The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 26, 2016

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton Calls Cop Watching an "Epidemic"
---------------------------------------------------------------

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has called the growing
campaign to film the police an "epidemic." The movement, known as
Copwatch, seeks to hold police accountable by filming incidents of
police brutality and police killings. Speaking after a conference of
police chiefs on Wednesday, Commissioner Bratton said, "There is
increasing efforts on the part of individuals, sometimes in a crowd and
oftentimes mobs, to attempt to record, intimidate and create fear and
physically free a prisoner. This has become very serious." This comes as
the NYPD is facing criticism after a Harlem plainclothes police officer
was caught on video pointing his gun at a group of unarmed people inside
an apartment building lobby and then punching one of the residents
filming him.


.