North Dakota Cops Are Periscoping Traffic Stops

[Arty]

http://gizmodo.com/north-dakota-cops-are-periscoping-traffic-stops-and-its-1725643880

Police in Fargo, North Dakota have started livestreaming traffic stops via Periscope in an experiment for all the world to see. And so far, it’s been an embarrassing failure. But the Fargo PD doesn’t see it that way.

 

“We just learned about the app a couple of nights ago so we thought, ‘let’s just get our feet wet a little bit, try it out’,” Fargo Police Department spokesperson Jessica Shindeldecker told local news station KLVY.

 

“It’s just another medium to connect and engage with our community,” Shindeldecker said. But according to her description of what happened this past Wednesday, it all sounds like a confusing mess. Their first broadcast had to be cut short because the driver was asked to exit the vehicle.

 

https://twitter.com/FargoPolice/status/634102148049997824

 

“Obviously, if you watched the first broadcast we did [...] the individual had to get out of the vehicle per Sergeant Vincent’s commands... or his request to get out of the vehicle, so I did make a very good attempt to get that person out of there and not get that license plate on there and just to get that privacy,” Shindeldecker said.

 

As if to prove just how ill conceived the entire livestreaming experiment was, Shindeldecker continued, “And also, we didn’t know what was going on. Sergeant Vincent knew what was going on, and for personal safety and officer safety issues, we decided to end that broadcast, just because we didn’t know what would come of that.”

 

Fargo police clearly have no idea what they’re doing, but insist their social media experiment is a worthy one. When pressed by the local newscaster about whether it’s worth it to potentially compromise an investigation with stunts like this, Shindeldecker says that they’re “learning.”

 

 

 

 

“Well, I mean, we’re not looking to use it to compromise an investigation, and we’re not just going to be using the Periscope just for traffic stops,” she explained. “We’re looking to use it for many, many avenues. And we’re just learning. So on how we’re going to use it, we haven’t really put a big game plan. So, we thought, let’s see how it goes.”

 

Sure. Sounds like a great plan from people tasked with public safety. Let’s just see how it goes!

 

“It’s very voyeuristic. It’s almost kinda weird,” the newscaster said in what qualifies in the Upper Midwest as brutally forceful language. 

 

Despite their boondoggle of a first stop, they tried two more during the day. The Fargo PD say that they’ll continue using social media in an effort to connect with the community. Which, of course, involves livestreaming the community’s traffic stops using any technology they learned about the day before.

 

 

TLDR

THey wan tto test periscope 

Cops pulling people over

trying not to show the peoples face or plates out of respect.

 

 

 

 

Ithink this is cool. in a way,  maybe if  there was a way to auto blur faces and plates, then i could see it being more prominate 

[marldorthegreat]

Good, now we can watch them shoot people (sarcasm) 

This is why the UK has the best police force

[Guest Philosophy]

Interesting idea! I am all for police on camera. And I was one. 

[LucidMew]

Good idea in concept. Terrible in execution.

 

I'd prefer if they wore body cams and the footage was kept with an impartial third company, where they'd blur out plates/faces where appropriate. Enough is fucking enough with losing footage or police officials never releasing footage.

[Trik'Stari]

Now if only we can force all politicians to wear a camera at all times, then we can get some real changes made.

[79 Potatoes]

Now if only we can force all politicians to wear a camera at all times, then we can get some real changes made.

But I don't want to see the greasy fat body of a politician D:

[Arty]

Interesting idea! I am all for police on camera. And I was one. 

i mean we are all on camera 

2007 http://googlesightseeing.com/2007/04/live-satellite-images-in-google-earth/

2014 

 

 

shits getting better.

[Trik'Stari]

But I don't want to see the greasy fat body of a politician D:

No, but I'd certainly like to see how the talk about the people when they are in private meetings with their corporate masters.

 

Ever notice how politicians avoid looking directly into a camera? It's because we'd be able to see that they're dead inside.

[Real_PhillBert]

I live in Fargo!!!!! I heard this on the radio this morning on my way to work. 

 

I guess it seems to me to be more of a public shaming than anything else. Fargo PD already has dash cams and some officers have body cams as well. I really don't understand the need to broadcast a traffic stop. 

[ChineseChef]

I think it is good that the police are trying to improve transparency, and they should be politely critiqued if there needs to be corrections to their methods of transparency.  They need to be praised for trying to solve the problem, not blasted for "not doing good enough".  On the same token, the police need to take the suggestions for correction seriously.

