Archive for the 'Harassment' Category

National Photographer’s Rights Day is Today

NPRD PhotographersNational Photographers’ Rights Day – June 1, 2008

Today is National Photographer’s Rights Day, so we hope you’re out exercising your First Amendment rights to take pictures in public like we were doing this afternoon.

As you all know, it’s completely legal to take photos in public space.  Some people are catching on; some people aren’t. These things do take time, but  we do believe we have had far more successes than setbacks since the creation of the National Photographers’ Rights Organization in 2008.

In the past we’ve held a gathering on this day to bring photographers of all kinds together to take pictures, share stories, educate anybody who is willing to listen, and to demonstrate that there’s nothing wrong with taking photos in public.

However, we’ve been busy over the past year or so with general life stuff, not to mention an ACLU lawsuit against the LA County Sheriff’s Department.  So we have not been as active as we’d liked to have been. We’re still around though, and we do have some future photography events and trips in the works; there’s also plans to have a seminar and a photography walk with ACLU staff.  So stay tuned.

And in case you forgot, here are your rights.

LA County Sheriffs Unlawfully Detain Photographer (again), Illegally Search his Bag

Despite having a federal lawsuit against the The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, photographer Shawn Nee, was detained yet again and had his bag searched without his consent, violating his 1st and 4th Amendment rights.

Big City Cops: Let Them Hate, So Long As They Fear


Big City Cops is a Facebook page where police officers can visit to exercise their First Amendment rights, while voicing their violent frustrations against a society that is quickly losing respect and trust for all police officers.  Their logo is a skull and crossbones and their motto is, Oderint dum metuant.

Which translates to…LET THEM HATE, SO LONG AS THEY FEAR.

How fitting from a bunch of people who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.

You’d think that the good cops (Hello…are you out there?) in this country would be tired of this behavior and would finally speak out and help rip the badges of the chests of bad cops.  Because we all know that it’s not the good cops, but the criminal cops and the silent cops who are creating a massive divide between the public and law enforcement.

In today’s society, a rogue cop is no longer the cop who violently assaults a handcuff individual, but rather the officer who blows the whistle on his fellow officers who are breaking the law and violating our civil rights.  This type of cop does not exist  on Big City Cops.

I suggest you take a look at the page because there’s all kinds of insightful comments from bootlickers and self-labeled heroes.  Here’s a few for your enjoyment:

Chris Colburn Keep up the good work BCC! School these cop hating retards! Yeah, I said it, cop hating RETARDS. If it wasn’t for cops and every other man or woman that suits up in a uniform to protect you and your rights, you wouldn’t have any. All of these asswipes will be the first ones to call a cop when shit don’t go their way. Snitch on this you dumb motherf*ckers! Aint free speech a bitch?!?

Damon Moÿsard Their page is open for anyone to post on it. I think that means they’re welcoming our opinion to be posted on their page. They’re all a bunch of flaming liberals. All about rights you know. They must not want to infringe upon our right to voice our opposing opinion on how some “gentle” meatwhistle with a mental disorder and a felony record for aggravated battery, who attacks a cop deserves to die just like anyone else who attacks a cop, right? And that his deadbeat dad is a fucking pariah trying to make a buck off the death of his retarded son he abandoned on the back of society because the best part of him ran down his moms thigh and became a stain of a flop house mattress?

Chinito Cochino ‎”People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” Thanks to the LEOS that do what needs to be done to keep the world safe for my children.

Damon Moÿsard I have nothing against the DA, they have a job to do. It’s the left wing, bleeding heart, socialist, communist, freedom hating, terrorist loving liberals on your page that are using a dead convicted felon as your flavor of the month, so you can act out and pretend its because of an injustice I have no use for. Deep down even you know none of you care one bit about the individual he’s just the excuse you’re using to protest the establishment. In two years none of you will even remember his name. He’ll just be “that dead homeless guy” you used to stir up hate and discontent within the community; a name on a protest sign. You are all crying out for justice but not allowing the system to even try to work before calling for the cops job, badge and head on a platter. To use your words: Judgement is for the courts, not the protesters. As for respect? None of us will ever get respect from the likes of you and your fellow protesters so fear is the next best thing. No one here cares if you want to shake our hand or say “thank you” when we protect you from something you are incapable of protecting yourself from. We do a job you are not able to do so you can pretend the things we deal with don’t exist. 99.9% of cops resort to violence when it’s the very last resort and then only use enough to protect themselves and the public from whatever danger they are presented with. Of course there is that .01% you hear about in the media but no one wants to read about the cop who was polite and did his job.

Big City Cops …we know the evil of the world first hand, and we risk our lives to protect you from it… If not for the police, evil would wait at your door everyday… or at your coffee shop or at the malll…

Big City Cops … it’s not the way I operate…but dont let there be a doubt in your mind that evils still lives in me… i just got it under total control now that I”m back in your world again…

Sandra Villa We should copy all the names with pics of the dumb fks that signed that petition and post it @ every police station just in case they call one day for help lol

Karma Da-Luscious Yeah, don’t understand….. The military is viewed as heroes for protecting our freedoms and keeping our country safe, but the police force is viewed as anything but heroes and we risk our lives everyday to keep people safe in their own homes!!!!! Don’t get me wrong, I thank God everyday for our military and what they do for us. But as officers can we get some gratitude for our efforts on the local streets?

