BRATTON: RECORDING OF OFFICERS AN EPIDEMIC

NY Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is placing the blame on amateur videographers with cell phones for escalating confrontations between police and civilians

Officer.com News
May 26, 2016

The NYPD's top cop is placing the blame on amateur videographers with cell phones for escalating confrontations between police and civilians.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton addressed the issue when he was asked about the investigation into a video showing an officer pointing a gun at a group of onlookers on May 19, according to The New York Daily News.

"There is a phenomenon in this country that we need to examine and it’s just not in New York," Bratton said following the Major Cities Chiefs Association Conference at the Times Square Marriott Marquis Wednesday. "This has become very serious. I would almost describe it as an epidemic in this country."

The officer on the video, identified as Risel Martinez, has been placed on leave while the incident is investigated.

Bratton said he is not defending the officer's actions, but that the video is just part of the investigation.

"You do not have a right to resist arrest and in so many of those videos, people are resisting violently and being encouraged by the crowd," he said. "There is increasing efforts on the part of individuals -- sometimes in a crowd and often times mobs -- to attempt to record, intimidate and create fear and physically free a prisoner."

Bratton said that he's hopefully that a push to equip the city's officers with body cameras will level the playing field.

"[Cops] will be able to photograph what is in front of them," he said. "We will get a lot of balance that way."