In Your Family Room

The warm, dark family room glowing from fireplace embers and surrounded by windows adrip with condensation awaits the morning sun.  “Thud.” Max’s footsteps bang down the wooden stairs and pierce the silence as his socks hit the landing, and he slides into the wall.  “Swipe.”  It is as if the world has awakened.  Wiping the crust from his eyes, the image on the screen came into focus, and he recognized the billowing voice from the speaker, his favorite, Officer Heryamura. There he was, his handgun pointed at an abnormally thin white guy whose candy apple red shirt hung off him like melting wax and stained from his life choices. His chocolate hair was stringier than noodles, moplike over his face, exposing a button of a nose and cracked bloody salmon color lips.  The rise and fall of his chest, while his hands grasped his knees, led Max to believe he had just missed a foot pursuit.  “Shoot, I always miss the good stuff.”  “Ugh,” Max drops himself onto the crisp leather sofa and stares at the encounter unfolding in front of him.  “He’s so cool; I hope he’s the next action figure I get.”  A floorboard creaks as Max’s mother enters the room, “Are you live-streaming again?  Haven’t I told you to eat breakfast before you live-stream? Nine-year-olds need proper nutrients.”

The likelihood of this happening is closer than we think. Live-streaming may soon create an environment where the public is continually plugged into policing and receives insight into the difficulties and complexities of police work.  The challenges the police face are real, and using live-streamed footage may deepen community appreciation and understanding of law enforcement (Police1, 2021).

Imagine hearing a siren outside of your office building, and instead of wondering what’s going on, you are only a touch screen away from witnessing the excitement firsthand.  Live-streaming would allow for a more direct understanding of the ways the police respond, as well as the challenges they face daily.  Max, on the other hand, has identified his real-life heroes and the excitement that comes with watching police encounters unfold.

Privacy First; Entertainment to follow

Max continues to watch and be enamored by Officer Heryamura, waiting for the next call in hopes of witnessing something memorable.  Memorable indeed. Officer Heryamura is seen following a forest green Honda Civic with a broken taillight and activates his emergency lights, causing the Honda to flee.  “This is it!” Max yells.  “I finally get some action.” The Honda stopped abruptly in the middle of the road, and Heryamura conducted a felony traffic stop, but not without difficulty.  Little did the officer know the driver’s friends had been live-streaming and showed up at the stop, creating a dangerous situation for both the officer and the driver. In addition to creating dangerous situations like this, live-streaming decreases privacy in both officer and civilian lives, with any police contact aired for all to view.

Significant concerns have risen surrounding privacy as live-streaming police footage becomes a reality, not just for the citizens involved in police activity but also for officers (Tewari, 2021).  The question is, how do we provide some anonymity when live-streaming? The ability of AI to redact sensitive footage exists; however, the timeliness and accuracy are still to be determined.  AI can redact items, areas, and faces and can do it much quicker and more accurately than humans (Dees, 2018).  The question remains of whether AI will be ready for the livestreaming world of policing.  Regardless, police agencies and the general public should brace themselves for this new chapter in policing, as its impact will not match anything in history.  Ensuring privacy may detract from Max’s viewing pleasure, but it will allow people like Max and others to have a layer of protection when they are trying to enjoy their everyday lives while also protecting the officers they are watching.

Days later, an example of this potential danger to individual officers occurs. Max is hoping for another fun day live-streaming, and has Heryamura’s schedule memorized. Unfortunately, so does a local gang.  Heryamura had been focusing his proactive enforcement to combat the East Side gangs in his town as they sling more narcotics than Pablo Escobar.  The gang knew his habits and watched his every move.  One day, “BANG, BANG, BANG”.  Max lets out a blood-curdling scream, “MOMMA”. There had been a shooting, and the injuries were streamed unfiltered onto Max’s screen.

Outside Police Station Walls

It seems perhaps not enough forethought was put into the results of live-streaming police footage.  On its face, it just seems like another social adjustment. However, it could increase pressure on officers and affect their decision-making, especially in high-stakes situations (Slobogin & Brayne, 2023). The desire and demand for live-streamed footage for any police interaction, from traffic stops to critical incidents, may create unprecedented public involvement in police work (Brucato, 2015).  The question remains whether increased public engagement in policing is wrong. It may or may not be. This type of relationship is similar to that of a police-civilian review board (CRB), yielding likely parallel results.  CRB’s provide a platform for community members to have a voice in police operations, making policing more reflective of public concerns, especially in minority communities. However, skeptics believe there is more challenge than what’s on its face because civilians without law enforcement experience may struggle to fully understand police procedures, leading to potential misinterpretations of officers’ actions during high-stress situations​ ​ (Walters, 2020.) With access to police documents and live-streamed footage, they will have more information to draw their conclusions, allowing for conclusions that will be more aligned with facts.

