Videos can be deceptive, police say
Three online videos involving police in Ontario have gone viral in recent weeks — capturing a provincial police officer running over a dog, an Ottawa police officer punching a man in the face, and two Toronto police officers blocking a man from filming a drug bust. These videos continue to contribute to a negative perception of police, experts say, and officers are warning the public to avoid a “trial by YouTube.”
“I can’t see any other reason why people are doing it,” said Const. Mike Gatto, the public information officer for the force in Guelph, Ont. “Anything I’ve seen on YouTube seems to have negative connotations for sure.”
There are no laws against filming police officers in public and Gatto says the practice is “common.”
The problem with videos of police altercations, Gatto said, is that they’re filmed from only one perspective. And perspectives can lie.
He said he remembers a training exercise where half his class watched a video of an altercation filmed from one angle, while the others saw it from a different angle.
“It’s like, ‘Oh my God what did that officer just do?’” Gatto said. “And then you see the other angle it’s like ‘Ah, now that makes sense.’”
Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack said citizen-filmed videos of police “don’t tell the reality of the story” and there have been cases of citizens attempting to “bait” police.
A video posted online in August shows a group of young men attempting to break through a roadblock set up by Toronto police. They confront the officers and speak to them in an antagonizing manner. Police turn on their body cameras and remain calm.
“Those kids were trying to goad our officers,” McCormack said.
Simon Fraser criminology expert David MacAlister said filming has helped make police operations transparent.
“It’s a good thing that we’re seeing more people videotape what’s going on,” he said.
The use of body cameras may help police reassert a positive image. Gatto said Guelph police have debated introducing them, but will wait on the results of a oneyear pilot project taking place in Toronto.
Police may not always like being filmed, but Gatto wishes someone had pulled out a cellphone eight years ago.
Gatto was trying to calm down an “irate” bar employee. After the man was led away by his coworkers, Gatto saw him punch a wall. The next day, the man filed a complaint and said Gatto broke his knuckles.