The article, “The Problem with Police Cameras” written by Janet Vertasi was published in Time Magazine in May of 2014. Vertasi, an employee at Princeton University where is an assistant professor of Sociology. Vertasi’s article provides information regarding police body cameras and bringing awareness to the negative possibilities of our local police wearing body cameras while on duty. She provides examples of misrepresentation of photos with fifteen years of experience in examining how experts work with pictures and uses cases like the “Rodney King Trials” to prove her opinion. Vertasi explains the process of which people are able to “trick” you into seeing what they want you to see, while backing her point using the old gestalt images that
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This trial was the nature of the Los Angeles riot or Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles in 1992. This was so publicized that the local news channels took polls on whether the police used excessive force and showed ninety percent of Los Angeles residents voting “yes”. The incident involved King an African-American and Caucasian police officers, who were charged with excessive force after a video emerged of what appeared to be King being severely beaten. The video was released and most viewers assumed these officers would be punished because of their own interpretation of the activity presented on the video. However, these officers were acquitted of all charges and allowed to return to work, which sparked outrage from LA citizens. Vertasi, interviews Charles Goodwin, a professor for UCLA and he describes the lawyers influenced the jury to see the video from a different perspective. Goodwin explains that while King “jerks” on the ground, they described the movement as resisting and aggression. While this could have been the scenario, others may have said that he was being kicked and hit with batons that he was trying to protect himself. Many people assumed this case would be over before it started, but the lawyers were able to change the perception of how people viewed the events on the video. Vertasi used this as evidence trying to prove that even situations with video, people have can manipulate you into seeing what they want you to see. She is trying to capture the audience by showing real life examples of when majority of population agreed and the conclusion was not expected. With using this as the main example, she is using pathos to persuade the emotions into reflecting back to this situation and a tragic event that could have been
This trial was the nature of the Los Angeles riot or Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles in 1992. This was so publicized that the local news channels took polls on whether the police used excessive force and showed ninety percent of Los Angeles residents voting “yes”. The incident involved King an African-American and Caucasian police officers, who were charged with excessive force after a video emerged of what appeared to be King being severely beaten. The video was released and most viewers assumed these officers would be punished because of their own interpretation of the activity presented on the video. However, these officers were acquitted of all charges and allowed to return to work, which sparked outrage from LA citizens. Vertasi, interviews Charles Goodwin, a professor for UCLA and he describes the lawyers influenced the jury to see the video from a different perspective. Goodwin explains that while King “jerks” on the ground, they described the movement as resisting and aggression. While this could have been the scenario, others may have said that he was being kicked and hit with batons that he was trying to protect himself. Many people assumed this case would be over before it started, but the lawyers were able to change the perception of how people viewed the events on the video. Vertasi used this as evidence trying to prove that even situations with video, people have can manipulate you into seeing what they want you to see. She is trying to capture the audience by showing real life examples of when majority of population agreed and the conclusion was not expected. With using this as the main example, she is using pathos to persuade the emotions into reflecting back to this situation and a tragic event that could have been