The police have decided to take matters into their own hands and release content to the public on social media; however, it raises concerns about its possible content unfriendly nature.
One of such content is an eight-minute video posted on the department of Douglas County social media account. It shows an edited view of the events that led to Deputy Zack Parrish’s death on Dec. 31 inside an apartment complex south of Denver, after he was fatally wounded by Matthew Riehl who also struck four other officers while being taken into custody.
The video posted on Jan. 8, has been considered a dramatic approach in releasing information to the public by open government advocates. They do believe in there being nothing wrong with communicating through social media and urge for complete transparency but the worry of possible bypass of traditional media questions.
The Douglas County’s Sheriff defended the release of the video after denying journalists’ open-records request for complete footage, in an interview with The Associated Press nine days after the shooting. The Sheriff’s office also released roughly 50 hours of unedited body camera video the same day of the AP with no portion deemed erroneous, however, body camera footage of Parrish was not released due to its sensitive content nor was there of the SWAT unit who killed the shooter as they don’t wear them.
