The New York City Police Department (NYPD) chose to cut back the number of graphic crime videos meant to bring in tips and identify suspects.
The decision came after the NYPD released a video on December 3rd. It showed a person hitting “a man in the head with a baseball bat with such force the victim immediately crumpled to the ground.”
The video helped capture the suspect.
The cops believed surveillance images of the suspect’s face helped catch the man, not the video.
One person told The New York Daily News that the released “video was sensationalism for the sake of being sensational,” and the police had “no reason to release that video.”
Others think it’s a mistake to stop the videos:
But other sources said that the department has overreacted by not releasing the videos showing criminal violence.“You guys will run the videos that get more clicks,” a second source said, referring to the media. “More clicks mean it’s more likely that someone who knows the perp will call us with a name.”Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD detective supervisor now teaching at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said graphic video will generate more interest in a crime than a mere crystal-clear picture of a suspect.“Because of the heinous nature of some of these crimes, people will get upset over it,” Giacalone said. ‘’Where you would normally have somebody protecting somebody else or not snitching on somebody, when there is a video showing people getting violently attacked, [tipsters] are more likely to come forward.“I think the police are doing themselves a disservice because these videos do evoke a reaction from the public,” he said. “You get more attention with a video than a still photo.”
I noticed the NYPD Crime Stoppers Twitter account has more images than videos. The videos the account posted are not violent.
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