Civil Liberties

Anaheim Cops Shoot Rubber Bullets, Unleash Dog on Crowd Protesting Police Shooting

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When mostly Latino residents in an Anaheim, California neighborhood gathered to protest a police shooting, the cops responded by…shooting rubber bullets and siccing a police dog on a mother holding an infant child.

Below is a report from local TV station KCAL, which incorporates amateur video gathered on the spot. The result is a trenchant reminder of the distributed nature of surveillance in today's world. Reason has been covering this power shift extensively (see this video about the killing of homeless man Kelly Thomas by Fullerton, California police and the way citizens sparked an investigation). It's obviously a good thing that law enforcement at all levels is being held more accountable for its behavior but I also sometimes wonder about the irony that former Reason staffer Radley Balko (of The Agitator and Huffington Post) noted in this 2011 interview: Police are almost certainly more respectful of civil liberties than they were 50 years ago. What's changed is that regular people are more empowered to capture and circulate bad actions by the cops.

Having noted that, this is some messed-up video below.

Hat tip: Ted Balaker