This article will serve to provide you with information, and tactics on filming the police in Fresno, CA. Although this will be in keeping with my experience in Fresno, I would not discourage from using these techniques in other cities. I learned them from Cop Block, The Peaceful Streets Project, and We Cop Watch as well as talking to the local LEO’s. I started cop watching in April of 2013. You can check out my youtube channel FreeFRESNO, if you want to see my content. Many people hail me as Fresno first cop watcher, that is completely untrue. I may have been one of the first to post on youtube, and potentially could be the most consistent cop watcher… I am far from the first, and will definitely not be the last.
My experience ranges from verbal harassment, Physical contact, and arrest to being greeted happily by officers who have searched for themselves on youtube. Many officers local PD has slowly grown accustomed to my presence while they perform their duties, and now just accept the fact that I am not going to stop. Still others treat me with disrespect, and have even created situations for them to arrest me in order to remove my cameras from me. Many know me on a first name basis, and even more just refer to me as Mr. Sumner. They claim I bate cops, and use cheap attempts to get the to fight with me; this is completely untrue. I merely seek accountability in law enforcement, and like others believe that the individual should be held responsible for their actions.
If you are starting out filming the police it is important that you have a basic understanding of your rights, I will go over some things that I have learned.
- Keep a buffer zone of at least 10 feet between you and the officer. This will prevent the police from claiming you were interfering. This zone should change based on the situation. Often times I film from the other side of the street.
- If an officer asks what you are doing politely tell them that you are creating an objective record of the situation for accountability, or remain silent. I would suggest that you do not verbally interact with the officer, while he is “doing his job”. It has landed me in jail for obstruction of justice. Wait until it is over to attempt a statement from the police or the suspect.
- Do your best to remain anonymous. Police will attempt to make your personal life difficult.
- Remain respectful. I had issues with this starting out, and I still do today. It will really help with interactions with police in the future.
- If possible film in teams of 2 or more. This will make it less likely that the police will interfere with you, and if they do you will have someone watching your back.
- Have propaganda to pass out. A flyer, or leaflet with information on why filming the police is important will help attract like-minded people to your cause. I just recently received some flyers that i keep in my camera bag.
- Livestream. This will guarantee that you have a copy of the incident if the police decide to take your camera as evidence. I have had cameras, and memory cards taken from me during my career as a cop watcher. I do not have a phone so lifestream is impossible at this time.
Thank you for deciding to pick up a camera, and hold law enforcement accountable. You are one of many standing with us today who have enough of a system that is inherently racist, a system designed to protect itself, and the people who uphold its rules instead of us. The fallacy that police are here to protect us has been exposed many different times, on many different levels. The supreme court ruled that job of a police officer is to enforce the laws, not protect the people. Grand Juries continue to fail to indict cops who have killed unarmed people, even when their is objective video evidence that the officer acted outside of the law. If the police protected us, the result of their duties wouldn’t be over a 1,000 dead this year alone. If the police actually protected us the death toll of americans killed by police, wouldn’t outnumber the death toll of soldiers killed by terrorists in Iraq.
FILM THE POLICE
