‘Cops’-style Edmonton police videos on YouTube causing controversy

An Edmonton lawyer is challenging the city police's latest effort to engage the public via a slick online video series called The Squad.

Defence lawyer Tom Engel watched the first episode that went up Friday on the Edmonton Police Service's YouTube channel. He told CBC News he was very disturbed by the apparent abuse of police power and breaches of Charter rights he saw.

The series follows Squad Seven as "they confront crime and disorder in the city's west end," according to the police service's news release.

"When The Squad responds you know justice will prevail."

The slickly-produced 4 1/2-minute debut segment, which had more than 7,000 views as of Monday morning, shows Edmonton officers and a police dog combing the thick underbrush of the city's river valley at night for a screaming man.

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He eludes them for some time before stumbling into the arms of other cops waiting on a nearby road. Viewers don't see the collar, treated only to the shot of someone's blurred-out face in the back of a police cruiser.

That doesn't stop the show's producers from trying to amp up the drama with ominous music and plenty of jump cuts. At one point when the officers discover a crude teepee made of brushwood, the narrator, with a voice out of an action-movie trailer, says it's "a horror movie come to life."

The series is aimed at giving the public a look at how police handle routine calls, Michael James of the police digital media unit told CBC News.

“The idea was to have a balance — we want to show what our members do on a day-to-day basis but we also want it to be entertaining,” he said.

Using music, gravelly narration and editing tricks to boost the entertainment value of Squad Seven's encounters seems at odds with the theme that this is all in a day's work. But that's not what upsets Tom Engel.

At one point, an officer warns the unseen screamer to come out and he won't be hurt, which Engels claims implies a threat of violence if the man doesn't comply.

“I think it gives the impression that [the police] are trying to avoid — that they abuse their authority,” the lawyer told CBC News.

Engel was also concerned that posting video of the encounter violated the screamer's right to privacy.

“There's Charter breaches, there's rights to privacy breaches, there's EPS policy breaches. I mean — it's unbelievable," he said.

“Why is the EPS trying to put out highly personal information about this individual ... on YouTube?” asked Engel. “Someone is probably going to watch that and know who that guy is.

“They need to have good reasons to publish that kind of information.”

You'll recall Canada Border Services Agency has received similar criticism for taking part in a new reality show Border Security: Canada's Front Line.

Deputy Police Chief Brian Simpson rejected Engel's concerns.

“We’ve run it through our legal in terms of it respecting privacy ... and we’re very considerate of the legal [issues] we have to deal with,” he told CBC News, adding only footage shot in public spaces will be used.

“Our goal here is to educate ... I know we’ll get public input from it, and we’ll be very sensitive to it.”

CTV News says other segments in the 15-episode series will show officers doing impaired-driving stops, responding to gunshot reports, dealing with knife-wielding suspects, domestic-violence incidents and out-of-control house parties.

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It sounds a lot like a typical episode of Cops, or its more sedate Canadian cousin, the defunct To Serve and Protect.

I actually rode along once in an RCMP cruiser with one of that show's videographers, where the high point of the night's action was frisking a kid in droopy-drawers pants for drugs and weapons. Didn't find any.

If really want to see something gripping, you should check out Odd Squad, a cop's eye view of life on the streets of Vancouver's drug-ridden Downtown Eastside.

The videos, often shot by police officers themselves, have been produced since the 1990s. Some segments were used in an award-winning National Film Board documentary Through a Blue Lens, released in 1999. A sequel, Tears for April, was produced in 2007 about the life and death of drug addict April Reoch.

No need for thumping music or action-man narration.