Training Officers Using Activist Videos in the Classroom

If you have been paying attention, you should have noticed by now that nearly every day in America, someone releases a video of a police officer acting outside his or her authority. Amazingly, some officers are still naive to the repercussions of being a “YouTube star,” and make a fool of themselves and their department on amateur video, often garnering a national spotlight in the process.

Now, it appears that police departments are taking a proactive approach, to get ahead of the PR disasters that their officers continually stir up.

In the last few weeks I have been contacted by two different police departments, seeking my permission to use my police encounter videos in their training courses. Both officers that reached out to me seemed to have an objective perspective, meaning they understand that the police behavior captured in my videos are not a desired outcome, and wish to prevent such behaviors in the future. So, they are using real encounters to prepare their cadets for camera wielding citizens who know their rights, and stand firm against lawless orders.

The first email comes out of Frisco, Texas from Clinton Turner, a retired Master Peace Officer who now teaches a law enforcement class at a local Technical Education Center.

On Fri, Sep 4, 2015 at 2:23 PM, TURNER, CLINTON <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Mr. Sanders, I’ve been poring over several of your videos on Youtube. I teach Law Enforcement here for the Frisco ISD CTE Center. I am teaching a block of instruction to the kids on Verbal Judo. My goal is to help them get into law enforcement careers and survive those careers without becoming Youtube stars. I was wondering if you had any clean (non-profanity) videos you could share with me on this endeavor. I’m looking for videos where the officers were rude and/or very abrasive so I can teach these kids how to do it more professionally. I’d love to know which ones are your “best of the best” videos. I’m showing them the one you shot in front of the Addison PD today. It’s a great example for my lesson and am hoping for more. Thanks in advance! Officer C. Turner

Texas Master Peace Officer (retired)

CTE Center

I was intrigued by this email to say the least. I can respect the fact that a training officer understands the problem, and wants to do something about it. The idea that my videos could have a long lasting effect on a police officer, their conduct, and the citizens they interact with is a fulfilling proposition.

I sent Mr. Turner some additional material, including a recent video out of Plano, Texas which shows a cop threatening violence if a motorist didn’t stop smiling, along with a positive interaction I had with the very same department.

The next email came from Clive Milligan, a training officer for the Vancouver, BC Police Department.

From: MILLIGAN, Clive < [email protected] >Date: Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 5:04 PMSubject: training videos for policeTo: “ [email protected] ” < [email protected] Hi Brett, We watched with interest your videos on law enforcement and the filming of/by police. Although we are different in some regards up here in Canada, we have been recently training our patrol officers (1400 member agency) on this current trending topic. We have titled it “Cops on Camera, How to Win on the Street and in front of Judge YouTube”! In essence we remind officers that they are operating in a public venue as public servants therefore they should allow the public to observe and film them in their duties. As long as the citizen doesn’t interfere or obstruct them in their performance of the task, then it is welcomed. Our lesson plan contains relevant rules of law (relating Canadian and U.S. examples) in relation to the Constitutional/Charter of Rights arena. We also use YouTube videos of police interactions (both positive and negative for examples of each). We provide officers with verbal responses when faced with a person filming and/or challenging authority. The strips phrases encourage positive relations and may actually help if there is evidentiary value to the video. All in all the presentation is only about 45 minutes but we feel it is valuable and will assist in public safety and confidence in the police. Would it be possible to reference your site in the lesson plan to accentuate our position? If not, no worries! I have found some excellent videos of positive interactions (White Plains trio) that we show to have officers model. Can you send me a link to anymore (good and bad)? Thanks!

Best regards, Clive “Training officers for their day”

Clive Milligan, Sgt. 1395

Control Tactics Coordinator

Officer Safety Training Team

Vancouver Police Department

British Columbia Canada

Although I believe these officers are seeking to make a positive change, I’m not sure they are addressing the core problem. It would appear to me that these training officers are simply teaching their cadets to modify their behavior when they are on camera. When, in reality, officers should conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times, so if they ever happen to be recorded, the incident shouldn’t morph into a national spectacle.

Unfortunately, there is no amount of training or awareness that a police officer could possess to avoid the spotlight when his or her job requires they violate the rights of other human beings. I’m under the impression that most police officers really want to do their job well. When good performance is measured in number of “contacts” with the public, or number of citations written, or number of drug busts, then officers tend to want to excel at these measurable activities. It should not be a surprise to anyone that these activities lead to regular violations of ones right to be secure in their person, papers and effects.

Therefore, I don’t see a great deal of actionable change as a result of this training, unless the officers start to understand the non-aggression principle and refuse to enforce victim-less crimes.

Here is the video that is being used as an example of how not to act…