![]() ![]() “I’m still kind of figuring out my style.” “People tell me my videos look like Live PD, but I don’t really think so,” Whitelaw said when the camera stopped rolling. We walked around police communications and media headquarters in Kansas City, the department recruitment office, and the police academy as he filmed in selfie mode, explaining how to apply and what someone should expect if they are accepted into the academy. I followed Whitelaw for a few days this summer as he made and edited a video about applying to become a police officer. He’s also grappling with being the public face of the very system that’s caused him fear in the past. Take Officer Malcolm Whitelaw of the Kansas City Police Department, who was at the vanguard of his department’s video strategy. Still, some of the officers who make the videos are reckoning with their involvement in them. The reaction among departments was an age-old tactic strengthened by new technology: Drive the narrative you want to get out. They knew it from the minute it happened, it’s going to come down on us.” is this going to hit us?” said Lauri Stevens, the founder of SMILE, an annual conference, awards, and training outfit for law enforcement social media use. When video of George Floyd being choked to death started circulating around the world, “every police department that was watching that in the country went. ( Cops is now making a return on Fox Nation.)Ĭurrent and former spokespeople for five different police departments said these videos help with “public education,” “community outreach,” recruiting, and morale.īut most critically some officials say they are made to counteract the dominant online presence of the police accountability and reform movements of the past eight years. There has been a boom in these shows and channels over the past 19 months, after both Cops and Live PD - criticized for years for glorifying police work and perpetuating racial stereotypes - were canceled amid the summer 2020 protests. A new form of “copaganda,” as activists refer to it. But these are coming from the departments themselves, with police employees editing and uploading the clips right to YouTube. The videos continue the tradition, popularized by shows like Cops and Live PD, of glorifying police work via highly edited, suspenseful, “documentary”-style entertainment. The Los Angeles Police Department regularly posts bodycam and security footage, sometimes cutting it together with a moving score, like this video of an officer providing first aid to a man injured during riots after an LA Lakers championship game. The New York Police Department has posted over 800 videos to its channel, including web series called Beyond the Badge and Neighborhood Policing. ![]() Now, police departments across the nation are producing slick videos, pushing a “good cop” image after years of outrage over shootings, many captured on video and published to social media, and the resulting protests demanding accountability. Miami is just an early adopter of a renewed tactic. This video, which was uploaded in July 2020 and has more than 87,000 views, is one of hundreds the Miami Police Department has put out since it started vlogging in 2015 (the most popular has 3.4 million views). Without incident, the officer gets the driver out of the car and takes him to a hospital for mental health treatment. At the tensest moment, a soundtrack amps up music that would fit in a Fast & Furious trailer. Time and time again the world has seen these videos end in tragedy.īut no one is shot in this video. Bystanders screaming at the police that the man behind the wheel has a mental condition. He aims his gun with one hand at the Black man driving and holds his radio with the other.Ī fast-moving situation. “Get out, get out, get out,” the officer says, his words blending together. The third passenger ended up getting away.KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - “Stop the car!” a police officer yells in the video, pulling out his gun as a silver Audi minivan kicks it into reverse, swerving away from him. "I saw a person walking backwards with his hands up," said Debbie Eggert. "They had a car pulled over, and they were telling people to exit the car with their hands up," a neighbor said. ![]() Some neighbors saw police arresting the two 18-year-old passengers. "It gets very dark out here," another neighbor said. "It’s very sad to hear that somebody that young has lost their life," said Schurg. They said they never imagined the outcome. "(Wednesday), coming home from work, there was a lot more police activity." "We’ve had three major police events in a week, so I’m like, these have got to be related," said Dallas Schurg. Neighbors said they noticed police searching the quarry. He was found by a search party 250 feet down the quarry on a rocky shelf. On Wednesday, police used a drone again, and investigators found the boy dead at the quarry. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android ![]()
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