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Within the rapid aftermath of the manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante, a peculiar scene unfolded — some two dozen regulation enforcement brokers in tactical gear clustered across the fugitive. One, holding the leash of a canine, nudged his option to the entrance. One other 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 information 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.
Requested at a information convention in regards to the photograph op, Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police mentioned: “These women and men work amazingly onerous by means of some very attempting circumstances. They’re happy with their work. I’m not bothered in any respect by the truth that they took {a photograph} with him in custody.”
Related questions have surfaced earlier than. In 2021, a photograph of white cops and their canine in Mississippi posing with a captured Black bank robbery suspect drew widespread criticism. In 2015, a Chicago officer was fired after a photo surfaced during which he and one other officer, each of whom have been white, posed with lengthy weapons, flanking a Black suspect carrying antlers.
There are some parallels within the navy, the place the observe of capturing such moments is prohibited partly as a result of the Geneva Conference shields prisoners of struggle from “public curiosity.” Nonetheless, it occurs commonly, if quietly, within the Military and Marine Corps, each with stay detainees and lifeless enemies.
Dave Philipps contributed reporting.
