When you are filming police try not to talk to them.
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When you are filming police try not to talk to them. Avoid:
"Is it OK if I film?" (That isn't up to them.)
"Sorry officer." (You have done nothing wrong don't apologize.)Try things like.
"I am filming from a safe distance."If they start yelling at you focus on:
"Am I free to leave?"
Every time I've said this the officer has responded with "shut up" (ok??)
I'm happy to comply with *that* one and keep filming from a safe distance.@futurebird this is sound advice, and I thank you.
I was watching a soccer final last year where all the referees had shirts on that I apparently had a pocket on the inside for an iPhone with the back lens facing outward through their shirt. I'm not sure how they controlled the video recording, but it was effective. They were actually streaming so that people watching the game could see from their angles.
I've been thinking a lot about that lately because it would be an interesting way to film. Someone would really have to look directly at you and scan you to see that you had a lens on your chest or wherever.
My plan (since I don't carry my phone when I go to protests) is to have my GoPro affixed to my person somewhere. The drawback is, to get the footage, I have to take the SD card out and put it on my laptop at home.
I need to practice. I did that with my inflatable costume and the tech I had on me before I did the last big protest and it made a difference.
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POINT OF INFORMATION: never talk to cops. especially as a citizen journalist.
set yourself at a safe distance and just film.
people who want to do this regularly, may want to set themselves up with a backpack on their chest to house their phone set up on a selfie stick.
if you are a cyclist, a GoPro on your helmet AND on your bike are good alternatives.
in #nyc in particular, it is best to have your hands free.
i should revive my old dos & donts list for indie journos.
there are also cameras that sit inside LED bike lights (and just look like normal LED, although they might need gyro mount to avoid shaky footage is used /when/ cycling), and its also possible to buy discreet semi-covert bodycams (the middle aged dog walking women round my way often wear them, due to paranoia about angry men with angry dogs (to some extent justified, especially in remote areas)
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@futurebird if the police are stressed out by a bystander, they should find a new career
@ariadne Or take some mellowing drugs before going to work. Maybe a doctor should even make it mandatory when one's nervous disposition makes it impossible to do work without.
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wt... seriously????
US cops are not lawyers, there are millions of laws & knowing them is a real job
in the US, a prosecutor / DA/ SOME kind of lawyer decides if you should be charged & presents the case to a judge
current system is corrupt but i see no reason to believe letting cops charge people on the basis of something they read on an app from the play store would be less corrupt, it might even make corruption & frame up of innocents run faster
@peachfront Law enforcement on the ground in the US are also "mission" and assignment focused. They have a buffet of "charges" that they work under and once one is ticked off in their opinion, opinion being key word, regardless of how minor, they essentially have been ceded free reign to behave as they wish without consequence thanks to politicians, the unions and citizens that are ok with it until it happens to them.
Not to mention, historically, violence by cops, esp to white people, people of color is a different matter all together that is extremely cruel, is usually caused by responding officers and not the ones on the scene dealing with things.
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@futurebird If you were righteous, you wouldn't worry about being filmed.
@Wyatt_H_Knott "Do you have anything to hide from the camera?" @futurebird
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When you are filming police try not to talk to them. Avoid:
"Is it OK if I film?" (That isn't up to them.)
"Sorry officer." (You have done nothing wrong don't apologize.)Try things like.
"I am filming from a safe distance."If they start yelling at you focus on:
"Am I free to leave?"
Every time I've said this the officer has responded with "shut up" (ok??)
I'm happy to comply with *that* one and keep filming from a safe distance.@futurebird (a truly safe distance would be out of the range of the given cop’s murder weapon, but i figure in many cases being that far is a luxury if a possibility at all)
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POINT OF INFORMATION: never talk to cops. especially as a citizen journalist.
set yourself at a safe distance and just film.
people who want to do this regularly, may want to set themselves up with a backpack on their chest to house their phone set up on a selfie stick.
if you are a cyclist, a GoPro on your helmet AND on your bike are good alternatives.
in #nyc in particular, it is best to have your hands free.
i should revive my old dos & donts list for indie journos.
@blogdiva @futurebird I guess this would be a good use for those freaky glasses with cameras built in.
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"Am I free to leave?" *will* mark you out as an "annoying do-gooder who doesn't like police"
But this could be an improvement on seeming like someone they could trick or trip up more easily.
Prepare to be ignored. Police will try to provoke you so they can arrest you or stop you from filming. Police will hit you unprovoked or try to knock your phone away.
Don't waste time "reasoning" with them. Just get the video so more people can see what they are doing.
@futurebird
From ACLU/Women's March Video last week:Try to film from out of reach. At least be sure someone else out of reach is also filming.
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"You are stressing the police out no wonder they overreact."
I've heard arguments along these lines far too often. It is true that having half a dozen people whip out there phone and start filming is stressful. But when that doesn't happen people are hurt and we never learn their names or what happened.
If you see someone filming police it's supportive and helpful to join them.
So a really sweet escalation I haven't see anyone try (doesn't mean they aren't) is to swarm the sky with camera drones, too - in addition to the on the ground legal observers.
They can travel faster than ICE, and you could attach them to vehicles as the vehicles leave the ICE facilities.
Also, having 10-20 buzzing quad-copters with their beady little eyes on you sounds terrifying.
Who's watching? What can I do about it?
Nothing, bitch. Nothing.
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So a really sweet escalation I haven't see anyone try (doesn't mean they aren't) is to swarm the sky with camera drones, too - in addition to the on the ground legal observers.
They can travel faster than ICE, and you could attach them to vehicles as the vehicles leave the ICE facilities.
Also, having 10-20 buzzing quad-copters with their beady little eyes on you sounds terrifying.
Who's watching? What can I do about it?
Nothing, bitch. Nothing.
@futurebird @johnzajac In some countries drones are not allowed in populated area. i can understand why.
Except for cops, *they* are allowed to use drones even over a crowd. In spite of sole accidents that has occured already. Go figure.
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When you are filming police try not to talk to them. Avoid:
"Is it OK if I film?" (That isn't up to them.)
"Sorry officer." (You have done nothing wrong don't apologize.)Try things like.
"I am filming from a safe distance."If they start yelling at you focus on:
"Am I free to leave?"
Every time I've said this the officer has responded with "shut up" (ok??)
I'm happy to comply with *that* one and keep filming from a safe distance.@futurebird Is there an app which can film and at the same time stream the video to a server in realtime ?
If you phone is taken from you , or even broken ( often donne by the cops , just to piss people off and demotivate others), at least the video as proof is safe
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