Individual citizens and social movement organizations document police with video, both serendipitously and deliberately. This documentation is characterized as an intervention, one that not only promises to alter events, but to fulfill civic responsibilities. Simply, video recording police makes one an active citizen, rather than a passive bystander. For instance, at Occupy Wall Street, video recording was a primary and normalized response by protesters when police used coercive force against other protesters. Their use of video streaming apps to live-broadcast such events—while chanting “The whole world is watching!”—shows how protesters framed watching as an intercession.

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