In the search for domestic security, many in the law enforcement community have taken to trampling on the rights of American citizens. Many people feel their safety, and the safety of the community as a whole, trumps the 1st Amendment rights of photographers and videographers. There are three areas where photographers have run into the most trouble: national security concerns as they relate to photographing public spaces, confrontations at protests, and citizens recording their own encounters with law enforcement. The law clearly comes down on the side of those with the cameras, but when the law is supposed to be enforced by those who are flagrantly abusing it, there seems to be little people can do to protect themselves.
In an effort to prevent America from another 9/11, police and other security personal are trying to limit anyone from photographing public spaces and buildings. They are threatening to take film, memory cards, and oftentimes the cameras themselves unless the photographers cease and desist. The thinking is that they are preventing the planning of a suicide bomb-type terrorist attack. In reality they are limiting the access of American citizens to public places. The law clearly states that not only can you photograph public places, you can take pictures or video of private land if you are standing in a public place. Despite the law clearly coming down on the side of individual liberties, security guard and police officers are consistently harassing photographers.
One of the effects of the nation’s increasingly polarizing political climate is an increase in the number of protests, both legitimate and illegal. These protesters are using their rights under the 1st Amendment to publicly state their opinion. Although many of these protests are perfectly legal, law enforcement is generally called in. Their presence is used to ensure not only that law and order is maintained but that the protesters and their opponents are both kept safe. Many people, both professional photographers and ordinary citizens, are documenting these protests for the news, their artistic endeavors, or simply because photography is their hobby. Law enforcement officials have been documented repeatedly taking cameras from people; oftentimes they are refusing to acknowledge press passes. These actions fly in the face of an open and democratic society. Individuals often feel they have no recourse, but large news organizations and civil rights groups are suing police departments and individual officers in an effort to curb these flagrant abuses of power.
Many people who find themselves on the wrong end of police aggression, and even those who just witness excessive force, are using cell phones and digital cameras with video capability to film their brush with the law. They seem to (rightly) feel that in a post-Rodney King era it is to their benefit to have these encounters documented. In many cases this leads to the destruction of their personal property at the hands of sworn peace officers. Other times this leads to the arrest of the videographer. New York City has had to pay out several large sums of money to people falsely arrested for videotaping police officers harassing them. They even had to compensate someone for their arrest while taking pictures in the subway, clearly an illegal arrest as discussed above.
This harassment of law-abiding citizens, all in the name of safety, only reiterates the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin. He wisely said that “those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”  Though police officers are for the most part here to protect the public, people need to educate themselves on their rights, demand that the police respect them, and in the worst cases should sue to make sure the authorities are aware of exactly what they are violating.
Posted by Becky on May 4, 2010 at 3:25pm.
