The Syracuse Police Department addressed Thursday a viral video that has garnered wide criticism across the nation showing a police officer's apprehension of a young boy suspected of larceny over the weekend. 

Portions of two and half hours worth of body cam footage from three officers who were on the scene of the incident on Sunday were shown, in which officials say stemmed from a larceny call on the city's Northside involving juveniles. 

In the video, officers are seen approaching a group of youths, identified in body cam footage as being as young as 8 years old, who allegedly stole several bags of Doritos from a dollar store. 

First Deputy Chief Joe Cecile says the footage shows a positive outcome to an otherwise negative and misleading narrative, as provided by the viral video alone, and that the body cam footage details a more well-rounded look at what transpired that day.

"Some of that video is hard to watch. It's visceral to all of us. You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel that," said Cecile. "But I want to say that the video that was pushed out by the citizen that went viral is only part of the story."

The Syracuse chapter of the NAACP also responded to the video Wednesday morning, saying in part, "The NAACP stands in opposition of this kind of interaction with children. Our position is to protect, care for, and advocate on behalf of children and families in crisis. We continue to seek help and healing for the family and call on our community to unite together to ensure that this kind of incident does not happen again."

Cecile said Wednesday that the officers knew the child they apprehended in the video by name, having had run-ins with him on other occasions. 

"Didn't we just go through this? You were crying in the back of my car?" said one officer in the footage, before demanding one child get off his bike and placing the child in his police SUV. 

In another clip, the child is shown crying in the car, screaming "help" while an officer attempts to keep him in the car. 

A man on the sidewalk with a cell phone is seen filming and confronting the officers from a vantage point the officers presenting the footage say was where the viral video stemmed.

Officers in a third video clip are heard saying, "You're going home. Stop stealing," to the child in the back of the car before bringing the child home and talking with the child's parent. 

"What's happening again today is the three of them riding around the city and going to stores and taking chips and drinks and whatever they want," says one officer to the father. 

A final 10-minute clip was shown of the father and the officers speaking with the juveniles. The father is heard telling the children to keep away from other people's property.

An officer asks the children, "Why do you lock your bikes up?" and the children respond, "So no one takes them." 

The officers then say they would be happy to stop and chat with the children to say "hello" and "be friends" with the children promising to behave themselves before the video ends.

Cecile said it was clear, from watching the footage, that there were sections of the video that were difficult to watch and things that the department could do better, but asks that the community does not discount what went right in the video, particularly the 20 minutes officers are seen interacting with the juveniles and a parent after the incident.

Things he said "were not portrayed by that video and that narrative that went viral," are important to make clear.

"The child was not handcuffed at any time, he was not arrested, he was not taken to jail. The officers knew that child by name and face, granted, not for the reasons we would like them to know that child, but they knew them. They knew where he lived, they knew his parents, and when they took that child home they took the time to engage with that child, with that child's father, with his siblings and talk about what went on. Folks, this is community policing 101," said Cecile.

Mayor Ben Walsh also took the podium Wednesday where he said he went through a series of emotions watching the viral video, but above all felt the frustration of the community, the officers and business owners.

"We need to resist blaming. We're reviewing, discussing and investigating. We need to resist blaming, rather if it's the family, the officers. We're all frustrated," said Walsh. "There are things I'd like to see go better with everyone involved, but if you step back and look at it all, everyone went home safely."

Walsh further detailed that the city of Syracuse has benefitted over the years from an increase in funding and support for more community-based programs to better the relations between residents and the police force. For children, he says programs like "PAL" and community engagement events, such as soccer games he and fellow officers in the video have all been apart of, are steps the city has taken to improve.

He also said that a formal investigation is underway into actions taken by the officers during the event to conclude what actions, if any, need to be taken.

"This was a painful situation for everyone. We will do better, I know we can do better," he said.