Amateur videos of police...

[MA-Caver]

Full story here... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061123/ap_on_re_us/videotaped_beatings

Police: Amateur videos don't tell story

By ANDREW GLAZER, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 23, 1:44 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Arlin Pacheco turned her video camera from the kittens on her porch to the police officers she saw chasing and tackling a neighbor. The camera was rolling as one officer pressed his knee on the man's neck and punched his face. That arrest of suspected gang member William Cardenas didn't draw much attention until last week, when Pacheco's video appeared on the YouTube Web site.
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Footage of two other arrests quickly followed, and the images fueled an uproar and accusations of police brutality in a city already infamous for the 1991 Rodney King beating.

Amateur videos of police using force on suspects have sparked varying degrees of outrage from California to Philadelphia and Europe after onlookers captured incidents on cheap cameras or video cell phones and posted footage on the Internet.

Some law enforcement officials worry about the effect, arguing that showing only a tiny part of an event can't tell the whole story. They also fear widespread exposure of such video clips might give officers pause in the future, even when force is justified, and that could put people in danger.

"You know, policing is oftentimes not pretty," Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said. "The video, as we've seen from time to time, particularly if you're looking at a slice of it, makes it look even less pretty."

Recent images of an Iranian-American student at the University of California, Los Angeles who was repeatedly shocked with a Taser by campus police have been viewed nearly a million times on YouTube and led to protests and an independent investigation.

Police say the footage was notable for what it left out: The student refused to comply with rules that he show a college identification card or leave the library.

Another amateur video shows an LAPD officer using pepper spray on a handcuffed homeless man who was then left in a closed patrol car.

"A video speaks for itself," said Sherman Austin, 23, who trains a network of amateur videographers who film arrests and post footage on the Web site CopwatchLA. "The camera doesn't lie."

But in the 2005 case of the homeless man, Benjamin Barker, a district attorney's investigation cleared the police officers of wrongdoing.

In the Cardenas case, a court commissioner also found that the officers did nothing wrong because Cardenas was resisting arrest on a felony warrant claiming receipt of stolen property.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice acknowledges the images may "polarize and politicize police investigations," but she they also force the LAPD to look inward.

"Without them, there is no pressure at all for police to examine use of force, and they are not policing themselves," said Rice, who was appointed by the Police Commission to examine the LAPD's response to allegations of officer abuse.

I can imagine that this would be difficult for LEOs out there who must constantly worry about someone just walking up to a crime incident and start video taping and then not finding out the whole story. Or worse the same someone getting it all from the beginning and editing the important parts... or not getting all the audio (i.e. filming from a distance).
I don't think it's only LAPD that has to worry about this but just about every cop everywhere.
I realize that being an officer of the law is a dangerous job, but it's also rewarding to those of the right attitude and mind-set... that their job saves lives and helps people 24/7.
As with ANY organization you're gonna get a few bad eggs that'll make it look bad for the rest of them. Not a whole lot can be done about that but as being optimistic as possible concerning LEOs I'd think a vast majority of them are good honest folks... I'm not trying to kiss up here or paint a ROSY picture... just saying that the article caused me to frown and empathize with those who lay their lives on the line just for little ole' me (and everyone else).
I learned a long time ago (thankfully from others who didn't learn) not to give a cop any grief no matter how you're feeling ... cooperate and do so calmly and they'll chill out. Get testy and so do they.
These videos don't help the average LEO, it just makes them look bad.

Thoughts? Comments? Insights?

 

[Sukerkin]

I concur utterly that the Police have a very difficult job to do (and now have to do so whilst carrying a mountain of paperwork and oversight).

Video of a degree of roughness in an arrest is not going to do the PD's image any favours but I think other than some strident voices with axes to grind the general response from the public should be "They're doing their job".

I've seen first hand the violent situations British coppers handle (we have a bad binge-driking/public drunkeness problem over here) and they do it very well.

One night out there was an officer I nearly offered to help because he was trying to deal with a violent drunk whilst at the same time having the guys shrieking girlfriend hanging off him (the irony being that the copper had acted because the drunk had been abusing his 'lady').

I didn't step in in the end because I didn't want to add to his troubles by risking making things worse (plus he'd have to take the time to explain to me that I should keep my nose out or risk charges myself).

Anyhow, he dealt with it marvellously, giving the drunk at least six warnings to calm down and behave before the drunk took a swing at him. He took him down very easily and without hurting the chap, putting him on the ground in an arm-lock and (still without rasing his voice) firmly told the miscreant that if he did that again then he would arrest him.

Too drunk to care, the fellow continued to struggle and swear, even tho' at this point the girlfriend had switched tacks and was also telling him to calm down before he got in serious trouble. The officer had no choice but hold the fellows head on the ground to stop him thrashing about (and trying to bite him!).

Now my point is that from a distance this probably looked horrendous and if it had been video'd would probably have been touted as evidence of police brutality. Yet that couldn't be further from the truth.

That officer's actions revived my faith in the competence and professional approach of the police in my area.

As a side-note, if the chap had been less drunk and actually able to listen to reason then the public order issue would either have been resolved or he would at least have had the sense to listen to the officer and calm himself down before he escalated the problem into violent affray.

It's an all too frequent occurrence these days I'm sad to say, as it seems we've slipped back a notch or two on the orderly social behaviour scale. Drunkeness causes the IQ to plummet, as evidence by the incident I detailed - anyone with an ounce of common sense knows, as Caver says above, that if you don't give coppers any grief then they will be far less likely to reflect said grief back at you. As anyone else, politness and calmness is what they want to experience from someone they're interacting with. Behave that way and, even if you've done something wrong (I'm thinking traffic offences and the like rather than assault or robbery of course!), then the whole affair can still unfold in a civilised fashion.