Cellphone ‘Vigilantes’ Pose New Problems For Police
By Maggie Ybarra, June 11, 2015, The Washington Times
Police advocates say “cellphone vigilantes” are popping up at various crime scenes and disturbances across the nation to capture short clips of high-tension moments, snippets that typically lack context and damage not only police-community relationships but the chance for cops to be treated fairly in the court of public opinion.
Law enforcement officers should be allowed to understand, explain and investigate a situation before it becomes a YouTube sensation, said Don Mihalek, the legislative director of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, who says the ubiquity of cellphones presents a major challenge.
“Clearly there’s an uptick in that behavior, and it comes down to a few things,” Mr. Mihalek said. “No. 1, just the number of cellphones out there. That’s just the genie that’s out of the bottle that we’ll never get back. The second thing is, the younger generation is very tech-savvy and capturing a video and uploading it is almost like sleeping and eating these days.”
More: www.washingtontimes.com
Police advocates say “cellphone vigilantes” are popping up at various crime scenes and disturbances across the nation to capture short clips of high-tension moments, snippets that typically lack context and damage not only police-community relationships but the chance for cops to be treated fairly in the court of public opinion.
Law enforcement officers should be allowed to understand, explain and investigate a situation before it becomes a YouTube sensation, said Don Mihalek, the legislative director of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, who says the ubiquity of cellphones presents a major challenge.
“Clearly there’s an uptick in that behavior, and it comes down to a few things,” Mr. Mihalek said. “No. 1, just the number of cellphones out there. That’s just the genie that’s out of the bottle that we’ll never get back. The second thing is, the younger generation is very tech-savvy and capturing a video and uploading it is almost like sleeping and eating these days.”
More: www.washingtontimes.com
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