At a time when the conversation surrounding police brutality and accountability has captivated the public, many welcomed the use of body cameras following the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer.
But much of the footage released from those cameras has followed officer-involved shootings of unarmed, and predominantly black, men.
In a video prefaced with the words "the video you won't see on the evening news," Tampa police compiled nearly four minutes of body camera footage in an attempt to show what officers experience every day — from the pleasant to the ugly.
"When you see body camera video on the news, it is typically a tragic incident. But those are isolated, rare incidents that don’t really capture the majority of officers and what we deal with on a daily basis," Tampa Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.
The first clip shows a man cursing at an officer while being issued a ticket. It is followed by footage of a driver who blows ashes from his cigarette onto the officer while refusing to accept his citation.
In another clip, a person appears in front of the officer seemingly calm. The video freezes and the words "now this was unexpected" appears before the man smashes through a glass door and runs away from chasing officers.
But the montage also shows Tampa officers helping citizens in the community. From bicycle chain and wheelchair repairs to helping a driver change his flat tire, the video illustrates "people at their best and their worst."
U.S. & World
As of 8:30 a.m. Friday, the post had been viewed more than 800,000 times and had 10,000 "reactions" ranging from like to love and even wow.
The post had been shared more than 17,000 times.
