The alleged misconduct of six police officers after humiliating a disability pensioner with a hose while recording it on their phone shocked a lot of people.

I received several messages from police officers expressing their disappointment in their own colleagues.

Read more: CCTV shows police tackle hospital patient to the ground

I also got a huge response from viewers on Twitter. Here's some of the feedback on the incident itself and my reporting of it:

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

It's very rare for an incident to be almost entirely captured on cameras.

In this case, footage showed the Preston man's interaction with the officers from the moment they spoke to him at his front door right until he was moaning and wet after they blasted him with water on the grass.

For that reason, it was easier to report what happened with accuracy. It's almost all on camera.

But 99 per cent of the incidents where people make claims of police brutality lack such evidence. It's a matter of he said, she said.

If there is footage of police getting physical with members of the public, normally there's more to the story and the footage captures only part of what's unfolded. And usually, they come to our attention because a member of the public contacts the newsroom with an agenda and a subjective opinion about what's taken place.

Regardless, it's important that we report on allegations of police misconduct and hold people in authority to account.

But for the above reasons, it is also extremely difficult. By being expected to report the facts, the viewer is effectively asking us to be the judge of exactly what happened. And that is virtually impossible. All we can do is present both versions of events and let the viewer decide.

What can we learn from the alleged misconduct of those Preston police officers?

We can learn that it's always worth probing and asking questions - because although it may only be one percent of the incidents that stack up, those people still deserve answers.