Reveal: Law and Disorder - Citizens, Cameras and Cops

Listen to this episode of Reveal:

- Saturday, May 6 at 6am on 93.9FM and NJPR
- Saturday, May 6 at 2pm on AM 820
- Saturday, May 6 at 9pm on NJPR
- Sunday, May 7 at 8pm on AM 820

Reveal continues its in-depth look at law and disorder, exposing some of the tensions between police and the communities they serve, and how video cameras are dramatically changing the public’s relationship with law enforcement.

In Washington, D.C., hear why there’s been a huge increase in the number of people charged with assaulting a police officer. WAMU and American University examined three years of court cases and found that the people being charged often are the ones who end up in the hospital. 

Then, explore what happens when police and communities keep an eye on each other. Officers patrol the streets watching for crime, but now citizens are using video cameras to monitor police. A team of “cop watchers” in Texas take us for a ride.

And citizens aren’t the only ones getting into the game: hear an investigation of the consequences of private companies storing evidence captured by police body cameras.

Finally, a look back at the man who some say pioneered citizen journalism when he recorded the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King in 1991.