A man in Hainault, East London – near the Central Line – went on a rampage yesterday with a sword, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring two others. He was stopped by police officers armed with nothing other than tasers and the moment was seen by a security camera.
Not all the details of the horrific incident are known, like motive, but the bravery of the officers is evident (though I feel I should warn you that their language is somewhat fruity – here we repost the video as posted by the Guardian since they've added fewest captions save for a warning).
Police put out a request for doorbell and security camera footage, which is perhaps why some mainstream media outlets like The Guardian have attributed the video as 'Doorbell camera' footage even though the angle will tell any photographer, or anyone who has installed a doorbell or home security camera, that it's unlikely anyone would place a doorbell above head height.
It might, perhaps, say more about how the term 'doorbell footage' is creeping into police procedure.
Interestingly some commenters thought the suspect had has his face blurred, whereas to be honest I think what we're seeing is what happens when fast-moving action is caught by slightly dirty lenses at a low bit rate – the compression can't quite keep up.
Certainly what we see here – a camera struggling to handle the light (but, to be fair, choosing to expose for the subjects rather than the pavement), and having only limited detail for objects in movement isn't unusual for home cameras, and it's worth remembering that there may be compression and re-compression in the process of news media posting the video, which begs some questions.
That's why, in the guides to the best outdoor security cameras and best doorbell cameras, I tend to favor higher-resolution options.
In terms of the news story, we will leave that to other outlets, but there is little more to say other than that it happened yesterday; the police haven't yet revealed the names of the victim or other injured parties, or interview the 36-year-old man seen being arrested.
