Picture America without pictures of America
A Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Filmmakers and Photographers
Picture America without pictures of America
A Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Filmmakers and
Photographers
Police Destroy News Cameras
PhotoPermit.org: http://www.photopermit.org/ |
August 2007
Chicago Police Destroy News Cameras
Friday August 10th 2007PDN Online and many other sources are now covering allegations from The Chicago Tribune that Chicago police seized and destroyed two Canon cameras being used by experienced Tribune PJ Terrence Antonio James while he was covering the story of a fatal shooting by police earlier this week. Police reacted after James had already identified himself as a member of the press: “that didn’t satisfy the officer, who knocked one of the photographer’s cameras on the ground, breaking it.” An officer then took and threw James’ second camera down the block.
NBC 5 and local station WQAD report descriptions of the photos on James’s memory cards from just before the incident — a description received not from James himself but from Chicago PD Internal Affairs.
NY: Police Seize Cameras,
Attempt Photog Extortion
Thursday August 09th 2007The Jones Report carries a story about Fairport, NY police arresting and seizing the cameras of three anti-war demonstrators near the offices of Congressman Randy Kuhl (R - NY) — allegedly at the behest of a local corporation, Welker Property Management.
“I was told that if I identified the other people taking pictures, I would be allowed to keep my camera,” reported Wendy Painting of IndyMedia. At her refusal, police confiscated her camera and say they will return it in December.
New Orleans Cop Accused of Threatening Photog
Police Grab Files
Saturday August 04th 2007As reported in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Roger Escude Sr. of West Bank, Louisiana witnessed State Troopers tackle a man on the street. Escude was accompanied by a family friend and paramedic who aided the bleeding, tackled man (whom police mistakenly thought was violent, rather than just horsing around with his work buddies). Escude snapped a few pictures with his digital camera, only to be told by a New Orleans Police officer on the scene: “If you don’t want to look like him, you better put your camera away.” Police have confiscated Escude’s image files as evidence in their own internal investigation.
Picture New York |
Basically, this [proposed NY City film permit ordinance] opens the door to unlimited police interactions with photographers and filmmakers, because under these proposed rules, if they were passed, basically everyone with a camera, including everyone with a cell phone, would be someone who might have to have a permit to do photography... with all the people out there with cameras, most people are going to be left alone. This is going to give the police license to stop people they want to stop for whatever reason they want. And you can imagine who the likely targets are of that sort of enforcement... People with dark skin, people who look suspicious in the eyes of the police... It's going to be the people who tend to be harassed by the police in other contexts. -- Christopher Dunn
Picture America
A Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Filmmakers and
Photographers
site: PictureLA.org
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site: PictureNewYork.org
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Picture America: PictureAmerica.org
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email: PictureAmerica@mac.com
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