How Sarah Schielke Leverages Technology To Hold Police Accountable

Star Wars. Avengers. Spider-Man. All blockbusters with monster openings. When Sarah Schielke releases a video, she might not rack up those kinds of numbers — but she sure makes police departments sit up and pay attention. Armed with body camera footage, a YouTube channel, and a keen understanding of social media dynamics, this Colorado-based civil rights attorney isn't just winning cases; she's also changing how police misconduct is exposed and addressed.

"I don't do anything fear-based in my practice," Schielke asserts. "I don't find that that produces good outcomes." Instead, she employs a potent combination of legal acumen and digital savvy that’s turned traditional civil rights litigation on its head.

The Horrific Case of Karen Garner

Schielke's approach was crystallized in the case of Karen Garner, a 73-year-old woman with dementia whose violent arrest for shoplifting $14 worth of items became national news. By strategically releasing body camera footage, Schielke didn't just win a settlement — she sparked a nationwide conversation about police use of force and accountability.

The need for increased police accountability has never been more apparent. A recent case in Tennessee highlights this urgency. In December 2023, Thomas Manis was arrested for driving under the influence despite being completely sober. Body camera footage revealed troubling conduct by the arresting officers, including assumptions of guilt and the deliberate muting of audio during crucial moments of the arrest. This incident underscores the importance of transparency in policing and the potential for abuse when oversight is lacking.

Sarah Schielke's approach to civil rights litigation centers on the strategic use of video evidence. By obtaining and releasing body camera footage, she brings public attention to cases that might otherwise go unnoticed. The impact of this strategy was dramatically illustrated in the case of Garner. Schielke's release of the body cam footage, along with a later video showing officers laughing about the incident, led to national outrage and swift action against the officers involved.

To amplify the reach of these videos, Schielke created a YouTube channel where she posts both edited and unedited versions of body camera footage. This approach maintains public interest in ongoing cases while applying pressure on law enforcement agencies and municipalities to address misconduct. "Civil litigation itself moves horrifically slowly. Molasses. My clients need justice now. Part of justice is making sure the officer that hurt them isn’t able to do it again to someone else. By ensuring a very public release of the bodycam videos with my filing of these lawsuits, I can get that part of the justice far more quickly.” She explains: “Those in government and those with power may not react much to being handed a stack of lawsuits on paper. But public outrage and public scrutiny? Media attention and an angry community demanding answers? That’s a very different story. These are the real things that drive cities and police agencies to get rid of bad officers. Public exposure is powerful.”

Sarah Schielke: Breaking the Cycle of Injustice

Beyond raising awareness, Schielke is also challenging traditional customs around settlement in her civil rights cases. In Schielke’s opinion, the perceived difficulty of civil rights cases (driven primarily, Schielke notes, “by the courts’ jaw-dropping expansion of qualified immunity over the past several decades”) combined with the plaintiff in a typical civil rights case often being indigent has resulted in “a culture of rock bottom settlements” that she says “grossly discount the real value of the plaintiff’s loss and, even worse, let the offending police officer stay employed.” She says this has perpetuated a cycle of injustice, particularly for vulnerable populations. Schielke believes that her leveraging public engagement and media attention aids in obtaining higher settlements and compensation for her clients, which she says she also endeavors to make as public as possible, because its critical for “resetting the benchmarks.” 

“Full justice in these cases often means a significant monetary award,” she declares. “For too long the insurance defense lawyers have been brainwashing people into thinking their police misconduct lawsuits aren’t worth much unless they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. That’s bull. I don’t care about what my client spent out of pocket. That’s not the damages. That’s not how you value this type of case. The value of the case is measured by the betrayal of trust. We trust police to follow the rules and keep us safe. When I get a civil rights lawsuit and go to value the damages, I’m measuring the betrayal of trust. Not just my client’s, either. The community’s too.”  Explains Schielke: “These aren’t personal injury cases. They’re far more important than that. At the core of each one is a citizen whose summoned the courage to try and hold those in government who abuse their power accountable. At the core of each one is a citizen willing to risk more oppression, more governmental retaliation, in order to see vindication of the civil rights that this country promised them. Not just for themselves, but for everyone else too. These cases may not seem patriotic but in truth, that’s exactly what they are. They are the fight against tyranny of government, they are the battlegrounds of keeping our civil liberties alive in America.” 

Central to Schielke's mission is the fight for greater transparency in policing. This is why she also advocates strongly against policies that allow officers to mute their body cameras, arguing that "good cops don't need mute." This stance is particularly relevant in light of cases like the Tennessee DUI arrest, where crucial audio was deliberately turned off. Schielke contends that unedited audio is vital in revealing the true conduct and attitudes of officers during interactions with the public.

Influencing the Legal Landscape

Sarah Schielke's innovative methods are beginning to influence the broader legal landscape. Other attorneys are adopting her techniques, and some police departments have implemented policy changes in response to her cases. For instance, following multiple wrongful DUI arrest lawsuits filed by Schielke, Fort Collins Police Services reportedly changed their policies to require automatic review of cases where blood tests come back negative for drugs or alcohol.

However, these efforts are not without challenges. Law enforcement agencies and unions often resist such scrutiny, and there are sometimes ethical considerations in releasing videos to the public. Balancing the public's right to know with privacy concerns remains an ongoing challenge.

Despite these obstacles, Schielke remains committed to her approach. "The sadness and the loss of security that my clients feel after having their trust betrayed by police, it’s heavy. They will never get back the who they were, the person that trusted, before it happened. Having my job being to fight for person after person experiencing this type of internal crisis can get you jaded very quickly," she admits. However, she finds motivation in the potential for meaningful change.

As technology continues to evolve, so too will the methods used to hold law enforcement accountable. Sarah Schielke's innovative approach serves as a model for how civil rights attorneys can leverage these tools to fight for justice and transparency. While the road ahead may be bumpy, her work demonstrates the potential for technology to reshape civil rights law and policing practices, ultimately leading to a more just and accountable system.