Last month, San Diego county law enforcement put a new policy into practice concerning video footage showing police shootings. According to the policy, the video footage would be made public after the district attorney’s office had finished its investigation in most cases.
However, that policy is leaving many people with doubts after the recent Alfred Olango shooting. The shooting was recorded by a bystander, who turned the footage over to investigators. However, the footage has not been released yet, with the only information coming from officials the release of a single still image from the encounter showing Olango standing with his hands in front of him in a “shooting stance,” as police described it.
–Mother of Alfred Olango: ‘There is nothing more painful’
But later, it was revealed that Olango was simply holding an e-cigarette.
While authorities insist that the footage should not be released until investigators are finished collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses in order to keep witness statements from being skewed by the video, the public outcry over the shooting as well as the lack of any footage means pressure is building for the police to release the video.
“The public has the right to view the full video, not just the El Cajon Police Department’s spin,” Norma Chavez-Peterson of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
“The country is begging for a video,” said Rev. Shane Harris, leader of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network.
Tanya Sierra, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the video of Olango would be released “as soon as we can.” She added that the still image had been released in order “to stop some of the inaccurate narrative forming about the incident, such as that the subject of the shooting had his shirt off and his hands up when he was shot.”