Photo by wirralwater

So it’s not the ideal outcome, but one gets the feeling changing the way police view photography will take a seismic shift in thinking – and most likely a huge lawsuit, sad to say it.

As we posted earlier this week, David Sommars and two fellow photographers were stopped by the LAPD on a public sidewalk near the Port of Los Angeles, harassed, bullied and threatened with arrest. Sommars lodged a formal complaint with the Office of the Inspector General, who agreed to look into the matter.

Yesterday Sommars got a call from an LAPD commander who said the officers were wrong and they addressed the issue during roll call (which I would guess went something like this: “It’s come to our attention that photography is legal on public streets, so let’s refrain from the detainment and threats”).

Sommars says: “Also the OIG will investigate, but most likely the officers will not get in real trouble – they save that for unlawful force stuff. They will use this for training purposes.”

How much do you want to bet nothing changes?