Hollywood-Style Heroism Is Latest Trend in Police Videos

"I don't perceive racism in those acts. I perceive abject fear of black men."

Try as I might, I simply cannot wrap my head around how you can say your second sentence immediately following your first, and not see the glaring contradiction between the two.

It's sure a nice change to allow people to see some of the really good stuff police do after nothing but , "Oh, hell! Another cop shooting someone for no reason!" recording. This is a great idea. I know several cops who are not bad guys, and I've been horrified to see nothing but senseless killings recorded until now.

Obviously , BOTH the most positive and most negative videos will be selected; most of everyday work would be boring. So in some ways, perhaps all the videos we are likely to see contain some "false narratives." But so what?

Highlighting the good Is good for officers, not just as ads for police departments but to honor and encourage officers to be their best. We all do tend to emulate what we see around us. Good behavior evokes more good behavior.

Of course police officers do good things ALL THE TIME. And some do truly awful things. Complete transparency isn't going to happen, just as it doesn't happen in marriages or lives. We are always left guessing about what's going on with others, and even if we could get the footage- meh! You could't get people interested enough to wade through it. So, we will ALWAYS be left with what excites us- the good and the bad. There would be no problem with any of this if only we truly celebrated acts of kindness, acts of patience and good judgement. So if we can show that we venerate "good" behavior, it will likely encourage some people to take up the mantle. But as long as we live in a racist society where police training carries the imperative to get them before they get you and that racists have a safe harbor in police forces... it's not going to make a big enough chance fast enough.

There is nothing wrong with showing positive and heroic acts by police. Good police community interactions deserve all the support & praise the can get.

It really is only those few police that think that having a badge means the laws they should be enforcing does not apply to them, or who the police shoot first before deescalating that is the reason that the dustrust exists.

Honestly I don't know why there isn't a police body cam channel on cable. Somewhere the good and the bad can be highlighted. Not formulaic drivel like "Cops" but real reality TV.

If we want cops in this country to be capable and compassionate, why not highlight those who are? People are better at their jobs when they know their good work will be noticed and appreciated. Let the "hero cops" be examples to their brothers in blue.

Boy, do I have mixed emotions on this one.

Count me among the millions who are heartbroken and furious after all the abuse we've seen of our citizens by law enforcement. It's very hard not to let this turn into full on rage.

And yet there is another part of me that welcomes this. We need positive stories and balance in a media landscape that pushes All Outrage All The Time.

I understand the skeptics who will argue that this is just a PR push, but I know from personal experience that there are many officers out there who daily honor their pledge "to serve and protect." We need to honor them as vigorously as we need to root out and prosecute those who abuse that pledge.

What did people expect to see? Unlike the New York Times cameras record reality without a "narrative."

Theme of the week? Russia? Aluminum Tubes? Police Brutality -- have your pick!

If anything I am sure a body camera would have exonerated the officer in Ferguson after the thug tried to grab his gun. (The same guy that a camera caught assaulting a convenience store employee on the same day)

Those paying attention have learned that apparently incriminating body camera videos often do not translate into criminal convictions. What our common sense tells us is not what the law provides. So these videos create confusion and often anger. The most constructive response is to educate the public regarding what constitutes criminal activity on the part of the police. A public relations battle doesn't educate anyone. It merely appeals to common prejudices which tend to alienate law enforcement champions and those who defend their victims. .

Currently, our location and/ or behavior may be recorded by any number of entities, including the signals continually sent by our cell phones, records of Uber or Lyft rides, our use of credit or debit cards, black boxes in our cars, number plate recognition systems, and video cameras meant to protect homes and stores from theft. And now drones will be watching us. All of these recordings could be used to build a criminal case.

The problem is that these recordings are not part of an overall system, and so may leave out important time periods. Since we no longer seem to have any privacy, why don’t we install city-wide networks of cameras like the British have? These cameras would provide both the police and a defendant with a continual video of what actually happened.

