which offense he was blind-side tackled and arrested, necessitating a trip to the hospital while enroute to jail. At the hospital for spinal and cardiac injuries, officers refused to let him even record his conversation with the doctor.
I'm sure you've seen the videos on the news. Someone already in cuffs is beaten, an elderly lady is tased. Bay County, FL, where I reside was famous a few years ago for the videotaped beating of a young man at a Sheriff's Department boot camp. The young man was unconscious, which the offers interpreted as being unco-operative, so they continued to beat him and put him in various restraining holds. He died.
Last year, I testified in a traffic case. The officers' dash cam tape didn't work during the hearing, though it was admitted as part of the record. I obtained a copy of the tape later and it exposed the fact that the officers involved in the stop perjured themselves in court. I personally contacted the judge and he refuses to this day to take any corrective action, his assistant even hanging up on me when asked just why the deuce a judge doesn't take perjury in his own courtroom seriously. The judge remains on the bench, the officers remain on the force, and the most highly developed sense of justice remains inside the heads of bar bouncers rather than inside the legal system.
As government at all levels becomes more intrusive and powerful, its enforcement arm becomes increasingly belligerent and arrogant. Courts' and juries' sympathies tend more toward the police, so convincing evidence is needed in instances of police misconduct. Evidence that can normally be found only in recorded form. And recording that misconduct can now land you in the hoosegow. I must have missed that portion of the Constitution that turned us into a police state.
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May '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
Thinking back to my media law classes in the early 1980's, we were told that anything that was visible with the naked eye while we standing on public property was fair game. But that as an accredited journalist or technician. There were no rules covering private citizens.
This is one of those areas where the technology has gotten ahead of the courts. I think you'll see these addressed in the near future.
May '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
I've been shocked at the lawsuits over the videos (and truly disturbed about the perjury case that you describe).
I've had a lot of friends in law enforcement and I commend them for the things that they do, but I really don't believe they should have any expectation of privacy while they in the middle of their daily responsibilities. In fact, they should expect far more scrutiny than the rest of us.
I'm not advocating violence--honestly, in no veiled way am I advocating violence--but there has to be a balance between government and the citizenry. Right now that balance of power is in a place where I think that we citizens need to find a way to push back.
I know I'm not the only one who feels this, but it bears repeating: America is on the wrong track and the ultimate responsibility belongs with we, the people. If we don't act over the next few elections, we utterly deserve the government--and the loss of our freedoms--that we get.
Jul '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
This is another thing we can thank Osama for, the militarization of our police forces. In some cities a beef that in the past would draw one or two policemen now triggers a rush of heavily armed officers in body armor eager to display their training in tactical deployment and overpowering people who are drunk or angry but rarely pose a serious threat (COPS to the contrary notwithstanding). It is one step from this to brooking no challenge whatever to their authority. This is called a police state and we seem to be on the way.
May '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
Sunlight is the only true disinfectant and abiter of liberty. Naturally, everything relating to the governing class these days is done behind closed doors.
If you follow Glenn Reynolds, he is all over this issue, and this is something of a specialty for him.
But David, there were other avenues to deal with that perjury- there had to be another reason that you didn't go any farther than calloing the judge if you have a slam-dunk case of perjury and suborning it.
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
Duane, you are correct that there are other avenues. Most have been tried, but it is a small town where the judge knows the cops and the accused has a rather antagonistic relationship with local law enforcement. Given the bad blood, the judge looked the other way. The State will do nothing, which is truly baffling. The good news is I have tapes of the officers' testimony in court as well as the dash cam tapes that expose the perjury. I haven't ruled out media exposure. And of course, county judges here have to run for reelection, do my hand isn't fully played yet. The sad news, which I highlight in this post, is the decaying corpse of what used to be a justice system. It is now a legal system only. There might even be a few lawyers who would agree with me, if there was money in it.
Jul '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
I'm a current police officer, so I confess to having a slightly different perspective.
