First of all, let me state I am not lawyer or a law enforcement officer. My background is writing curriculum for law enforcement and training as a security officer. I serve as the director of ethics and professional development for an investigation and security firm.
This past weekend our security teams working on the oceanfront captured videos from two incidents. The two incidents present very different issues to our security officers and the handling of the video reflects that.
The first incident was captured by the security officer's body camera. The officer was standing outside between the front of the client's hotel and a walled-in outdoor pool. Suddenly a young male came running around the corner and ran directly at the officer. He threw a gun over the pool wall and ran right past the security officer so fast he left a basketball shoe behind. There were no shots fired and no one was injured. The gun actually sailed completely over the pool and landed in the street beyond, where one of our team secured it in place until the police arrived while the other stayed on property.
The video was made available to the police, then was shared within the company via the company's GroupMe two days later for training and awareness. The question I would pose is what would be the ramifications if such a video was shared on normal social media? Could it jeopardize due process in a court case or possibly prejudice a jury? Would the person capturing the video be subject to criminal or civil consequences?
The second incident involved a fight where an woman used a word that got her beat up by another woman. It occurred off the property our team was protecting, which under state law prevents us from interfering beyond observe and report. The parties were separated by onlookers, and it seemed over, when the instigator used the same word to claim that she was beat down by five people. The assaulter broke free and resumed the beat-down until they were again separated. By the time police showed up, the assaulter and her friends were gone. The instigator was still claiming there were five persons beating her but did not want to press charges.
Our officers were likely the best witnesses present and both spoke to the police. One of our officers did record the incident on his phone but did not share it on social media. I have seen it and it, like many others we have seen on social media, is really a case of the racially insensitive colliding with the racially over-sensitive. But again, what are the liabilities if the video was shared on social media? If either was further attacked as a result of the video content, would the person capturing and sharing the video have any liability? And what would be the cost of defending yourself against such charges?
I definitely do not have the answers to these questions, but at the same time, do the people sharing videos like these even consider these questions?
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