"Critics say the practice of releasing selected recordings — but not all of them — threatens to create a falsely upbeat narrative about police conduct without full transparency."

Not like there hasn't been a large number of "false narratives" concerning police malfeasance. Obviously the "upbeat" doesn't sell as well as the lies.

I applaud all these people that are actually doing their job. This is what they signed up for and it is what is expected of them. They know the dangers and they know the rewards.

Having said that, the heroes need to be recognized just as much as the rogues.

It's just more Movie and Television propaganda like the perp walks.

Unfortunately, there are no body cameras to record the Blue Wall of Silence.

People who are worried about the release of good stories "subverting" the intent of police body cameras pretty much reveal their animosity towards police. By trying to frame the the intent of these cameras as a tool to "catch" police, rather than a tool to capture the truth, they show themselves to be negatively prejudging police functions. When the videos are not evidence and, when necessary, people's identities can be concealed, let them out. Cops are human and its good for all of us to know that.

The societal problem of city police will not be resolved, as long as the police are made of mercenary gunslingers, poorly trained in the use of arms and self-control. People are better off to rely on Wilhelm Tel's immortal words "I want my arm, when I want a weapon" (Act 2, Scene 1, translated by Theodore Martin, 1891, slightly modified).

I continue to wonder when the media will begin to allow the general public and especially the Progressive movement to understand the real cause of police shootings, the NRA, Republicans, and most of all lax gun laws with untold of Americans of all mental state carrying weapons? Recently released study, UIndi360/May 19th 2017 gives credence to this thought.
Simply place yourself in a situation which if virtually every single personal encounter you had in your business involved the other party being drunk, stoned, insane, or otherwise under extreme emotional distress with the combination of the above included as well as potentially armed.
Officers no longer have minutes to defuse potentially violent situations but mere seconds to, as trained, understand and react to the split seconds it takes to produce a firearm and shoot. Of course there are bad police officers. There are a few bad everything, clergy, teachers, soldiers, CEOs, etc. etc.. Most police are just like the average person on the street with the exception that they are hired to clean up the worst of the worst messes that most of us never wish to clean up. That is their everyday job. Just like the rest of us, they simply want to do their job and return home at night to their families. By in large it is guns, not the police that are at the heart of the issue.

There is no doubt we are indebted to our police and sheriff departments across the US. And I do believe there are more positive stories rather than negative of how these individuals in uniform protect us and even save our lives at the risk of their own well beings. However, even though I live in the West Coast, the greater Bay Area to be specific, there remains a tendency for profiling and even thuggery at times. We have a large Latino community spread across California. And believe me, these folks contribute in every way to the productivity of our state. The same goes for our African American community. Yet, time and time again I witness first hand how our white population somehow "slips through the cracks" re misdemeanors in particular. Not so for our people of color. So, I guess what I am saying is, yes, thank you to our police; but you still have a way to go before you fully shake that bit of bigotry buried within.

The narrative that was saturated on the airways and front pages prior to the election has played out and failed to deliver the votes that the left anticipated. So now its over and hollywood can go back to exploiting the sacrifices of these brave men and women to make heroic movies and TV shows.
How cynical.

I'm in the minority, in that I think about half of the cases in which the police used force were justified. When I have watched footage from police shootings over the past three years, I have seen much non-cooperation and threatening behavior from men who were shot. Not all the cases, but a few. I don't perceive racism in those acts. I perceive abject fear of black men. That's not the same. If these were literal lynchings at midnight, I'd perceive racism, but I see a lot of scared police confronted by men who do not heed their directives and who appear menacing. I simply do not see evidence of hatred of blacks. Anyhow, we have all watched the same footage and arrived at different opinions. I don't think the footage matters, because a person's opinions will determine his or her perception of the events. I consider myself a liberal yet would not say that I see aggressive hatred of blacks in most of the footage. I see fear and panicked overreaction. I also see widespread non-coperation with authority. But I'm sure many who've viewed the same footage think I'm crazy for not seeing the racism they see. So, how does having footage help?

