Police take to Net to talk to public

By EMILIE RAGUSO
eraguso@modbee.com

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The Modesto police have come to a computer screen near you with a program designed to speak straight to the community.

The police have started producing videos about notable arrests, such as a recent chase and Tasing, and public safety messages, including where to find car seat safety checks, said Sgt. Craig Gundlach.

Gundlach says he's not trying to be a newsman, even if he looks like one in the videos.

Modesto Bee - Sgt. Craig Gundlach of the Modesto Police Department addresses a video camera as he reports on police activity.

"With the technology we have today, we should be able to provide information directly," he said. Gund-lach, Modesto police spokesman, plans to upload at least one video a week. The cost of the program is minimal, because the department will not hire anyone to help with recording and editing.

Videos going back to mid-November appear on the site, which had 403 visits in November and more than 600 December visitors through Thursday.

It's not that news media get it wrong, Gundlach said. Newspapers and TV stations have limited space and time, he said, and certain programs, such as the completion of a recent gang education effort aimed at teens, just won't make headlines.

"The community shouldn't have to rely on a third-party source for information," he said.

But these video messages essen- tially are news releases and should be considered with a healthy dose of skepticism, said Robert Gunnison, lecturer and director of school affairs at the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California at Berkeley.

"Cameras can distort, from where you choose to stand, to what you choose to put in," he said. "Any television station or Web site that uses the videos should clearly identify them as being prepared and edited by the Police Department."

Defense attorney Tim Bazar, who works for the Stanislaus County public defender's office, said police need to keep privacy in mind. Bazar is no expert in privacy rights but, he said, even in shows such as "Cops," which highlights arrests by law enforcement officers, people's faces often are blurred unless they've signed a release.

"If they're at a scene and police are videotaping them being arrested," he said, "it seems to me a little bit of civil peril."

Gundlach got the idea for the videos from a training session by Oxnard police spokesman David Keith. Oxnard is about an hour's drive from Los Angeles. Keith had approached his police chief, saying Oxnard should try making videos, after Keith's son, Michael, showed him how easy it was to upload self-created footage to YouTube.

"I thought it was amazing that the whole world could click on the computer and see his video," he said. "If it's that simple, we as police could use the technology to educate the community about crime prevention."

The chief embraced it, once he learned that the equipment would cost only $2,500.

"His eyes got big," Keith said. " 'Spend it, spend it, spend it. Here's my credit card,' " Keith said the chief told him. That was several months ago. The department has produced 100 videos. The effort takes about an hour a day, Keith said. Videos have gotten 300 to 3,000 hits on the Oxnard police Web site. Videos also appear on YouTube, as podcasts and on local television.

Departments around California and in New York and Phoenix have followed Keith's lead, he said. As far as he knows, the Oxnard police were the first to try regular videos. More than 30 departments have called him to learn more. In October, Gund- lach attended a Livermore workshop Keith ran to share the skills.

Modesto Councilwoman Kristin Olsen said many organizations want their messages on the Internet.

"The entire city, including the Police Department, is exploring new ways to reach out," said Ol- sen, senior director of public and legislative affairs for California State University, Stanislaus. "It's a creative way to reach the citizens of Modesto in a world that is becoming more and more visual."

Stanislaus County created a "virtual television network" on its new Web site, http:// stancounty.com/MYTV, said David Jones, the county's communications director. He produces a monthly program that has offered advice on safe winter driving and has reported what kids fear about walking to school, among other stories.

It's not sexy stuff. It's nuts-and-bolts information on what's happening in the county.

"I don't have to bring the 'new' element. I don't have to come up with the dramatic twist," he said. "For mainstream media outlets, the stories we cover may not be attractive enough."

The video news release might be a new format, but the approach was no surprise to UC Berkeley School of Law Professor Charles Weisselberg. He cautioned that news organizations should not be dazzled by the new medium into forgetting to verify the information.

"The police department wants to communicate its views unfiltered," he said. "We're at a time when many folks in the media print news releases or other things from advocacy organizations uncritically or without very much checking. To the extent this happens, a police department might take advantage of it. But that's not the fault of the police department."

Bee staff writer Emilie Raguso can be reached at eraguso@modbee.com or 578-2235.