Police chief speaks out about recording arrests

PHNOM Penh’s chief of police has told district authorities that allowing journalists to film live video of arrests is improper, saying it could harm the reputation of suspects who must be presumed innocent.

In a voice message to 12 district police chiefs, Chhoun Sovann ordered them to reconsider allowing reporters to film arrests, according to government mouthpiece Fresh News.

“Journalists who make a live video of the suspect when they are arrested, I think this is not correct,” he is quoted as saying. “The suspects who have been arrested are not yet charged and convicted.”

Filming during arrests could also hamper investigations, according to Khim Saran, district police chief of Por Sen Chey.

“Sometimes they should not broadcast live because we are trying to catch the group of suspects. If they broadcast, it leaks to the other suspects and they would hide themselves,” Saran said.

Legal expert Sok Sam Oeun said a record of the arrest could prove beneficial to the suspects in a corrupt court system.

“Because of filming, police could not torture suspects because, for example, [ i t shows] if the suspect was healthy when they arrest them, but a few days later their skin was swollen,” he said.

The National Police regularly post photos and videos of round-up arrests, publishing the faces and names of those who have not yet been charged or convicted.

The comments come at a time when freedom of the press is under threat in Cambodia, with the shuttering of several independent media outlets and the Kingdom plunging 10 spots in the press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders.

Huy Vannak, government undersecretary of state and head of the Union of Journalist Federations of Cambodia, said it was necessary to uphold the presumption of innocence and right to privacy.

“Transparency by l aw i s important, but not ever ything should be revealed,” he said, saying it was important not to infringe upon others’ rights.

Chhay Sophal, a teacher at Royal University of Phnom Penh’s Department of Media and Communication, said journalists need to put ethical standards first, and said filming an arrest in a public place was different to broadcasting a police interrogation.

“Sometimes a picture is taken by the police and they hand it to journalists, but journalists and editors must be careful with this [with regards to] law and ethics,” he said.