How about the majority of video that shows neither "good" nor "bad" behavior? The odds are good an average policeman's day (and consequent videos) are, well, pretty average.

Perhaps all videos should be released mandatorily and let the spinning begin.

Friends of mine who work in law enforcement in California (LAPD, LA County Sheriffs, California Highway Patrol) are so incredibly demoralized. I am all for complete transparency going both ways. The great majority of LEOs do amazing work every day.

The police choosing to publish acts of heroism and good-deed-doing is a predictable byproduct of putting body cameras on officers in a post-it-directly-to-the-internet world. I predict that the most watched and impactful videos will be the ones where dogs, cats and children are rescued--I am a sucker for an animal video. In cases of great videos the TV press will want a chance to work with the police and publish first, as eyes and clicks are money.

I can't wait until police dogs get their own cameras, showing them chasing down and cornering and biting bad guys, and then getting a treat--good stuff. "Dog bites man" will finally become salable news through the magic of video. Of course, only where the man is accused of a horrible murder or rape will the video be posted (no run-of-the-mill shoplifters as a general rule), or the man threatens the dog with a weapon but the dog is OK in the end. Putting a beautiful dog in danger but seeing it pull through and reunite with its handler will pull in a lot of hits. Good "optics".

That sheriff's deputy in Deltona is a stone cold hero.

The favorable video releases are just another cop produced cop show meant to sway public opinion.

This is not a zero-sum game where the proper acts of police behavior excuse and balance out the acts of police misconduct. The cops who killed Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Jordan Edwards, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice etc. lives do not matter and they deserved to be criminally prosecuted and incarcerated for their actions. With a uniformed badged armed legal license to deprive us of our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness cops should be held to the highest level of accountability.

I'll venture that if all interactions with the police and public were recorded, admirable behaviour by both the police and/or public would far outweigh the other extremes - and that too is part of the body camera narrative.

I expect the very worst of police behaviour should come to light and have no issues if the most commendable acts are aired as well, however; it is important to understand the cherry-picked extremes that we see are only a small fraction of a much larger continuum that is the reality of the police/community experience.

If these vids increase morale and boost good behavior, encourage the right kind of recruits, as long as the same departments are equally transparent when an officer behaves badly, they are a positive influence.

Police officer have a very complicated job to do. I encourage anyone that feels that the current state of Law enforcement needs to be improved or that they could do a better job, become a police officer. I dont condone the abuses that have and will continue to occur. However, it's easy to judge when you haven't walked in those shoes.

Nothing is ever all good or all bad. I think the officers who risk all every day should be held accountable when they do bad and when they do good. The body cameras seem to offer a way to get a more balanced picture. True it will take some vigilance to make sure we see the bad as well as the good. But seeing only the bad is not reality either. These cameras are a good tool. We will just have to make sure we wield this tool with justice for all in mind.

We can all appreciate the good that the police do and their necessity. We can also rightfully denounce their abuses. But one quite disturbing feature of contemporary policing seems unaddressed: the militarization of the police must end. Boys in blue (and girls) to boys in black with armored cars and machine guns don't win my confidence.

So the upshot is that truth can be used to prosecute or to laud. Imagine.

The key is having access to the truth.

Few people - despite the political exploitation to the contrary - actually imagined the police to be universally bad, universally racist, universally quick on the trigger. It was a narrative based on not whole fact, but only on a parsing of fact. Images of police as heroes are another facet, another parsing of fact. Both represent some truth, just not whole truth.

We should respect our officers, laud their heroism, and weed out the bad apples and poor management and control. If cameras help us do that, if cameras help us to see the whole fabric, then excellent.

For the public, we should just demand that cameras are used to defend the truth, whether it fits our personal narrative or not.