For the most part, I agree with this post. My understanding of public photography law has always been: for the most part, if it's legal to look at, it's legal to photograph. Cops are certainly no exception, nor should we be. And video is the best tool for exposing the worst abuses.
Problem is, the egregious cases are the easy ones. In less cut-and-dried cases, the wariness of cops for being filmed is understandable - and not because we fear being exposed as inhuman thugs (because we aren't). Leaving aside for a moment the various ways video can be made to lie, the problem is that police videos are viewed and evaluated by a public that is - I mean no offense here - largely ignorant of the realities of police work. They don't know our policies and procedures, they don't know what experience has taught us, they don't understand our force continuums, and they don't realize that even a textbook straight-arm-bar takedown is going to be unpleasant to watch.
Aw, nuts. I'm out of room :(
Jul '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
I'm back. :)
Also, I'm not going to bore you with war stories, but I've had a number of experiences with being filmed while doing my job (or trying to, anyway). I can tell you that knowing you are being filmed can be a distraction, and in fraught, split-second situations (and situations which threaten to become such), distractions are unwelcome. Still, that alone is not something people should be prosecuted for.
Like everything, video is a double-edged sword. An officer at my agency was accused of assault and excessive force by a citizen following a scuffle at a parking garage. When the garage's security footage revealed that the citizen swung first and was basically lying his @#& off, the officer was exonerated.
Anyway, if all this sounds like it's not an argument against video cameras so much as an argument for a well-informed, reasonable, and fair-minded public, that's because it is. :)
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
I like your screen name, Wylee, though I hope your professional gear didn't come from the ACME Company. Also, thank you very much for your service and all you do to keep the public safe.
My post wasn't an indictment of all police, and my own experience taught me that there are some real heroes on the force. And you are correct that context matters when viewing these videos. I think the public is fair minded on this issue, but becoming more concerned when the state insists that they can record us, but we can't record them. And too often, that recording is the only evidence of abuse that exists, so that to prohibit it becomes yet another example of excessive power wielded by the state.
In your opinion as a current police officer, do sense an increased militarization of the profession? I'm curious as to how it all looks from the inside.
Jul '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
Hmm. You know, that might explain the Tasers that shot the darts out the back.
On the matter of the "militarization of law enforcement", it's kind of complicated. Every agency in every locality is going to be different. It's a bit like asking a fish about ocean temperatures. I can report only what I see in my little corner.
Myself, I don't really see it. I've been a cop for 7 years, and in that time the only changes I've seen in my agency's culture have been in the direct opposite direction, toward a more warm-n-fuzzy style of policing. More emphasis on community relations; greater willingness to open formal investigations of officers at any citizen complaint large or small; and more restriction of use of force (a bit too much, if you want my opinion). This change has had both good and bad effects.
There has been some militarization-type moves in equipment and tactics. My agency has, like a lot of law enforcement, embraced the "patrol rifle" concept, and so
Oh no I'm going to run out of
Jul '10
Re: Arrests Increase For Police Videos
room!
...we now have officers equipped with Bushmaster M4-style rifles mounted in their cars who before would have maybe had a shotgun (if they were lucky). Lately our annual training has covered "active shooter" protocols which involve fireteam-level tactics I hadn't practiced since my time in the Marine Corps, and which involved a lot of military-style talk about "bringing the fight to the enemy", etc. But note that was specific to the active shooter context, and I defy the staunchest of police critics to suggest they aren't appropriate there.
(For the uninitiated, "active shooter" was a concept codified after the Columbine massacre, in recognition that the response to such incidents must necessarily be different from the "set up a perimeter and call SWAT" procedures that had been typical of police response to critical incidents)
I've heard concerns about the militarization of law enforcement since at least the late 90s, but my experience doesn't really match up with it. Frankly, I think the more worrying trend is hyper-legalism, a tendency to rely on hidebound procedures (often created by fear of lawsuit) over common sense.