Cops, Cameras and Accountability: User- Generated Online Video and Public Space Police- Civilian Interactions Douglas Alan Kelly
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 5-2012 Cops, Cameras and Accountability: User- Generated Online Video and Public Space Police- Civilian Interactions Douglas Alan Kelly Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Recommended Citation Kelly, Douglas Alan, "Cops, Cameras and Accountability: User-Generated Online Video and Public Space Police-Civilian Interactions" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1799. This Open-Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Fogler Library at DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. COPS, CAMERAS AND ACCOUNTABILITY: USER-GENERATED ONLINE VIDEO AND PUBLIC SPACE POLICE-CIVILIAN INTERACTIONS By Douglas Alan Kelly B.A. The Ohio State University, 1988 M.I.L.S. The University of Michigan, 1989 A DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Interdisciplinary in Mass Communication and History) The Graduate School The University of Maine May, 2012 Advisory Committee: Michael J. Socolow , Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism, Advisor Paul Grosswiler, Professor of Communication and Journalism Howard P. Segal, Professor of History Nathan Godfried, Professor of History Jeffrey St. John, Cooperating Faculty of Communication and Journalism l1 THESIS ACCEPTANCE STATEMENT On behalf of the Graduate Committee for Douglas Alan Kelly I affirm that this manuscript is the final and accepted dissertation. Signatures of all committee members axe on file with the Graduate School at the University of Maine,42 Stodder Hall, Orono, Maine. Michael J. Socolow, As ate Professor iii Copyright 2009-2012 Douglas Alan Kelly This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. COPS, CAMERAS AND ACCOUNTABILITY: USER-GENERATED ONLINE VIDEO AND PUBLIC SPACE POLICE-CIVILIAN INTERACTIONS By Douglas Alan Kelly Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Socolow An Abstract of the Dissertation Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Interdisciplinary in Mass Communication and History) May, 2012 Video captured by increasingly ubiquitous civilian cameras and communicated to a mass audience over the Internet is capable of bypassing police jurisdictional influence over traditional mass media and may be affecting police-civilian interactions in American public space as the initial cusp of a paradigm shift. Historically, the ability to visually record activities in public space was reserved to those with the resources and the motivation to devote to the task. Police and traditional mass media wielded power through cameras, power often not available to the public. Today, police often find their cameras outnumbered by those under autonomous citizen control. An inexpensive cell phone can instantly publish user-generated video to Internet servers available to a world audience and beyond local police jurisdiction. Police leverage on local media outlets appears insufficient to suppress imagery. Police-civilian public space interactions are often among the lowest level, highest stakes interactions in the United States. Police powers are restricted by systems which often depend on police cooperation. One organizational behavior pattern is that police will sometimes lie to protect themselves and other police, including perjury, making false reports, and destroying or denying the existence of video evidence of police misconduct. Technological developments underlying these problems are likely to continue along current paths. The stated issues have significant implications for the continued exercise of First Amendment rights in photographing public space, for Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure and arrest without probable cause, and for police accountability. The research question is, What is the outcome of user-generated online video on police-civilian interactions in American public space? This descriptive multiple-case study based on document analysis of publicly available documents examined 14 police- civilian interactions in American public space between 2005-2010 for the influence (if any) of user-generated online video on their outcomes. Based on cross-case analysis of 38 variables of interest, generalizing to theory indicates that user-generated online video can improve accountability in police-civilian interactions. Several robust theories are proposed, and numerous opportunities for future research are delineated. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my spouse. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to acknowledge the assistance and guidance of his dissertation committee: Michael Socolow, Paul Grosswiler, Howard Segal, Nathan Godfried, and Jeffrey St. John. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. v 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Statement of Research Problem ....................................................................... 1 1.2. Justification ...................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Scope ................................................................................................................ 4 1.3.1. Time and place .................................................................................. 4 1.3.2. Public space ...................................................................................... 5 1.3.3. Police................................................................................................. 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 6 2.1. American Adoption of Photographic Technology, 1839-1979 ......................... 7 2.2. American Adoption of Electronic Imaging Technology, 1929-2010 ............. 15 2.3. How YouTube Works Today .......................................................................... 31 2.4. Police-Civilian Interaction and Response to Civilian Photography .............. 37 2.5. Brief Legal History of Public Space Imaging in America ............................. 64 2.5.1. Photography as Protected Speech Under the First Amendment ..... 66 2.5.2. Public Space, Place, Forum or Venue ............................................. 70 2.5.3. Privacy ............................................................................................ 76 2.5.4. Fourth Amendment ......................................................................... 87 vii 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 88 3.1. Research Issue ................................................................................................ 88 3.2. Case Study Methodology Selection ............................................................... 88 3.3. Descriptive Theory ......................................................................................... 89 3.4. Analysis Methodology ................................................................................... 90 3.5. Preliminary Concepts ..................................................................................... 92 3.6. Document Search & Acquisition Procedures ................................................. 99 3.7. Generalizing to Theory ................................................................................ 104 3.8. Research Questions and Hypotheses ........................................................... 104 3.9. Publications that Parallel the Proposed Research ........................................ 105 3.9.1. de Graaf & Huberts, 2008 ............................................................. 105 3.9.2. Pantti & Wahl-Jorgensen, 2007..................................................... 106 3.9.3. Goldsmith, 2010 ............................................................................ 107 3.9.4. Karpf, 2010 ................................................................................... 107 4. CASE STUDIES ......................................................................................................... 108 4.1. Case Study I: Santo, Bush, Rivieri, July 1, 2007 ......................................... 108 4.1.1. Research Question and Hypotheses .............................................. 108 4.1.2. Documents .....................................................................................110 4.1.3. Relevant Variables of Interest ........................................................ 111 4.2. Case Study II: Ismail, Long, Pogan, July 25, 2008 ...................................... 126 4.2.1. Research Question and Hypotheses .............................................. 126 4.2.2. Documents .................................................................................... 127 4.2.3. Relevant Variables of Interest ......................................................