AIBU about filming incidents?

[MsStillwell]

This is something that happened yesterday that's been playing on my mind.

Whilst shopping, I came across a couple of men fighting. They were drug addicts squabbling outside the pharmacy about £4 that one still owed/had already paid the other. One male passerby was attempting to calm things down, another male passerby had stopped to do the same as me - see if he could help and generally support the man who was intervening.

What really got my goat was the people who stopped to do nothing but film. Why do people do this? I said to one young female, "I don't think you should be filming this" and she replied, "Yeah well they shouldn't be doing it". I have more respect for people who carry on walking and don't get involved.

When I was growing up people who stopped to gawp at things like this were called ghouls and it was a shameful thing to do. Now it passes as an opportunity to get likes. It's behaviour that seems completely lacking in human kindness, dignity and respect.

The police often ask for any footage of incidents from passers by. Personally I'd walk past as I wouldn't want to get involved but I don't think it's entirely unhelpful to film.

As an officer, i was stood blocking members of the public walking over a bridge in the park, a medi helicopter had just landed for a young person who was very injured down below us on the train tracks.

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when a male sauntered over with his dog to hang over the side and have a look, phone in hand. I told him no and to go away and he got very defensive and told me 'i just wanted to take a photo!" And tried again, once again i told him no and had to bite my tongue as i wanted to tell him id throw his bastarding phone off the bridge if he tried again.

The police often ask for any footage of incidents from passers by. Personally I'd walk past as I wouldn't want to get involved but I don't think it's entirely unhelpful to film.

I've always taken that as acceptance of reality rather than recommendation on how to behave in future.

I'm not too sure about that op tbh. Neighbourhood watch here have advised people to call the police if they see incidents, stand somewhere and film if safe to do so.

I'm not saying that the people filming the incident you describe definitely had good intentions but I don't think it's always clear cut

God I hate those ghouls. There was a terrible incident where a poor woman was killed in a RTA on the M50 in Dublin, people filmed her disarticulated remains and uploaded it online, before the family were even informed. Pure voyeurism.

These people disgust me in a visceral way. There should be robust laws to deal with them.

@AfterSchoolWorry I’m with you 100%

A friend was taken ill, and was lowered unconscious out of his bedroom window in a stretcher (not UK). Wife went outside and put paid to anyone filming him (she is a very formidable woman). Husband furious - "I wanted to see it on Facebook - I missed it, I was unconscious".

Just posted as an amusing story, not as an argument for filming.

I can see the point in filming if you think there might be a need for evidence later, but not simply for your own gratification.

It doesn't even sound that dramatic.
Two people rowing over £4. Who cares enough to film?

most of this shit probably ends up on fb and sm.

I once took a photo of a guy stealing a bike. I could tell what he was doing, he could see that I could see him but it was dark and I was in no hurry to get stabbed by him so I didn't interfere. I just took a picture of him in action, notified the police and later also the victim as it took place around the corner from a gym and just went to reception and told them.

The guy was well known by the police so the bike was found pretty swiftly.

I think in cases where you know a crime is being committed the more evidence the better. In cases where an action has already been completed and there are victims suffering like in some of the examples above I think it's appalling to film or photograph.

I will never forget reading about a woman who went into labour in the street during winter

A huge crowd of people arrived. Did they help? No they got their phones out to film.

Not one of them chose to call for medical help despite the poor woman pleading for help

It’s utterly grim. Standing there like voyeurs with their phones out, they look ridiculous.

“” I have more respect for people who carry on walking and don't get involved.””
But you didn’t just walk by either.

For me, it really depends on the circumstances. Who's involved, what's happening, if people are dead/dying, if there's something they could do to help if they weren't filming, if it's a dangerous situation where they might be afraid to get involved but can help provide evidence of what actually took place, etc.

In the situation described in the OP, it does seem that people would've been filming because they found it amusing or entertaining in some way, which is distasteful.

