In the quick aftermath of the manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante, a peculiar scene unfolded — some two dozen legislation enforcement brokers in tactical gear clustered across the fugitive. One, holding the leash of a canine, nudged his option to the entrance. Another knelt with a rifle that had been recovered. A 3rd officer handed off his cellphone to a colleague earlier than becoming a member of the group. Then everybody posed for a photograph.
The second was captured on video by a news helicopter, and criticism swiftly adopted on social media. Some observers thought it was not price memorializing. Others mentioned it was pointless or unfair to make use of Mr. Cavalcante, who appeared to stay expressionless, as an involuntary prop.
Asked at a news convention concerning the picture op, Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police mentioned: “Those men and women work amazingly hard through some very trying circumstances. They’re proud of their work. I’m not bothered at all by the fact that they took a photograph with him in custody.”
Similar questions have surfaced earlier than. In 2021, a photograph of white cops and their canine in Mississippi posing with a captured Black financial institution theft suspect drew widespread criticism. In 2015, a Chicago officer was fired after a photograph surfaced during which he and one other officer, each of whom had been white, posed with lengthy weapons, flanking a Black suspect sporting antlers.
There are some parallels within the army, the place the apply of capturing such moments is prohibited partially as a result of the Geneva Convention shields prisoners of battle from “public curiosity.” Still, it occurs repeatedly, if quietly, within the Army and Marine Corps, each with stay detainees and useless enemies.
Dave Philipps contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com