Equity
How can we police the police?
Why the average American can and cannot control the police system
As long as there have been police, there have been complaints of police brutality; the only difference is now people have cameras with the ability to finally hold the police accountable. With the recent cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, the American police system has been put under the spotlight. Many people have even gone as far to suggest that the police system should be completely reformed.
The ability to capture images and save them instantaneously is rather recent but has completely changed the way evidence can be used in court. Instead of just having one person’s word against another’s, it becomes one person’s word against video evidence.
“… [the smartphone’s] ability to make the world witness police brutality toward African-Americans that was all too easy to ignore in the past. We could now see, with our own eyes, the black sides of stories that were otherwise lost when white officers filed their police reports.” — Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal
This new truth is especially visible in the 2015 murder case of Walter Scott where witness Feidin Santana caught the murder on camera. Feidin Santana was able to think quickly and record the incident with his smartphone. This would lead to a verdict of 20 years in jail for the police officer in trial. His phone video was the key piece of evidence used to convict the police officer.
Stories like this are only possible because of the invention of the camera phone. In 2009, Karina Vargas caught Johannes Mehserle killing Oscar Grant III at a train station. She had her 10-megapixel Fujifilm with her and was able to record the situation. She said in an interview, “If I had this iPhone back then I would have taken much better video. I would have been able to get closer and I probably would have shared it to Instagram or another place so everyone could see it.”
One aspect of how cell phones have revolutionized holding police officers accountable is its ability to create virality. Social media has become a breeding ground for viral videos. In the past, a video could not be shared to the public in a matter of seconds but now it happens regularly. A great example of videos going viral is the George Floyd video. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin. The altercation was recorded dozens of times and shared millions more. It was able to spread especially quickly due to the cruel way he passed away. The video shows Officer Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for help. Many people were outraged and protests against police brutality in response. Derek Chauvin is now being prosecuted for second degree murder and manslaughter; the other officers present are being prosecuted for aiding and abetting murder as well as aiding and abetting manslaughter.
“Getting choked by detectives, yeah, yeah, now check the method
They be askin’ us questions, harass and arrest us…”— Kanye West, Jesus Walks
Cops have gotten away with police brutality too many times for far too long. Now, finally, anyone can produce court changing evidence with the help of smartphones. Although cameras were accessible before smartphones became popular, it was not nearly at the same scale that they are today. This brings up the question: How many cops should be in jail today but are not just because they weren’t being recorded?
Sometimes, even with video evidence and virality, police still are not held accountable for their actions. In 1991, Rodney King was arrested for drunk driving and tried to evade arrest. Mr. King, unarmed, was taken down and beaten by the police 53 times with batons. Luckily, George Holiday was in the vicinity and took a video of the incident. He recorded it and sent the video to a local news station. The video quickly blew up and spread across the United States. Many people declare it the “first viral video.” There was outrage in America and riots everywhere. Unfortunately, two of this police officers were given no charges and two were given thirty months in prison. Even though everything was done to hold the police accountable by civilians, they were still let off the hook.
Now that most of the population has a camera on them at all times, police officers should be acting more careful just in case people are watching. French philosopher Michel Foucault dives into the idea of surveillance “to watch from above” and sousveillance “to watch from below.” In prison, every cell can be viewed through a watch tower. On the streets, every cop can be viewed through cellphones and body cameras. In theory, if police think they are being watched, they will act accordingly.
The truth is that sadly, this is not the case. In 2017, the Washington D.C. mayor designed a study where he gave some police officers body cameras and others no cameras. Next, they tracked complaints and how well the policing was. The results showed that there was no real discrepancy between the two. The reason there were not any discrepancies is because, unlike in Bentham’s prison, there is no real punishment for the “warden” or, in the United State’s case, the police officers. Ideally, the police watch the civilians to make sure they don’t break the law, and the civilians watch the police to ensure equal treatment.
One advantage that body cams give is the use of the videos in court. Having a first person view of what the officer experienced can help the jury come to a secure verdict. However, police, by overanalyzing videos, can concoct new excuses. Furthermore, a 1989 court case that allows cops to use deadly force if they have “reasonable fear” of their lives, lets some cops walk free. From 2005 to 2014, only 48 police officers have been charged for murder or manslaughter with the use of lethal force. Police officers do not act differently when they have body cameras on because they know that they have a million safety nets beneath them.
The best and most efficient way for the average American to hold the police system accountable is to record and to spread videos of police brutality themselves. Although filming and sharing the injustice done by police does not make it go away, it makes sure that the police officers face the punishment that they deserve.