 

On the same token, I don't see why dangerous people need to be saved.  Why do people who are trying to hurt others need to be calmly and safely detained?  If you are on the aggression, and trying to attack people, you don't belong in society with the people who aren't trying to solve their problems by hurting others.  People are not precious, we don't need to save the people that don't want to be part of society.  This is not to say people can't want change, but attacking and hurting others because you are drunk/high/mad/depressed is not acceptable. 

[Arty]

 

The police offiercs in my city drive 100k Ford explorers super tuned and all have a college degree.....(they get payed like 60-85k).

AND they have not fired there guns in 50 years, sometimes they use a tazer.

[Real_PhillBert]

The police offiercs in my city drive 100k Ford explorers super tuned and all have a college degree.....(they get payed like 60-85k).

AND they have not fired there guns in 50 years, sometimes they use a tazer.

 

I take it "Metro Detroit" is not your real location...

[Arty]

I take it "Metro Detroit" is not your real location...

metro Detroit

means cities around detriot.

i live in farmington

 

the Detroit police are real shitty.

so bad they are scary.

[ChineseChef]

The police offiercs in my city drive 100k Ford explorers super tuned and all have a college degree.....(they get payed like 60-85k).

AND they have not fired there guns in 50 years, sometimes they use a tazer.

 

What country are you in?  What is the local culture like?  There are lots of towns and cities in the USA that have cops that haven't had to fire their weapons for their entire careers.  The US has a violent culture, due partly to how we came to be.  Are you stating that the cops from your town with their cars would never have to fire a gun if they came and worked inner city Detroit or Chicago?

 

Edit:  In retrospect, I should have read your location, my bad there.  But the rest of the point stands.

[Arty]

What country are you in?  What is the local culture like?  There are lots of towns and cities in the USA that have cops that haven't had to fire their weapons for their entire careers.  The US has a violent culture, due partly to how we came to be.  Are you stating that the cops from your town with their cars would never have to fire a gun if they came and worked inner city Detroit or Chicago?

i live in a city next to Detroit. 

Crime is so low the cops get bored.

[dalekphalm]

There's one very real concern about this - safety of the officer being live streamed.

 

This means anyone can look up the location of any officers who are streaming. You can literally find out where they are in real time. The criminal element can and will take advantage of this.

 

I think Body cameras that are posted online afterwards or stored by an independent third party are both better solutions.

[Arty]

There's one very real concern about this - safety of the officer being live streamed.

 

This means anyone can look up the location of any officers who are streaming. You can literally find out where they are in real time. The criminal element can and will take advantage of this.

 

I think Body cameras that are posted online afterwards or stored by an independent third party are both better solutions.

True

Wasn't there other ways to find out cops locations tho before?

[ChineseChef]

There's one very real concern about this - safety of the officer being live streamed.

 

This means anyone can look up the location of any officers who are streaming. You can literally find out where they are in real time. The criminal element can and will take advantage of this.

 

I think Body cameras that are posted online afterwards or stored by an independent third party are both better solutions.

 

I doubt officer safety will be changed much by this.  As it stands, if you want to target a cop, it isn't to hard to find one, or make a false call about something to lure a cop out.

 

On the other hand, this may provide good insight as to know where the cops currently aren't.  Allowing someone to potentially be able to figure out the best time/opportunity to commit a crime knowing how far away the police are.

 

Although, I could see it becoming an issue of someone wanted to commit some kind of attack live on the police, and get that attack broadcasted for them.  So, maybe there is a risk, but that is easily fixed by using a time delay with "acceptable circumstances" to allow for live broadcast censoring.  Under the condition that the footage is all available, it just wasn't live broadcast.

[dalekphalm]

I doubt officer safety will be changed much by this.  As it stands, if you want to target a cop, it isn't to hard to find one, or make a false call about something to lure a cop out.

 

On the other hand, this may provide good insight as to know where the cops currently aren't.  Allowing someone to potentially be able to figure out the best time/opportunity to commit a crime knowing how far away the police are.

 

Although, I could see it becoming an issue of someone wanted to commit some kind of attack live on the police, and get that attack broadcasted for them.  So, maybe there is a risk, but that is easily fixed by using a time delay with "acceptable circumstances" to allow for live broadcast censoring.  Under the condition that the footage is all available, it just wasn't live broadcast.

