GO BEHIND THE HEADLINES and behind the wheel of a police cruiser as it pursues a speeding minivan on a harrowing high-speed chase through Alabama. The police dashboard video comes to a dramatic, and damning, conclusion when the minivan flips, the driver is ejected, and - as he lay unconscious - police officers move in and unleash kicks and punches upon the suspect.

A voracious debate is underway in the comments section on the originating web site between those that agree with the dismissal of the police officers and those that feel the suspect 'got what he deserved'. Clearly, the officers are fuelled with adrenaline and roiled further by the fact that a fellow officer is partially run down by the minivan while he is trying to lay out a spoke belt. But are the officers exacting their own street justice upon the suspect, or do we expect a level of professional detachment in such situations? Video of the incident is available to watch below.

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Birmingham police beating video: Five officers fired (May 20, The Birmingham News)
"Five Birmingham police officers have been fired for a January 2008 beating of an already-unconscious suspect with fists, feet and a billy club, a battering caught on videotape until a police officer turned off the patrol car camera ..." read article

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Advisory: this video contains violent images.

THE DEBATE This incident is just the latest example in a YouTube-fed trend whereby everyday life, including alleged incidents of police brutality, is caught on camera, uploaded, and available for the world to watch. Is this a good thing? This question prompted The Agenda with Steve Paikin to host a debate called Policing in a YouTube Era.

This discussion originally aired on April 16, 2009 and features Christopher Dunn from New York Civil Liberties Union; Raymond E. Foster, Los Angeles Police Department (Ret.); Michael Kempa of the University of Ottawa; William McCormack, former chief of the Toronto Police Service; and John Sewell from the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER Should the Alabama officers have been fired? Is the proliferation of cameras and lenses in our society a good thing? The Agenda also asked a poll question during the program: The Toronto Police Service has cameras set up in certain parts of the city's downtown core. Should they expand this plan? You can weigh-in on that question and submit your vote here.