Instead of calling 911, people put up their cameras first to record a shooting incident in Atlanta, which left two people dead. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms noticed this happening, saying that the public is giving details on social media but is failing to phone the police.
“Just a reminder to the public to please call 911,” the mayor said during a news briefing. “We did start receiving phone calls but social media received information, and has received more information, quite frankly, than we have received through our 911 center. So for us to be able to appropriately respond and assess, we just ask if you can put down your camera, put down your phone, call 911 and then allow us to do what we do.”
The Democrat mayor told the public through a Twitter message to share their captured video with the authorities.
The shooting incident happened inside a luxury high-rise apartment in the Midtown area last Wednesday. Involved was a man, identified as 32-year-old Jarvis Jarrette, who killed a woman, according to a report by FOX 5 of Atlanta.
The priority of the public to record an incident through their phones rather than reporting it to the police also happened lately in Philadelphia.
According to reports, commuters on SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) train failed to intervene in an alleged rape but instead became video voyeurs.
The train took 27 stops before the alleged rapist was arrested, and it was only until a transit officer stepped in.
“There was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should have intervened,” said police Supt. Timothy Bernhardt of the Upper Darby Police Department, as reported by FOX News. “It speaks to where we are in society. I mean, who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling.”
