Big Brother, A Benefit?

The use of video in our business and personal lives has exploded in the past decade. From videotaping the children's recital to video blogging cameras seem to be everywhere. Many cities have even taken to placing cameras on streets, in police cars, and in holding cells. These are ostensibly to reduce crime, protect law enforcement officials, and suspects. There are the cries of big brother and the loss of privacy but apparently the benefit have outweighed this objections. I would hasten to guess that the video released late Friday afternoon will further protect law enforcement and suspects.

Here is the video. *BE WARNED THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC* After the video, I will give the explanation of the circumstances and the incident as related in statements from the police involved and the suspect.

The suspect who is in custody is a 15 year old female who was apprehended in a stolen car with another minor female. There have been no indications that the teenager resisted arrest at the scene nor at the Sea Tac City Hall (Seattle). There have been no accusations that the suspect was under the influence of any drugs.

The King's County Sheriff's deputy that assaulted the suspect is a 31 year old, eight year veteran of law enforcement. He has plead not guilty of a fourth degree assault for kicking her, slamming her to the floor, striking her, and pulling her hair in violence. Deputy Paul Schene could face a maximum of 1 year in jail if he is found guilty.

Unfortunately these types of videos are becoming much more commonplace on YouTube and other video sites. Aside from the violence being disturbing, the fact that a person in a position of control and authority can so loose control and abuse the authority entrusted to them is unsettling. I understand that law enforcement work in one of the most stressful professions one could possibly have. The added stress would be much too difficult for most ordinary people to cope with but law officers have training to deal with this stress. If the training is insufficient then that too must be addressed. Law enforcement officials are also aware of the stress that such a position holds before they choose to pursue that career. All of these reasons that can be given must pale in comparison to the overall negative impact such uncontrolled behavior, as that in the video, has upon law enforcement across the board.

And what of this 15 year old girl? We have civil rights, we have habeous corpus. Her guilt of the crime is irrelevant; she had not been found guilty and had not even seen a lawyer. Again, she was 15 years old and had been taken to Sea Tac City Hall to be booked.