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See update below: Police chief refuses to investigate

Video has emerged which shows a platoon of riot police on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh taking a group portrait with a prisoner who is handcuffed behind his back. The prisoner is walked into the center of the group of officers and posed by the police so that he is down in front on both knees. The officer who is taking the photograph is wearing a white shirt. In New York City this would mean that he is a supervisor, but we do not know the police agency involved in this incident.

I have certainly seen police officers in riot gear taking souvenir photographs at mass demonstrations before, especially if they have traveled from other jurisdictions. But I have never seen police officers pose as a group in front of a handcuffed prisoner on the street. It is almost unfathomable that these law enforcement officers are doing so.

We are attempting to find out more details about this scene, in particular which agency these officers belong to and what other images may exist of this scene. If you have any more information about this scene or this video, you may write to us via email. But you should know that our email is not secure, so please send only information that you would not mind being shared publicly.

Update:

WDUQ, Pittsburgh's National Public Radio station, reports that the Pittsburgh police are refusing to look into the circumstances of a trophy photograph taken by police during a G20 arrest, featuring a handcuffed, kneeling prisoner:

Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper [...] said he was aware of the video but did not know who took the picture or why and he is not investigating the incident because there are more important things to investigate such as homicides.

This is a pretty outrageous statement by the chief of police: that he is not concerned enough about what appears to be the abuse and humiliation of a prisoner to even consider whether the officers involved broke any rules. And raising the idea that homicide detectives might be taken away from their duties for a misconduct investigation is absurd. With over 900 sworn personnel, the Pittsburgh police department is not exactly Mayberry R.F.D., with only a single sheriff and a bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on staff.

Instead, Chief Harper may wish to diminish the importance of looking into police misconduct because he is about to be up to his eyeballs in investigations. Three Pittsburgh city agencies have already announced separate investigations into the actions of police during the G20. It seems likely that someone outside of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police may think the taking of souvenir photographs with posed arrestees also cries out for an explanation.