With the proliferation of video-capable telephones and the explosion of Internet sites willing to display any video posted by a user, police and school officials are seeing more and more fights between school aged children being posted online.
In an incident at the city’s North Middle School in April, school resource officer Paul Pellan reports that an assistant principal advised him that a cell phone with a video recording of a fight between two girls had been confiscated.
Pellan said that a parent of the suspect signed a waiver to allow police and school officials to examine the contents of the phone and a video found on the phone depicted two girls fighting.
He said that the video also included an audio element in which the boy making the video recording could be heard urging the girls, both of whom appeared to be reluctant to engage, to fight harder.
In that incident, Pellan reports, both girls were charged with assault and battery and the boy was also charged, under the “joint venture” rule, with the same offense.
Pellan said that videos of youths fighting are frequently posted to the Internet by participants and bystanders.
“We do see that a lot” he said. “It’s kind of like entertainment to them.”
He said that, when rumors of an impending fight are circulated, students will often stay after school to watch and the event often will be recorded for those who didn’t witness it. “Whether spontaneous or planned, the kids will videotape that incident and very quickly that incident goes on Facebook or YouTube.”
There, Pellan said, the recording is available to the friends of the combatants and the whole school.
But, Pellan said, the participants do not usually realize that the recording also becomes evidence upon which to build a criminal case, so fame may have a price.
He said the recent recording of the two girls fighting was the first time he used a video record of a fight as evidence to bring criminal charges against a suspect.
Ron Rix, the principal at Westfield Middle School South, said that he has seen a decrease in postings of fights online in the past three years and said that he thinks the reason is that “kids are smartening up” and are learning that videos can be evidence which can be used against them.
He said that school officials and resources officer used to have to investigate rumors of incidents but said “now the kids are proving it themselves.” Now, he said, he can show parents evidence which is beyond dispute when he talks with them about their children’s actions.
He said, as a result, when youths pull out the cell phones to record a fight or other incident “now other kids are telling them to stop.”
Det. Todd Edwards said that with the current technology “it’s easy” to make a video record in lieu of a memory and then it’s a small step to posting it online to share it.
“It’s almost narcissistic” he said, “you think people are interested in everything you do.”
“It’s like they can’t help themselves” Edwards said. “Even if it’s stupid, even if it’s illegal” youths will post a video on-line. “It’s what they do” he said.
The practice has also been noted at the high school level, Ray Broderick, the Westfield High School principal, said.
He said that the practice of posting homemade videos by bystanders has become part of the American culture and said that, if you watch bystanders at almost any event, “one of their moves is to take their camera and record it.’
“It’s no different here,” he said “it is something we address.”
He said that when school administrators hear of a fight or other disturbance at the school they will search the Internet to see if a video of the event has been posted.
When such a video is found, administrators will approach the person who posted the video and ask that it be taken down. He said, to date, such requests have always been honored.
“We’re cognizant of it and we watch for it because it doesn’t need to be out there” Broderick said.
And, of course, the practice is not limited to Westfield.
Recently, two Franklin High School pupils were charged by police after one “sucker punched” another student in the high school hallway and another recorded the assault and posted a video recording of the event online.
