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The Cleveland Police live-streamed from a chopper flying over RNC protests

The Cleveland Police live-streamed from a chopper flying over RNC protests

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Over the past few months, live-streaming video on social media has hit a critical mass. The stories have ranged from the absurd to the tragic, the local to the global. Just last week the tools shed light on a police-involved shooting and the attempted military coup in Turkey. Facebook Live and Periscope have given viewers an on-the-ground view of what’s happening in the world where television cameras haven’t been in the past.

But streaming video isn’t just for civilians — and it doesn’t only work on the ground.

This week the Cleveland Police Department is engaging with large protests at the Republican National Convention. As is customary, it is using its helicopters to get a bird's-eye view of the situation (likely to report crowd movements to units on the ground).

But there’s something incredibly peaceful about looking at a city from above, as we can in this Periscope from the Cleveland PD. It’s encouraging to watch a streaming video involving the police and not see tanks in the streets or unjust acts of violence. It’s a not so subtle attempt by police to literally share their view with the people they're sworn to protect.