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This video is an interesting look into how modern technology, specifically cell phones, has given average citizens a powerful tool to combat police misconduct. The examples shown in this video demonstrate why the right to photograph or record video in public is so important.
[via PetaPixel]
As seen in the above video, Marlon Kautz, an Atlanta man attempting to document police activity, had his cameraphone seized after he refused to stop filming them in a public place. Those police officers then deleted the photos/video of the police activity.
In addition to the $40,000 in damages the City is paying to Kautz to avoid a civil rights lawsuit, the Atlanta Police Department is adopting new operating procedures that prohibit police from interfering with citizens who are recording police activity.
It’s nice to see official police procedures catching up with the First Amendment, eh?
T-Shirt via Street Giant (http://www.streetgiant.bigcartel.com/product/bp-cares)
Freelance photographer, Lance Rosenfield, was confronted and detained by BP security, police officers and a DHS agent in Texas City, Texas as he was working on an assignment for ProPublica/PBS concerning a deadly accident caused by BP’s safety violations in 2005.
According to the report from ProPublica, Rosenfield was told that he would be “taken in” if he did not allow the police to review his photos. Based on the report, when he complied, the police also allowed private representatives of BP to view the images as well. [Read more…]