Big City Cops I’ts not “cool” to like the police… after all, they dont let you speed or run stop signs… they dont let you drink and drive, or drink in public… they stop you from stealing and breaking into businesses or homes… oh, and they kiill “innocent” people…

The police are like oxygen…no one really appreciates them until they need them…

Cops give themselves way more credit than they deserve, and I wonder how many of these Big City Cops “heroes” have ever actually saved a life or protected someone from real harm, rather simply responding to calls AFTER the incident has ended.

Reading this crap made me vomit because everybody knows that the biggest talkers, and the people always bragging about all the wonderful things they do in life, are usually the ones full of the most shit.  So I highly doubt that any of the “heroes” on BCC have ever actually done anything to protect someone from harm, or saved a life.

LA County Sheriff Harasses Photographer, Unlawfully Orders Him to Move From a Public Sidewalk

Security Guard vs. Photographer

This is an old video from 2009 that was taken down by YouTube because the guard complained that his privacy was violated.   But it’s finally back on line, two years later, where it belongs since we all know that an expectation of privacy does not exist on a public sidewalk.

If any photographers are still being harassed by downtown Los Angeles security guards please document the encounter with video and let us know.

From YouTube:

A downtown Los Angeles security guard tells a photographer that he can’t photograph The Gas Company Tower from a public sidewalk without the property owner’s permission. The photographer informs the guard that that is not true.

Photojournalist Unlawfully Detained by LA County Sheriffs

From YouTube:

This is what happens when you try to take photos from the street of L.A. County Jail. The six deputies let me go only after I was searched and run through their computer system. Was told by the deputies that the jail area is private property, and there were national security concerns. For the most part, they were professional and somewhat polite during the stop. Still it seemed highly unnecessary for 6 deputies to stop me for taking images from the sidewalk. The images of the jailhouse building are for use in an upcoming story for the L.A. Weekly.

There’s not much to see in this video showing Los Angeles County Sheriffs unlawfully detaining photojournalist Ted Soqui for taking pictures from a public sidewalk of the L.A. County Jail (a constitutionally protected activity) since the cops prevented him from recording the encounter—actions that should raise serious credibility issues on the part of the officers because if the cops were acting in a legal manner then they shouldn’t be concerned about being videotaped.  Like cops say, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.  So I’m curious to know why these officers moved Ted’s camera as far away as possible and prevented their conversation from being recorded.

Is it because Ted’s detainment was unlawful and the cops had no legal grounds for stopping him?  Is it because the officers didn’t want their questionable or illegal behavior documented?  Or is it because they didn’t want themselves on YouTube in another video that shows LA County Sheriffs unlawfully detaining another photographer for performing a constitutionally protected act?  We’ll never know.

But there are a few things to remember.

Continue reading ‘Photojournalist Unlawfully Detained by LA County Sheriffs’

Vandals Have It Out For Olympian Photographer

Tony Overman, a longtime photographer for The Olympian in Olympia, Wash., has gotten on the bad side of some local thugs, and they’re not messing around. His home was tagged with anarchist symbols, his tires were slashed, and the paper’s delivery truck was painted with “Overman snitch,” along with paint thrown on the building. Overman believes this is the work of anarchists he’s photographed at rallys — photos which, in some cases, have resulted in their arrest.

As KOMO-TV reported:

Overman was assaulted last year when a woman spray-painted his face and camera as he photographed an anti-police brutality march. His published photos were later used to identify and convict the woman.

The photographer’s images of a man throwing rocks at a bank were also used by prosecutors. Overman believes that group is now sending him a message, but says he won’t be intimidated.

As Overman told the station: “This is an organized effort to name me specifically, and come to my house and terrorize me,” he said. “That’s really freaking scary.”

Last year, Overman described on his Facebook page what happened to him at the rally.

“… got assaulted by a group of anarchist street thugs. Spray paint in my face, cellphone broken, spray paint on my camera, shoved around, threatened to be thrown off the bridge into the water. First Olympia police on scene wouldn’t do anything unless I pulled the assailants from the group myself.”

Scary indeed.

Source: KOMO-TV (via Romenesko)

America’s Biggest Gang: The Miami Chapter

YouTube member ShoginArmada raises a valid point:

2011 shaping up to be one hell of a year to get away with police abuse.

TSA Allegedly Molests Woman, Harasses and Lies to Son for Recording Incident

From YouTube:

After a woman was allegedly sexually harassed by TSA agents at Sky Harbor International in Phoenix, AZ, her son documented the aftermath as the TSA, Southwest Airlines and Phoenix Police threaten him with arrest for filming the ordeal. Officials seem more concerned with the video than with the woman brought to tears at the security checkpoint.

The Photographer’s Harassment Advisory System



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