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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Four SoCal men have been killed by police in less than a week

    Four SoCal men have been killed in confrontations with police in less than a week. In the most recent incident, officers were wearing body cameras. What effect do body cams have on police behavior?

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    By Madeleine Brand • Oct 3, 2016 • 52m Listen

    Four Southern California men have been killed in confrontations with police in less than a week. In one of the recent shootings, LAPD officers were wearing body cameras. Body cams are seen by many as a valuable tool to reducepolice violence – that officers will be less likely to shoot or assault a suspect if they know their actions are being recorded. But is that true? Then, Gordon Davidson, considered the patriarch of Los Angeles theater, has died. KCRW theater critic Anthony Byrnes worked with Davidson and joined Press Play for a remembrance. Next, for more than two decades, filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has traveled the world with her camera capturing footage for documentaries. Now, she’s cut some of that footage into a film of her own: a meditation on what it means to turn a camera on the world, aptly named “Cameraperson.” And finally, the true identity of the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante has, allegedly, been revealed, but many fans and other writers are not happy about it.

    Image: A woman protests in the face of a police officer wearing a body camera as people protest the death of Alfred Olango, who was shot by El Cajon police Tuesday, by blocking traffic near the parking lot where he was shot in El Cajon, California, U.S. September 29, 2016. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon

    In this episode

    5 stories
    1. 0:31

      Study: Complaints against police drop when cops wear body cams

      Two black men were shot and killed by police over the weekend. In one of the shootings, LAPD gang officers were wearing body cameras. Body cameras are seen by many as a valuable tool to reduce police violence – that officers will be less likely to shoot or assault a suspect if they know their actions are being recorded. But is that true?

      Read the story
      12 min
    2. 12:10

      Four SoCal men have been killed by police in less than a week

      An 18-year-old man named Carnell Snell Jr. was shot and killed by police Saturday afternoon in South Los Angeles. LAPD said that Snell and another man ran from a car that police suspected was stolen, and that Snell had a gun and was turning toward police when he was shot.

      Read the story
      7 min
    3. 20:22

      Patriarch of Los Angeles theater, Gordon Davidson, dies at 83

      Gordon Davidson, considered the patriarch of Los Angeles theater, died Sunday night at the age of 83.

      Read the story
      8 min
    4. 29:07

      'Cameraperson': a meditation on a life behind the camera

      For more than two decades, filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has traveled the world with her camera capturing footage for documentaries. She filmed the desperation of war-torn Sudan and the stories of sexual assault victims in the American military; she followed French philosopher Jacques Derrida as he tossed out bon mots.

      Read the story
      14 min
    5. 44:03

      Elena Ferrante’s 'unmasking' is causing outrage

      The true identity of the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante has, allegedly, been revealed, but many fans and other writers are not happy about it. Elena Ferrante is the pen name of a bestselling author who’s been publishing anonymously for almost a quarter of a century.

      Read the story
      8 min
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Matt Holzman

      Producer, 'The Document'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jolie Myers

      Managing Producer, 'Press Play'

      News

    In this episode

    5 stories
    1. 0:3112 min

      Study: Complaints against police drop when cops wear body cams

    2. 12:107 min

      Four SoCal men have been killed by police in less than a week

    3. 20:228 min

      Patriarch of Los Angeles theater, Gordon Davidson, dies at 83

    4. 29:0714 min

      'Cameraperson': a meditation on a life behind the camera

    5. 44:038 min

      Elena Ferrante’s 'unmasking' is causing outrage

    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand