Photo by sunrise954
Like the story of the photographer in Coney Island we posted on last week, here’s another incidence of a person being asked to hand over their film by law enforcement. Momoko Sudo was taking nature photos in her Coral Gables, FL, neighborhood when she snapped one of a police motorcycle. The officer, who Sudo says was abusive and confrontational, demanded to see her camera, deleted all her pictures and threw her memory card on the ground.
She thinks the officer was not only suspicious that she was a foreigner taking photos but put off by her outfit (a large sunhat and bandanna with Japanese writing) and the fact that her camera settings were in Japanese.
It’s unfortunate Sudo didn’t get the officer’s name or badge number because he seems completely unprofessional and inappropriate. Assuredly this is not the policy of the Coral Gables Police Department (Franklin of Artblog.net has a letter in to them to make sure). But it’s just another reminder that no one, in pretty much any circumstance, has the right to ask for your film or your camera.
Article from Artblog.net via Carlos Miller
boywithgrenade.org 