Idiot on Tape!

From the Examiner titled "Police training video camera on after-bar crowds
New Year's Eve expected to be busy for officers"

BURLINGAME One minute you're outside a Burlingame Avenue bar among a crowd brimming with holiday spirits the next, you're starring in a homemade video shot by the Burlingame police. The Police Department has confirmed it uses a video camera when breaking up crowds in the city's Burlingame Avenue bar neighborhood, a problematic weekend hot spot that occasionally requires the department to seek assistance from outside police agencies. Videotaping isn't established policy at the department it happens once a month or less and the camera is used primarily during popular nights around Thanksgiving and the upcoming New Year's Eve, Cmdr. Mike Matteucci said Thursday.

Police departments sometimes use footage as evidence, but Matteucci said video of crowds downtown hasn't been used for that yet, though the department has been behind the camera for more than a year. Though Matteucci said there were plans to show the Burlingame City Council the footage so they could have a grasp on what was going on downtown, that hasn't happened yet, either. We never got to see the video,? Councilmember Terry Nagel said. They said it might be more helpful to do a ride-along.? Neither Nagel nor the Police Department could say exactly why those plans fell through. It's just basically more for our information for training and to anticipate future problems,? Matteucci said when asked about the uses of the tapes. The camera is also used at crime scenes and during field sobriety tests because the department does not have dash-mounted devices, he said. Cmdr. Brad Floyd recently called the camera a pre-emptive tool. If we have issues with loud, large parties or fights or incidents where we are tying to get people to disperse, no matter where it is, we will use the video camera as a tool,? he said. Most people don't want to be on video acting like an idiot.?

Blush Nightclub co-owner Rob Doss said he was surprised when he first saw police focusing a camera on crowds on the night before Thanksgiving this year. Despite regular meetings with the department, he didn't know about their plans. It's kind of sneaky, I guess,? Doss said. We tell them what we're doing, we try to be upfront with them.? Doss said that although the police videotaping seems like something from a George Orwell book, the footage from Thanksgiving would show how well-behaved the crowds were.

Matteucci said a bolstered police force would be on hand Saturday night for New Year's Eve festivities

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- Written by Fiona

Comments

[GUS]

I have seen that camera in use more than a dozen times. I think the City Council would be shocked by the public behavior that is displayed downtown on the weekends. It is truly disgusting. Besides the fighting, I frequently see both men and women ducking into store fronts and urinating on the ground and the side of buildings. BPD issues many citations each week. A ride-along on a Friday or Saturday night would be a real eye openener for the Council.

[Susie]

I understand the use of the camera if the officer is speaking to a suspect - it is actually safer for the officer and the suspect...

However, I do not feel it is appropriate to be driving around taping people to then later show it at a meeting - seems very big brother-ish with a bit of reality tv mixed in-

If the council is wondering what goes on they should go on a ride along with an officer- that way they are experiencing first hand rather than on an edited video.

[Likeweredumb]

Is this Blush nightclub owner really that dumb. First of all he should try and look at the parking lot the morning after and see the small clear plastic baggies used to store rocks of cocaine.

Not only is the drug use rampid in the club but it is also taking place in the parking lot during and after club activities.

Citizens of Burlingame need to get this club out of our town. It is a magnet for trouble.

Time for our new Council to take a ride.

Maybe it is time for our mayor and councilmembers to call Chief van Etten and find out what is going on in and around this nightclub during and after hours. Perhaps it is also time for a "concerned resident" to sit in their car in the parking lot one weekend evening and take notes for the council and other concerned residents.

[GUS]

I used to see the Burlingame Public Works guys scrubbing down the Ave. on Saturday and Sunday mornings around 6am. I'm sure the City does not want the decent public going to Starbucks to see the dope bags, vomit, urine, and garbage on the street.