NYPD Gestapo Commissioner Bratton blames citizens w/ cameras for escalating clashes w/ his pigs...
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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-bratton-decries-epidemic-citizens-recording-arrests-article-1.2650057
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton criticizes ‘epidemic’ of citizens recording arrests amid backlash over Harlem cop caught punching man who filmed him
It's often the “epidemic” of amateur photographers armed with cell phones — and not the aggressive actions of city cops — that escalates clashes between police and the public, the NYPD’s top cop said Wednesday.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was asked about the investigation into a disturbing video of a Harlem cop pointing a gun at a group of onlookers when he went on a rant about “mobs” armed with cell phones.
“There is a phenomenon in this country that we need to examine and it’s just not in New York,” Bratton said following a conference of police chiefs and law enforcement executives at the Times Square Marriott Marquis.
“This has become very serious,” he added. “I would almost describe it as an epidemic in this country.”
The Harlem cop captured on video pointing his gun at onlookers May 19 has been identified as Officer Risel Martinez. A second video shows he also punched one of the people recording him. Martinez, 26, has been stripped of his gun and badge, as the Internal Affairs Bureau investigates the clash inside an apartment building on W. 134th St. last Thursday. The cop was trying to arrest a man who interfered with a traffic stop.
Bratton said he wasn’t defending the officer’s actions, but said the video is just one part of the investigation.
“You do not have a right to resist arrest and in so many of those videos, people are resisting violently and being encouraged by the crowd,” he said.
One of the first bombshell cell phone videos to tear the Band-Aid off alleged police misconduct was Ramsey Orta’s recording of the chokehold death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner at the hands of Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo. While a Staten Island grand jury failed to indict Pantaleo — despite the damning video first seen on NYDailyNews.com — the officer could face departmental charges.
Garner’s 2014 death is still the subject of a federal grand jury inquiry, officials said. Police union officials claimed Garner, 43, was resisting arrest before mouthing his last words, “I can’t breathe.”
Since then, a number of officers have been reassigned to desk duty and investigated after videos have surfaced.
In March, Lt. Luis Machado and his team were put on modified assignment after they were caught on a cell phone video roughing up an on-duty postal worker in Brooklyn.
A month earlier, Bronx Police Officer Ruben Cuesta was in hot water after a surveillance video showed him shooting and killing a pit bull trotting up to him, its tail wagging.
Yet Bratton said that more and more people are recording cops in the hopes of catching police misconduct — even if they have to stage the crisis.
“There is increasing efforts on the part of individuals — sometimes in a crowd and often times mobs — to attempt to record, intimidate and create fear and physically free a prisoner, ” Bratton said.
Still, videos of cops behaving badly are pretty rare, Bratton said.
“There’s that old TV show ‘Naked City,’ ” Bratton said. “Today there are 8 million cameras in the naked city and the city is truly naked because of these cameras. But we are averaging about one or two videos a month that are presented to us or (the Civilian Complaint Review Board) of alleged misbehavior of New York City police officers. Let’s take into account and put it in context.”
A push to equip cops with body cameras should level the playing field, Bratton said.
“(Cops) will be able to photograph what is in front of them,” Bratton said. “We will get a lot of balance that way.”
The NYPD is currently running a pilot program to test the effectiveness of body cameras.
Police watchdogs say no one viewing these arrests is inciting anyone to fight the police.
“We’re not mobs, we are just people recording these incidents,” said Steve Cruz, 46, a member of the CopWatch Patrol, which routinely records police interactions. “They are in no danger whatsoever. Even my 13-year-old son knows that.”
Cruz said that Bratton is blaming activists like himself for bad cop behavior.
“Bratton is upset that this incident was caught on video,” Cruz said. “It’s hard to come up with an excuse and he trashes cop-watchers like myself, but everyone can see that the officer was wrong.”
Comments
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Foh, ? mad cuz his ilk gotta either a) be held accountable for their ? up actions or b) hold back from doing some premeditated ? to someone based on color or stature. In the past 15 years we've had our privacy stripped from us by those on his team, it's about damn time everything these ? pigs do get round the clock scrutiny
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Lol, cops pull you over on ? reasons and get buck hoping u say the wrong thing so they can escalate the situation and say u posed a threat.
We know it's ? , but somebody gotta think it ain't for him to be saying it. And he's saying for them, not us. -
These ? got some ? . They need to just admit they're salty because they can't manipulate cell phone videos like they do dash cams and body cams. Coming soon to a state near you.... Legislation making it somehow illegal or inadmissible in court to film public employees during the performance of their duties
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I really can't believe cops are playing this card. This should make them look like ? to everyone. Unfortunately, it makes them sympathetic to some ? .
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Idk why i Lmao @ "his pigs"
