We were at Kensington and Somerset, the big drug corner. We were filming people walking around, hanging out on stoops, riding bikes, driving and doing daily routine things. There were some police officers standing by the El station. We filmed them. Then we noticed more police coming into the corner. Joangel went up to a bike cop and asked if we could talk to him.
"No," he said. "I'm doing a narcotics investigation."
So we stuck around.
It was hard to believe that anyone would be dumb enough to try to buy or sell drugs on the this corner. By now, there were two cops on bikes, two on foot, several cruisers parked or driving around and one SUV. Nothing was unmarked or undercover.
Maybe I was thinking about too many War on Drugs stories and expect SWAT teams and helicopters. The works.
One cruiser ran a red light with its lights on. I thought maybe they just wanted to go through the light like police sometimes do. Then the bike cops rode off and the two officers on foot started walking in that direction. Joangel took the camera and went across the street, trying to get the action from a distance. We drove up to where the police were handcuffing and frisking the arrested. We filmed from the car.
I thought at this point, the police would tell us to scram. But that didn't happen. A resident came up to the car and told us that he thought it was good we were filming it, you know, in case they started roughing up the suspects.
by Danny Barron and Joangel Concepcion. Group 1, Kensington
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