IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 10
camera." On a routine shift a constable might be
Much the same is true of the 2007 death of robrecorded on public streets, in malls, police stations,
ert Dziekanski in the Vancouver International Airport.
in their cruiser, in interrogation rooms, by cameras
That incident involved royal Canadian Mounted Police
attached to their uniform, or by ordinary citizens.
(r.C.M.P.) officers repeatedly firing taser weapons at a
Such recordings alter the spatiality and temporalvisibly distraught robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant
ity of policing [12] as recorded police actions are
who did not appear to pose a serious threat to the officers.
disembedded from their local contexts, and can be
Mr. Dziekanski died at the scene. The video was once
disseminated to widely dispersed groups of people
again released via mainstream media outlets and video
who might never have otherwise witnessed a consharing websites, and the actions of the police officers
frontational police encounter. Such recordings also
involved were placed under a digital microscope. As with
transform what were previously fleeting acts into
the Tomlinson case, the resulting public outcry prompted
constantly accessible moments that can be replayed,
formal inquiries into the incident which questioned the
slowed down, and zoomed in on.
use of taser weapons by police, as well as police officers'
A police officers' views on such visibility appears
culpability in Mr. Dziekanski's death.
to differ depending upon whether the cameras are
These are some of the more well-known instances
operated by the police organization or by other
of abusive or disturbing police actions being caught on
groups. Officers are relatively comfortvideo by inadvertent citizen videographers,
able with the prospect of being watched
but legions of such videos now circulate on
The
by cameras operated by their own police
the Internet. Such videos are repositioning
widespread
force. Such cameras can benefit them
the line separating the police's front and
availability
in the eventuality that something goes
back stage [7], revealing to ordinary audiwrong or if they face false accusations
ences unpalatable police behaviors historiof cellphone
of wrongdoing. It is also likely the case
cally hidden from view.
cameras
that officers have faith that footage from
Mainstream publics that have often
means that
police-operated cameras will not be
been suspicious of claims of police abuse
all kinds of
publicized to audiences outside of the
of power (particularly when made by
police force.
members of minority groups), have now
situations
Things are different, however, when
seen and heard the types of confrontahave become
officers are filmed by ordinary citizens
tions that have long been a source of
"filmable
or activists. The portable and concealable
complaint. The result is that the "symmoments."
camera that can easily post videos online
bolic halo" [14] which once protected the
has made police actions increasingly vispolice from suspicion is being eroded, as
ible to the public. The widespread availability of cellcases like those of Tomlinson and Dziekanski encourphone cameras has positioned all manner of situations
age more critical perceptions of policing.
as "filmable moments," police confrontations being
perhaps the most iconic of such moments. As a result,
A Crisis of Visibility for Police?
there seems to be an almost weekly news segment
Peter Manning [13] has argued that the police are a
involving footage of police officers captured by the
profession in constant crisis due to their "impossible
public on their cellphone cameras. The consequence
mandate" to prevent crime. Changes in the police's visis that encounters that two decades ago would probible field have put them in the midst of a new and quite
ably have gone unreported, now have the potential
different crisis of legitimacy. The fact that the police
to become international news, sometimes inspiring
are losing control of how their image is presented to the
national discussions of police legitimacy.
public is a particularly fraught dilemma for police orgaThe death of Ian Tomlinson in 2009 during the
nizations given the distinctive nature of police work, a
London, England, G-20 summer protests, for examsignificant component of which revolves around their
ple, made headlines across the world after video footcapacity to use force [2]. Officers are called upon to
age was released depicting a police officer pushing
subdue recalcitrant suspects, disperse protesters, and
a non-confrontational Mr. Tomlinson to the ground.
quell riots, all of which make gripping viewing for
He later died from internal bleeding attributed to his
audiences attuned to a cultural template focused on
injuries. The video enhanced the visibility of what
dramatic visuals of rule violation [6].
would have otherwise been a localized police encounSuch encounters can be particularly disturbing
ter, prompted public indignation and criticism from
for middle class citizens who are uncomfortable with
established media outlets, and formal criminal inquithe real world ugliness of this component of police
ries. The video also gave rise to debates in the united
work. Without excusing instances of police wrongKingdom and elsewhere about the role that the public
doing, the question of how much force the police
is expected to play in monitoring the police.
should use in real-time situations often involving
10
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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE
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SuMMEr 2014
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