Mage Soapbox: POLICING - Witnesses to Brutality, the Need Better Videos

Monday, April 13, 2015

POLICING - Witnesses to Brutality, the Need Better Videos

"Teaching citizens how to shoot better video when they witness brutality" PBS NewsHour 4/10/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Video that captures violent abuse by police or a government can send shockwaves through a society, but even if it goes viral, it may not stand up in a courtroom as evidence. Hari Sreenivasan reports on how one organization is training citizens around the world to shoot better video when they witness crime, while protecting themselves from becoming targets.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): This week has brought questions about police violence front and center once again, and demonstrated the power of what’s captured on video, frequently by citizens — the latest case, an arrest in San Bernardino, California, that appeared to involve excessive force.

Today, 10 deputies were placed on paid leave following the release of news video showing the violent arrest of a man who fled on horseback. It comes nearly a week after Walter Scott was shot in the back and killed by a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina. His funeral is this weekend.

Hari Sreenivasan has a report on efforts to use video to document violence abroad and in the U.S.

And a warning: It contains images that are disturbing, including the shooting of Walter Scott.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): Everyone is shooting everything with camera phones. The shooting of Walter Scott proves that sometimes video can be used as evidence against police wrongdoing.

KELLY MATHESON, Senior Attorney and Program Manager, WITNESS: I think that cameras in everyone’s hands means that there will be more transparency and more accountability. The camera is the new DNA technology.

The DNA is only available to specialists. It’s only available to scientists. The camera is available to everyone worldwide.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The Video as Evidence program of WITNESS, an organization founded by musician and humanitarian activist Peter Gabriel, trains citizens around the world to safely and effectively document abuse, so that video is as effective in the courtroom as it is on the Web.