Although public engagement and civilian oversight are important, a significant area of impact to agencies will be the housing of storage and security of the footage.  Law enforcement agencies are tasked with ensuring public records are maintained and available, which is ensured by human staff.  The financial strain of increased staffing and technology needs may cause additional strain on already stringent budgets.  Without a direct understanding of the result, agencies may struggle to stay within budget. Like body worn camera footage, immense amounts of data will be generated causing high storage costs.  This is resource intensive, and plays a part in maintaining secure and organized data systems is critical to ensuring footage is stored properly and accessible.

Moving Forward:  Planning for the Future

With all anticipated change comes the need for preparation.  The financial impact on personnel increases, and computer storage will likely be high.  Agencies should involve their communities through social media and engagement efforts to bring them into the conversation.  Asking and inviting them into the conversation about what to expect and how to benefit from the technological advancements of live-streaming will add to buy-in and transparency.  Law enforcement should prepare for this now through research and understanding of where technology is and where it is heading.  Although police commonly ask for enhanced community involvement, livestreaming could overwhelm police agencies.  Management of public expectations and the volume of video footage may not meet public expectations (Ingrams, 2017).  Understanding this challenge allows agencies to research and develop the future of live-streaming and ensure its application is successful.

Max is clearly too young to be exposed to a live police shooting, and truth be told, exposure to real life critical incidents is a challenge at any age.  Max and others like him are protected to the best of AI’s ability. However, it is not foolproof.  The onus of these expectations will land on the laps of policing leaders and those with the power to enact legislation.  There will likely be a need for the evolution of legislation related to the Public Records Act and the ability to share and address the intricacies of real-time data sharing (Newell, 2021).

As situations like this unfold, it is critical that witnesses have privacy and be protected from the exposure that live-streaming will bring to their lives. The right to privacy is extremely important for US citizens, and the ethical concerns regarding using live-streaming footage are significant.  The ability of others to infringe on the privacy of those involved in police encounters is of concern (Newell, 2019).

Conclusion

With policing comes significant exposure to risk, liability, and responsibility.  Adding live-streamed footage expands this exposure exponentially. When embarking on this journey as policing professionals, the understanding that Max may be on the other end of the screen becomes paramount.  It is important for policing professionals to anticipate the difficulties that arise from critical incidents and focus on AI and legislative development to best suit a live-streaming culture.  AI’s benefits include redacting sensitive material, blurring out faces, identifying information, or anything else that could cause privacy concerns (Ingrams, 2017).  It will be imperative for leaders to include privacy protections, public engagement, and officer training in their strategy for implementation, as well as have solid policies in place that encompass appropriate procedures for the use of live streaming. The policing profession was created to protect the vulnerable, and it is incumbent on those who lead it to remember the impact live streaming will have on the public and not only the profession itself.

Imagine a future where live streaming police responses is a part of Max’s life, and the lives of almost everyone his age. Max is now 14 years old, out and about without Mom around. He now has a hobby of  “chasing the scanner” on his bicycle.  Max has become savvy enough to locate Officer Heryamura to watch policing unfold in person.  One night, Max rode to the scene of a home where a standoff was occurring. Before he knew it, he was witness to a knockdown drag out fight that knocked an officer unconscious.  He had seen enough police footage to know how to call for help on a police radio.  He picked up the officer’s portable radio and “CLICK.” “Um, Officer needs assistance, officer down.  I’m calling for Officer Brink at 123 Main Street, and the bad guy left; the officer is unconscious”.

Nicole Garing is a police lieutenant with nearly 23 years of distinguished service in law enforcement. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, and she is a graduate of the prestigious Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute. Currently a student in Command College Class 73, Nicole has extensive experience across multiple divisions, including patrol, investigations, and professional standards and training. She has served as a SWAT executive officer, crisis negotiator, and co-founded a Violence Response Team. Additionally, Nicole is a leader in peer support and K9 programs, and she has served as the past president of Soroptimist International, an organization committed to advancing the lives of women and girls.

References:

Brucato, B. (2015). Policing made visible: Mobile technologies and the importance of point of view. Surveillance & Society, 13(3/4), 455-473.

Dees, J. (2018). Artificial intelligence in law enforcement: Redacting sensitive information from video footage. Journal of Law Enforcement Technology, 14(2), 72-85.

Ingrams, A. (2017). Live-streaming and police accountability: Assessing the technology’s implications. Policing & Society, 30(1), 12-25.

National Policing Institute. (2020). Police body cameras: What have we learned over ten years of deployment?National Policing Institute. https://www.policinginstitute.org/publication/police-body-cameras-what-have-we-learned-over-ten-years-of-deployment/

Police1. (2021). The future of police transparency: A closer look at live-streaming technology. Police1. https://www.police1.com

Slobogin, C., & Brayne, S. (2023). Live-streaming police: The privacy and due process implications. American Journal of Criminal Law, 50(1), 23-47.

Tewari, M. (2021). Live-streaming and privacy: Balancing transparency with security in police operations. Journal of Law and Public Policy, 29(3), 355-378.

Walters, K. (2020, February 1). Pros & cons of civilian review boards. TribLIVE. https://triblive.com/opinion/kevin-walters-pros-cons-of-civilian-review-boards/

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