A Different Kind of Force - Policing Mental Illness Co-Director Ed Ou at the 2021 duPont-Columbia Ceremony
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“It is our job to literally traffic in nuance, that is what we do….And I think the biggest tension within our industry is, can we achieve that level of moral complexity with the stories that we do in the time that we have, in a constantly shifting news cycle. And I think that's just a constant battle that I have with both myself, my editors or anyone I work with. And it's difficult, but we try.”
--- Policing Mental Illness Co-Director, Ed Ou
In the 2021 duPont Award-winning documentary, video journalist and veteran conflict reporter Ed Ou embedded with a small San Antonio police unit trained to deal with mental health crises. For over a month, Ou and his partner, Kitra Cahana, collected unflinching, intimate footage of the unit’s work for NBC News’ experimental video unit Left Field. The result, A Different Kind of Force - Policing Mental Illness - is both a raw look at the hardships and complexities of mental illness, and an examination of a possible path to safer, less violent policing.
In a candid conversation with duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen, Ou discusses his very personal connection to the subject, how he grappled with the ethics of capturing mental health crises, and what he hopes his documentary can say about the future of policing in this country.
During the filming, Ou and his partner followed police into the homes of people in crisis, forcing the filmmakers to ask themselves powerful ethical questions: Can a person living with mental illness give consent to be filmed? When working with police, what position of power does a reporter occupy, consciously or not? How do you tell these stories without taking advantage of the subjects?
The complexity was part of what drew Ou to the story. He and his partner were eager to present a nuanced, somewhat hopeful view of an issue that has taken the national stage.
“There is something that really struck me about how these police officers were treating people in emotional distress as human beings, without judgment, without any stigma,” said Ou.
In a fateful twist, months later, Ou himself was subject to police assault while covering Minneapolis protests, but he continues to embrace nuance as he recounts his journalistic - and perhaps surprising - response to being tear gassed and bloodied.