“911, what’s your emergency?” looks at how reported crimes are shared in a time when everyone is looking at their phone.
I grew up in rural America in the 1970s. Our local newspaper, The Tri-County Times, was published weekly and the “Off the Police Blotter” column was always a highlight. Here, for 20¢, the community learned of cows escaping their confines, a motorist losing a hubcap after hitting a dangerous pothole, or even a piano falling out of a pickup and shattering all over Main Street.
It’s now 2021 and I live in Los Angeles. The physical newspaper has been replaced by digital versions read on my iPhone, iPad, or iMac, I even get alerts on my iWatch. In late 2019 I installed Citizen. This app delivers real-time alerts of incidents reported in my vicinity, along with user-generated videos and comments.
Shocked to see how much was going on within a few miles of my Hollywood home, I began taking screenshots of the more humorous and brow-raising reports, later documenting the scene of the crimes. The result is a less than glamorous – sometimes hilarious – collection of 100% real happenings in Los Angeles.
