You can find a lot of cops, from the Feebie Director on down, who are moaning about "the YouTube Effect".[1]
There is a simple response to that: "Suck it up, Buttercup."
Every person with a smartphone (and a lot of dumb ones) is now, in essence, carrying a video camera with them everywhere they go. Those videos can be uploaded in a matter of minutes. That's not going away.
Police had best get with the program on that.[2] Whatever they do, if there are witnesses, there will be video, and that video may be on the Internet before the cops begin violating people's civil rights and confiscating their phones. Like every other tech genie, this one is not about to be stuffed back into the bottle.
Law enforcement seems to love them the idea of putting video cameras everywhere and tracking people's movements. People are now returning the favor and, surprise, surprise, the cops don't like it very much.
Too bad for them. Suck it up, Buttercup.
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[1] Most hypocritical of which is the mayor of Chicago, whose police department has set highwater marks for thuggery and corruption over the years.
[2] They should have since a bunch of LAPD goons tuned up Rodney King.
Cat Pawtector!
5 hours ago
5 comments:
Four years ago, I commented on the so-called "You Tube Effect" and how it can blow the whistle on poorly-behaved law enforcement officers:
http://expatowl.blogspot.co.il/2011/10/kids-and-cops-behaving-poorly.html
What's the problem, if you've got nothing to hide?
And folks don't realize where they're being taped. Unless you are away from a commerce establishment, there are cameras looking at you from the time you enter the parking lot, until you leave. There were several incidences where the cameras were good enough to get plates and a decent picture of the vehicle and person(s) of interest. Personal security systems (like the cameras folks are putting at the front doors) can catch action beyond the main focus of the camera. As noted, cel phones with direct upload to the internet have good enough images to catch action a fair distance away, and with so many phones in a given area, you'll get multiple angles. Everyone just needs to assume they're on camera, unless there is a good reason (inside their own home) to think otherwise. With the police interactions in the news, they really should be aware folks will have phones at the ready the minute they show up....
In the S.C. slamming incident, the student who took the video (and is in trouble for it) apparently warned the others to get their phones out when she heard this cop was on the way.
The police ought to be acting as if they were on camera during working hours. It's how they want us to think they act when there are no cameras, anyway.
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