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Cops LOVE to demonize criminals. I suspect it helps to perpetuate the police union myth that cops have a dangerous job, and of course help justify police union pay raises.
Of course when it comes to police criminals, the cops are hypocrites and don't demonize police criminals. In fact seem to want to cover up the crimes of police criminals. Doesn't make cops look like heroes, or justify pay raises. I suspect that is why the videos of the police murder by the Mesa cops is being kept secret. This article also helps show who the police are hypocrites when it comes to using body cameras. The cops tell us body cameras will help weed out crooked cops, but when a crooked cop gets caught in the act of murdering an innocent civilian with his body camera, the cops want to keep the video secret.
Mesa police shooting: Media object to court sealing body-cam video Michael Kiefer, The Republic | azcentral.com 7:13 p.m. MST April 8, 2016 The Arizona Republic and five other local media outlets have filed a motion in Maricopa County Superior Court to protest a court order sealing body-cam video of a police shooting in Mesa. The court's presiding criminal judge, Sam Myers, imposed an injunction against releasing the video at the request of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and a defense attorney for Philip "Mitch" Brailsford. Brailsford is a former Mesa police officer charged with murder in the January shooting of an unarmed Texas man, Daniel Shaver. The Republic joins 12 News, CBS 5, 3 TV, ABC 15 and the Associated Press in a motion to intervene in the criminal case to argue for the release of the footage, if only in an edited version. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had described the request for the video as "purely sensational and voyeuristic." The media entities, in their court filing, objected to that reference, noting that a judge may first review the video and withhold any portions of it deemed too invasive to release. But some of the video, the news outlets argue, must be considered a public record unless the attorneys can prove an "overriding public interest in concealing the videos from the public." What happened in the shooting Shaver, 26, was partying with other guests at a Mesa La Quinta Inn and Suites on Jan. 18 when police responded to reports that someone was pointing a rifle out a hotel window. Shaver had a pellet gun related to his work as an exterminator. Police ordered Shaver and another guest to crawl toward them on the floor of the hotel hallway. When Shaver reached for his waistband, Brailsford shot him to death with his automatic rifle. According to police reports, Shaver was intoxicated and begging not to be shot. In January and early February, shortly after the shooting, AP, 12 News and The Republic all requested event-related police records, which generally are held to be open to the public under state law. Some of those requests specifically sought body-cam video footage from the incident. Over the two months that followed, requests or follow-up requests came from all the media outlets involved. At the end of March, Mesa police released records from the incident including reports that described Shaver begging "Please don't shoot me" shortly before he died — but they did not release the body-cam video. On March 25, prosecutor Susie Charbel, in conjunction with Brailsford's attorney, Craig Mehrens, asked that the video be sealed. Mehrens told The Republic, "If (the case) goes to trial, it will be played, and everyone will get to see it." The motion he and Charbel filed alleged that the media wanted the video only "to capitalize on the graphic nature of this case." "The media does not make requests of every case, only what it considers high profile or sensational cases," they wrote. And they noted that written summaries of the videos had been included in police reports that were released. They also insisted the video remain sealed to protect the rights of the victim and his family. But Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles attorney retained by Shaver's wife, Laney Sweet, fired off a statement saying, "The request to seal the video of the murder of Daniel Shaver is, at best, grossly hypocritical, coming at the same time a sweetheart plea deal was offered to Philip Brailsford and at the same time the Mesa PD selectively released information and reports to the press." Myers entered the "joint protective order" on March 29. Thursday's motion by the media, filed by attorney David Bodney, asks for release of a redacted version of the videos, rejecting the logic in having them sealed. "Here, even if there were not gaps or inconsistent statements in the written police reports, they do not begin to resolve the public's legitimate concerns with respect to the manner in which law enforcement responded to allegedly suspicious behavior," Bodney wrote. More articles on the murder of Daniel Shaver by the Mesa Police
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