I do find it creepy that the first instinct of so many is to start filming. Some of the things people stand by and film (vicious beatings where a number of people gang up against one person) are completely disgusting and infuriating, but on the other hand, that film can be valuable in identifying the criminals, even if that wasn't the intention of the person filming and sharing it...

I witnessed a terrible assault on 2 vulnerable people

I cannot say too much about it as it would be outing

I could not get physically involved as I was wearing shoes that were uncomfortable to walk in let alone fight in (steel toecaps)

I phoned 999 and, at some risk to myself, followed the perpetrators and victims while on the phone to the police

I witnessed another assault while on the phone to the cops

The cop who arrived didn't seem to want to get involved and wanted me to leave, which I did but it left me feeling very uncomfortable

Later on I spoke to another cop on the phone who reassured me that they had attended and dealth with the situation but did not say what had happened

I enquired further and discovered that the incident has been NFAd

I made a complaint, ended up speaking to a sargeant who told me that there was no CCTV in the area and that I should have taken a video if I wanted the police to take action

my reporting the asault to the police had actually put the victims at risk of further violence

If I ever encounter another horrific incident like this one ever again I will video it before I do anything else, unless I can intervene physically to protect the victim/s.

Don't assume that people who are filming any violent or antisocial event are doing so for salacious purposes, they may be trying to help

It depends on the situation. It's not something I'd actively do, but if it felt appropriate I would. Imagine if people hadn't filmed George Floyd being murdered.

can see the point in filming if you think there might be a need for evidence later, but not simply for your own gratification
Exactly, so nobody should be putting these films on SM ro share with anyone other than the police.

I agree op. Very rarely people are doing it to provide evidence (like Swedishk) but most of the time it’s because they are enjoying whatever they’re watching and they want something to share online later. Before the time of mobile phones I was attacked walking home from school and a few people stopped to watch, I remember looking at them and their blank faces looking back like I was a tv screen. People are shit.

I was in a car accident a few years ago and was stuck in the car, people stopped to look and to even film it on their phones. A man from the shop next to it ran over and chased them all off then stayed with me until the emergency services arrived. Out of the dozen or so people there, he was the only one to have rang 999. When I was in the ambulance having an initial check over there was a persistent knock on the side door, the paramedic opened it and there were three or four people there "we're just wondering if she's okay, we hope she's alright..." Bullshit were they checking out of concern because their necks were on stalks trying to see past him into the rear of the ambulance. He gave them short shrift and shut the door then told me it happens all the time at accidents.

Some people are scum.

Used to happen all the time at the police. I remember a little boy getting hit by a bus and loads of people had their phones out filming. Nothing short of disgusting.

There's a world of difference between recording a potential crime in progress (two drug addicts fighting) and recording the aftermath of an accident.

Recording a crime is sometimes helpful. It enables the police to tell exactly what is going on and helps secures a conviction. Would it have been better if nobody had been filming George Floyd's death? Or was the fact there was video evidence "helpful" in shining a light on alleged police brutality? If he hadn't have died, had just cooperated with the police and been arrested, would the people who filmed it be accused of rubbernecking?

I am appalled by stories of people filming road accidents or prying into ambulances when the emergency services have the situation in hand - but recording an incident in progress is not the same as that idiot who took the blankets off the bodies of Grenfell Tower fatalities to take pictures of them.

One of my daughters has narcolepsy. There are more people who will film her when she has cataplexy than try and help. As a teenage girl it makes living with a health condition even harder.

The only time it's been remotely useful is when an even scummier person took the time she was on the ground as a chance to steal her bag.

Stopping and filming is often smarter than trying to intervene, it’s normally safer.
Filming doesn’t mean they are automatically going to upload it to the internet they could just be filming so if someone gets hurt they can hand the footage over to the police.

I hate it. A car caught fire on the motorway near me and some fucker was filming it, the driver was trapped inside and died - why would you want to film that? Its twisted.