Yet another example of why it is imperative for good policing, that the public be allowed to videotape police officers arresting people:
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - Hot Springs police have placed an officer on administrative leave while they investigate an Internet video that appears to show him choking three teenagers who were skateboarding.
Mayor Mike Bush said investigators have talked with passers-by and business owners who saw Officer Joey Williams stop the teens on a downtown sidewalk Thursday. A YouTube video shows Williams apparently choking one teen after forcing him to the ground, while later chasing and wrestling two others while holding them in a headlock.
If more routine cases of police acting out were caught, there might be something to Scalia's "new professionalism" among police departments argument. Regular exposure would encourage them to behave. That is, after all, the foundation of the "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" argument presented by the government these days. While it is true that the kids did, in large part, bring this on themselves by breaking the law and flaunting it in front of the officer, the officer did overreact. Videotaping banal examples of the police acting out is going to be the only way that the behavior can overall be refined to a moral professional and controlled state so that things like this become less common.
I would not consider that YouTube have a high enough resolution to be used for evidence.
I don't like the "If you have nothing to hide" argument because it can be pushed to the point where private conversation and behavior is monitored. Having said that, the police officer's actions aren't a private matter so I don't believe having them recorded is an invasion of his privacy.
Many police forces are installing cameras in the patrol cars and they have found that complaints against officers have dropped tremendously. Some will say it is due to people knowing that it is taped so they dont make false accusations, but the majority of the change is due to the officers knowing they are on camera and it can and will be reviewed.
In fact, I just saw an article on courts ruling it was okay to videotape police when they stop you (Was that on your blog? I read too many to know)