Reporting of Body Camera Use
Aaron Carney
September 8,
2018
ESMG 4200 –
John Fisher
Executive Summary:
This case study
will go over the issues of mass communication revolving around an incident that
relates to myths and media bias in reporting shootings. In this I will give a
case example to outline the issue and I will give sources and information to
explain the issue. The incident occurred in Las Vegas back in July of this year
(2018). One article is given as source for the incident and other sources will
be shown to outline how media myths can be perpetuated and how the media
differs in coverage.
Incident:
The incident took
place July of 2018 in Las Vegas. It was Las Vegas Metropolitan Police that was
the involved agency. The incident
involved tow suspects, Fidel Miranda and Rene Nunez Both of them were suspects
in a fatal shooting of a 25-year-old male who was shot multiple times in the
chest. LVMPD was investigating the shooting and found a vehicle that matched
the description of the suspect’s vehicle. A vehicle pursuit of the suspect car
ensued. During the pursuit the suspect’s vehicle fired over 30 rounds from
their vehicle in a random manner towards the public. The pursuit ended when a
police officer fired his service weapon through his front windshield and then
firing round out the driver’s window and then after disabling the suspect
vehicle he fired another volley of rounds, subsequently killing one suspect and
wounding the other who fled the scene.
According to
the article I found from The Independent, it states “A shoot-out caught on a
US police officer's
body camera ended with the suspects being fired at through a patrol car windscreen.
The incident between police officer William Umana and two men suspected of a
homicide took place in Las Vegas on 11
July. Mr Umana is seen on camera shooting while driving,
first using his open window and then blowing holes in his own windscreen. The
suspects, Fidel Miranda and Rene Nunez, had allegedly fired 34 bullets at
police. The pursuit eventually ended at a primary school where the
suspects crashed their vehicle.” (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/las-vegas-cop-shoots-through-window-windscreen-suspects-police-officer-a8451401.html).
Problem:
What issues
arise when media sources take data out of context? What happens to opinion when
mass communication from the media is designed to alter viewpoint rather than
give fact? How is this resolved?
Analysis:
LVMPD
released the body camera footage of the incident and gave the context of the
incident. https://youtu.be/M_bF7i2_ok4 . The
footage in the most uncut version I could find starts with the pursuit of the suspect
vehicle by the officer. Over the course of a few minutes you hear over 30 shots
fired by the suspect vehicle. It is not until 3 minutes and 21 seconds into the
4-minute video that the officer discharges his weapon. So where is the issue
starting? The issue is that one source that I found from The Independent tells
us in the article that the officer fired his weapon but did not give much
context as to why or when. There is only one word in the beginning of the
article that indicates the timing of the officer’s shots in context to the pursuit.
It is natural for articles and stories to differ and even camera footage to be
started and stopped in such a way that context is lost. This causes a huge
potential problem when you have mass communication of these articles. It causes
a massive amount of possible confusion or even intentional or unintendedly biased
toward law enforcement. Those are but a few of the issues that arise when
incidents are taken out of context or are just reported in a way that doesn’t
give context as is needed. One huge issue as well is that footage of incidents
like these are made available with ease on a mass scale. Who is affected by
this issue? I think everyone is affected by it. When things are viewed out of
context, whether intentionally or by accident, we leave ourselves open to form
opinion that is not based on all the facts. When we examine the issues of law enforcement (I
think this also applies to EMS and to Fire) versus media bias one of the
largest issues is the mass communication of bias reporting leads to more
violence. According to an article from Fox news, “A recent FBI study showed
that one-sided media reporting and social media posts about officer-involved
shooting incidents lead to further episodes of violence against police.” The
article tittles this the “Ferguson Effect”. That refers to the shooting of a
young black male in Ferguson Missouri that caused a new trend of violence
against police and media bias and a movement of distrust towards police. This
from what I can gather is caused much by how information is so easily at our
finger tips that news becomes almost live. This is a good and a bad thing. When
we look at a situation as it occurs but not within proper context we lose sight
of the truth. That answers what occurs
to opinion when mass communication is used to alter views rather than present
fact.
How is this resolved?
If we examine a YouTube video released by the LAPD, we see one method that is
now being used to combat ignorance and intentional bias about police shootings.
https://youtu.be/MPuDn4A6KnI . This video
outlines a critical incident that occurred by the LAPD. The police department
is essentially controlling the information as it is presented but they are not
withholding key facts but are explaining in a n open manner he facts. When we
look at mass communication I believe when the source of the news is open with
the facts it is easier to sway bias issues and confusion. In a sense the answer
is the old phrase, “to hear it from the horse’s mouth”.
Key decision Criteria:
When we look
at the above we are seeing small but significant examples of what the issue is
and how to resolve it. In the case of the incident about the LVMPD shooting
from the window the issue that arose is the free from information presented
allowed intentional and unintended bias to alter one’s viewpoint. The key to resolving
the bias is to take note of the LAPD model, to give the information freely (as
law dictates) and to explain the actions. This allows the media when covering
the story to have all the facts they need and to have clear direction thus
allowing the media reporting to be clear and factual.
Recommendations:
I would say
that the best solution to resolve misunderstanding and bias within the media
is;
1. Give clear
facts of the incident as needed.
2. Build trust
and rapport with the releasing of information (as we see in LAPD videos)
3. Control
flow of information to keep integrity of incidents and the context.
Action and implementation plan:
The key to
attaining a media reported story that has all the context and facts starts with
the information itself. As we saw in the video of the LVMP shooting the context
was somewhat lost as we did not see why or how things began but only the climax
of events. I would say the starting point if with the PIO and the releasing of
information in a timely and factual way. The next thing to do is on the
shoulders of those reporting the information, whether it be from a YouTube port
to a written article by mainstream media. They need to report the facts and
context without bias.
References:
Bodycam
Shows Officer Shooting At Suspect Through Windshield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bF7i2_ok4 , Sourced 9/8/18
Critical
Incident Video Release NRF046-18. (2018, September 04). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPuDn4A6KnI
Collins, L. (2018, July 17).
Dashcam video shows Las Vegas police officer shooting at suspects through his
windscreen. Retrieved September 8, 2018, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/las-vegas-cop-shoots-through-window-windscreen-suspects-police-officer-a8451401.html
Fox News (2017, May 06). 'Ferguson Effect': FBI Says Biased
Media Narratives Lead to Violence Against Police. Retrieved
September 8, 2018, from
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/05/06/fbi-says-biased-mainstream-media-led-police-officer-violent-crimes-ferguson-effect
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