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What could possibly be behind the surge in violent crime in the US? Quite surprisingly, according to FBI Director James Comey, the answer is – citizens filming viral YouTube videos of police brutality.

“I’ve been told by a senior police leader who urged his force to remember that their political leadership has no tolerance for a viral video,” Comey said as he was talking to law students, faculty, staff and some police officers at the University of Chicago Law School, according to the New York Times. He went on to say that such statements have sent a chill through police departments, making cops feel “under siege.”


Comment: There is no doubt that being a police office these days is difficult. If they are under siege, it is probably due to the flagrant injustices that have been allowed, even encouraged. Thousands of innocent people have been murdered in cold blood by these ‘besieged’ cops.

“In today’s YouTube world, there are officers reluctant to get out of their cars and do the work that controls violent crime,” he said. “Our officers are answering 911 calls, but avoiding the informal contact that keeps bad guys from standing around, especially with guns,” Comey said, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.


Comment: Due to the heinous and brutal crimes officers commit that inevitably go unpunished, there is probably reluctance on the side of citizens too. They have learned to fear law enforcement. By design, it seems.

According to the FBI director, this has had a negative effect on law enforcement’s ability to reduce crime, because “what may appear on YouTube to be police officers harassing people on the street is actually genuine crime deterrence,” reported The Daily Dot.


Comment: Like this one?

Father of six dies after New York police place him in chokehold for selling untaxed cigarettes

“Lives are saved when those potential killers are confronted by a police officer, a strong police presence, and actual, honest-to-goodness, up-close ‘What are you guys doing on this corner at 1 o’clock in the morning?’ policing,” he went on to say, adding “We need to be careful it doesn’t drift away from us in the age of viral videos, or there will be profound consequences.”


Comment: What is a person loitering on a corner at 1am guilty of that would require police attention? Policing has already drifted away from the ‘public servant’ ideal toward militarization and violence. As a consequence, in the U.S., cops are more dangerous than criminals.

The FBI Director arrived in Chicago for a Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. His statements came during a discussion on the “crisis of violent crime” at the University of Chicago Law School, in which he talked about the factors fueling the recent crime spree.


Comment: Before blaming citizens filming cops, if violent crime is surging, there are many other factors to consider.

Homicides in 35 big US cities are up 19 percent on average this year, and non-fatal shootings are up 62 percent, according to a police association survey. However, another issue on the table remains police brutality: the number of police killings so far in 2015 has been estimated at up to 891 as of October 9, according to The Guardian. Nevertheless, only 54 officers have been charged for fatal shootings during the last decade.

When the Washington Post analyzed what had brought those cases to court, they concluded that in order for police officers to be indicted, some kind of special circumstances must be involved, such as a victim shot in the back, incriminating testimony from other officers, allegations of a cover-up, or a video recording of the incident.