Could videos going viral online prevent cops from being less aggressive?

A recent report highlighted a suspicion of a law enforcement official in regards to crimes being caught on tape.  In recent times people have heard and seen horrific crimes being caught on tape with the police caught up in the action.  Many question actions of the police and wonder if what they did was really necessary.  FBI director James Comey thinks videos that have popped up online could have an effect on how law enforcement handles certain situations, but from his standpoint things may not get better.

Could Officers Have Fears of Ending Up Online?

The fact that crimes have been recorded and gone viral online itself is controversial. Cell phone spyware without access to target phone. You can watch a video and call out the details as you see them, but for some reason it can be portrayed as something else complicating the situation.  There have been videos going viral showing police being aggressive in different situations.  There are times it seems as if their actions are out of hand, but at the same time it is not a shock to some people.  Yet, the problem here is that this could lead to officers being less aggressive according to Comey.  The idea here is that an officer may not do what they should in fear of being recorded and coming off as someone being too aggressive. Comey thinks this could lead to more crime.

Why Crime Rates Could Increase

Police are expected to do what they are trained to do in certain situations.  This means people may see something in a video that doesn’t make sense until law enforcement explains what happened and why.  With more people being aware of surroundings when law enforcement arrives at the scene, Comey thinks police may not only be aware of what is happening, but they may suppress their actions when reacting in certain situations. 

Comey shared insight about videos of law enforcement officials and their actions going viral after learning about crime rate increases for over 40 cities in the U.S. during early 2016.  This is likely nothing new since police actions caught on camera have been scrutinized more since the early 1990s when Los Angeles police were seen on camera beating Rodney King.  Cell phone tracking location can become convenient for police. 

Technology Making It Easier for People to Share

Social media apps are making it easy for people to share video content.  Apps like YouTube make it simple to share raw footage.  There are people who feel it is necessary to share something they think is wrong, especially as soon as it occurs.  Would some consider this a civil duty? Maybe, if they feel law enforcement is in the wrong.  Yet, the aspect of sharing video content with the possibility of it going viral shouldn’t affect police officers who are trained to be on the streets.  They are trained to handle situations but how they go about it is their own personal judgement.

Buy What about Police Body Cameras?

Talk about videos going viral; what about police body cameras?  Many taxpayers thought they were a great idea but they also have controversy.  There are incidents occurred involving police in which they claim the officer wasn’t wearing their body camera.  Cell phone tracking software can help parents.  What good does the body camera do in showing the officer was in compliance if they don’t wear it?  Then, there are situations recorded on a body camera but you may not learn about it for some time after it occurred; this has many wondering why did they wait so long to share it?  It seems as if when there is going to be backlash about an officer’s actions the tape gets delayed (if there is one).