There are now more than 150 YouTube channels devoted to the unredacted arrests of everyday people. The most popular uploads are the most salacious and humiliating: “When Suspects Try to FLIRT With Cops” boasts 7.9 million views; “Hooters Waitress Tells Cop ‘I Can Take It All Off’” claims 2.4 million.
The unlucky ones have been watched and mocked millions of times; they have been ogled, insulted, and abused. They are mostly women, mostly between 18 and 25, and mostly powerless to stop their online humiliations. So far, YouTube channels featuring such videos have generated over a billion views and counting.
The way it tends to go is that first someone files a public-records request for every DUI in a jurisdiction. Then, they filter the list to exclude male names, and, finally, they request arrest footage for the rest. In a few months’ time, the videos pop up: young women slurring their words, stumbling around during their arrests.
How, exactly, did we get from police officers documenting lawful arrests in service of transparency to shadowy YouTubers pocketing ad dollars and extortion fees from humiliating recordings of everyday people?
Michael Shorris reports on how police body cameras were supposed to prevent abuses — and have now been taken over by YouTubers who use the footage to embarrass young women for clicks:
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