It makes it significantly easier for you to know EXACTLY where a cop is. Sure, you can listen in on Police Scanners and get rough ideas where they are, and even lure them away with false calls, but this goes far far beyond that.

 

I imagine that in most cases, the Officers will be totally safe, but I have no doubt that at least some criminals will take advantage of this.

 

How are they supposed to do a live broadcast with censoring? Are we then going to pay someone to scrub footage in real time? That might work if there's only one broadcast, but as it rolls out? It'll be far too resource intensive.

[ChineseChef]

It makes it significantly easier for you to know EXACTLY where a cop is. Sure, you can listen in on Police Scanners and get rough ideas where they are, and even lure them away with false calls, but this goes far far beyond that.

 

I imagine that in most cases, the Officers will be totally safe, but I have no doubt that at least some criminals will take advantage of this.

 

How are they supposed to do a live broadcast with censoring? Are we then going to pay someone to scrub footage in real time? That might work if there's only one broadcast, but as it rolls out? It'll be far too resource intensive.

 

It would be easy to put it on a 30 minute delay, and if some incident happens, that is plenty of time for someone to cut the feed while the incident is happening.  Wouldn't be too hard, I wasn't talking about live pixilation or blurring or anything fancy. 

 

And as far as targeting the cops cause you know where they are live, that is a double edged sword.  Yah you know where they are, but your attack will be broadcast live, and you know that.  You would only attack the cops live because you wanted to be broadcast.  Otherwise you are intentionally committing a crime against the police, while knowingly being taped and broadcast.  Attacking a cop is already not a good idea, but doing it live, for everyone to see who you are?  I don't see regular criminals using the cops live location for anything more than avoiding the cops. 

[Arty]

It would be easy to put it on a 30 minute delay, and if some incident happens, that is plenty of time for someone to cut the feed while the incident is happening.  Wouldn't be too hard, I wasn't talking about live pixilation or blurring or anything fancy. 

 

And as far as targeting the cops cause you know where they are live, that is a double edged sword.  Yah you know where they are, but your attack will be broadcast live, and you know that.  You would only attack the cops live because you wanted to be broadcast.  Otherwise you are intentionally committing a crime against the police, while knowingly being taped and broadcast.  Attacking a cop is already not a good idea, but doing it live, for everyone to see who you are?  I don't see regular criminals using the cops live location for anything more than avoiding the cops. 

I mean you could folllow them after.

but still you wouldn't know if its live or not......

[ChineseChef]

I mean you could folllow them after.

but still you wouldn't know if its live or not......

 

I look at it more from a perspective that if you were already wanting to hunt a specific cop, you would track that person.  While this may assist you, it doesn't do anything for you that you couldn't already have done.  And putting in a delay of 30-60 minutes would mean that the person could be long gone and you wouldn't know where they went until they were already gone from there.  Plus, there aren't too many people actively hunting the cops on a whim, so I can't see it being more dangerous outside of some kind of terrorist plot for getting some headlines.  But again, it would be easier to record the video yourself in that situation since you can get it out where you want it faster.

 

That said, it would be easier and simpler to just upload footage after every shift, or at the end of the day or something.  Just keep the footage a day behind.

[Arty]

I look at it more from a perspective that if you were already wanting to hunt a specific cop, you would track that person.  While this may assist you, it doesn't do anything for you that you couldn't already have done.  And putting in a delay of 30-60 minutes would mean that the person could be long gone and you wouldn't know where they went until they were already gone from there.  Plus, there aren't too many people actively hunting the cops on a whim, so I can't see it being more dangerous outside of some kind of terrorist plot for getting some headlines.  But again, it would be easier to record the video yourself in that situation since you can get it out where you want it faster.

its not live

if its a delay.

 

 

it would then be look at what the cop did earlier. 

[Jerakl]

Good, now we can watch them shoot people (sarcasm) 

This is why the UK has the best police force

Britastan?

[ChineseChef]

its not live

if its a delay.

 

 

it would then be look at what the cop did earlier. 

 

Right, so maybe I am more arguing that there should be a delay.  I don't think it should be live.  And I just realized as I was typing this out that I don't think it should be live for safety reasons.  I must be having a slow day. 

 

So, I guess I agree with you.  Live is bad, delay is good.