The better police officers of the next generation will see that body cameras are a big boon. Not only can their department gain a PR lift from footage of their occasional heroic actions, but the more routine interactions that go badly will have a record that they asked three times politely before escalating. When they are used to having a virtual audience, they will employ their training more consistently. Not only will they have fewer bad interactions, but the ones that do go bad will have hard evidence that they performed their duty appropriately, and most stupid complaints will simply go away once the footage is inspected.

I have no problem with police releasing such 'positive' videos. But i do have a problem, and a big one, with the notion that these 'positive' videos somehow serve as a counterbalance to videos showing officer misconduct. The question shouldn't come down to a contest between the number of positive and negative videos. Some of the misconduct we have seen in videos is conduct that should never occur, irrespective of how many heroic acts are also documented on video.

I have no issue releasing good AND bad video. Its the few bad incidents that reflect poorly on most departments. Despite the idea that an officer maybe motivated to help people, they are generally, and unfortunately, called in the worst of human situations.

As a writer and a professional psychologist who has worked with many police officers, this unintended video consequence is long overdue. Sure, I have seen bad officers who should not be in law enforcement, and bad consequences due to poor training. But the majority of officers are good people trying to do an incredibly difficult job. If we are going to judge the profession, let's look at all the evidence not just bad outcomes.
And let's not hold law enforcement responsible for stupid laws
and lawmakers: stand your ground laws, allowing mentally ill folks to buy weapons, completely defunding mental health, and ridiculous concealed carry
laws.

I think that body cameras will not only provide protection against abuse by police, but also provide evidence for trials, and lasting records of the great work routinely done by most police officers.

I am one of the most law-abiding people you will ever meet. Never any trouble with the law with the exception of a few speeding tickets, but I'll tell you, when I lived in the States, I would do anything to avoid having any contact with the police. I didn't trust them and still don't. They deserve all the criticism they receive because of their intimidation tactics, militarization and disregard for their own mission: to protect and serve. Instead, they have devolved into para-military organizations unto themselves. Even the Feds have a hard time investigating them and changing their behavior.
And don't give me that, "when you're in trouble, you'll gladly call a cop," nonsense. The police have become agents to be feared and if you involve them in your problems, you're likely to be "unsatisfied" and possibly dead.
As for using videos for PR: if people can't see this for what it is (total and utter pro-police propaganda) then they are deluding themselves.

With the hundred of thousands of police/civilian interactions each year, some of those interactions will be improper on the part of the police or the civilians. But the number of reported cases of such bad interactions are a tiny fraction, often not noted in reporting.

With the checkered history of race relations in this country, it is expected that some in the minority community will reflexively distrust the police. And at times, brutal misconduct by some officers only serves to heighten suspicion and further distrust.

Bias that is perhaps present to some degree in many interactions, can result in two types of police discrimination. In one case, the police knowing the history of race relations might be more lenient than the law would require, when dealing with minorities. In the other case, the police may be as tough or tougher than the law would require, when dealing with minorities. Still, both forms of the discrimination are wrong.

It was a little odd for me to watch this video because I can't really recall seeing a video that didn't show the officer acting inappropriately. Obviously, it's essential for the public to see police officers at their worst so we can hold them accountable. But imagine if you were a good cop (as most of them are) and the only videos that were going viral with millions of clicks were ones showing bad cops? I completely agree with police departments releasing videos of their officers doing great work.

I welcome these positive images. And I am glad those interested in seeing them did not have to hire attorneys to force their release.

It is important to remind ourselves that the lives saved due to responsible police behavior and lost due to irresponsible police behavior is not a image or marketing concern for targeted communities facing persistent irresponsible police behaviors by repeat offender officers. For those of us who have paid attention rather than denied there has been and continues to be a major policing problems due to implicit bias and outright bigotry the notion that we should accept an opinion that spins police violence into a marketing concern us deeply disturbing. Pandering to naysayers rather than curing the problem of targeted police violence is the stuff that affirms for the targeted communities that there fear of White Nationalists integrating themselves into policing (as reported by the DOJ) is not only real but condoned by a nation who remains incapable of meeting out justice when it is so necessary to curing its most significant ill.