We have continued to chronicle the arrest and prosecution of citizens for merely filming police in public. Some prosecutors like Anita Alvarez in Chicago have fought hard to send citizens to jail for videotaping police in public, though courts have continued to support the obvious right to such filming. This video shows that police in other countries like Australia are showing the carrying out the same abusive measures.
This video shows police Police in Parramatta, Australia abusing a young man who is videotaping them. The young man felt police were singling out young black men for arbitrary searches. The police respond with an arbitrary search of the videographer.
As in many U.S. cases, police falsely claim that the man is obstructing or “hindering” police operations. Constable A. Loxley is shown demanding “Why are you filming?! Why are you specifically filming us?!”
Officers do not find any basis for a real criminal charge, but threaten to arrest him for swearing. What is striking about this case is that the filming was triggered by the belief that police were abusing minorities — a classic reason from such videotaping. Prosecutors like Alvarez are trying to deter one of the most effective technologies in combating police abuse. Indeed, as we have repeatedly seen, the only reason that some investigations are ordered in some case is the surfacing of incriminating videotapes.
Raff,
Some police jurisdictions the officers are equipped with lapel video recorders…. I suppose this is to keep them honest….
NYPD Stop-And-Frisk Lawsuit Starts ‘Trial Of The Century,’ Lawyer Says (UPDATE)
by Matt Sledge
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/stop-and-frisk-lawsuit_n_2870401.html
NEW YORK — The lawyers suing the New York Police Department over its stop-and-frisk policy said the federal case’s March 18 court date will kick off the “trial of the century” over what they allege is a racially discriminatory policy.
Noting that blacks and Latinos were 87 percent of those stopped in 2011 and 2012, though they made up only 53 percent of the city’s population, Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, rolled out the legal strategy on Wednesday. His group brought the lawsuit on behalf of anyone who has been illegally stopped by police in New York in violation of the Fourth and 14th Amendments.
“They would rather fight a lawsuit than switch to a constitutional form of policing,” Warren said of the NYPD. “They would rather make this the trial of the century than be part of the solution of the century. So we are putting the NYPD on trial.”
The Police Department has steadfastly defended its stop-and-frisk policy as an essential crime-fighting tool that helps curb gun violence. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said during a New York City Council hearing on Tuesday that stop-and-frisk is “part of the normal function of police officers.”
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Kaylan Pedine Allegedly Arrested By NYPD Officer For Criticizing Stop-And-Frisk
by Matt Sledge
Posted: 03/14/2013
NEW YORK — A New York City woman filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that she was arrested for criticizing the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy. The suit comes just as lawyers prepare to put the department policy on trial in a separate federal court case that starts Monday.
Kaylan Pedine, a 29-year-old Tennessee native who lives in Greenpoint, said she was standing in front of a bar in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in July when she saw a passing police officer and said, “I wish they would stop stop-and-frisk.”
“The cops overheard me, turned around, and came over to me and said ‘turn around,'” she told HuffPost. “I said, ‘are you serious?'”
The officer, Craig Campion, apparently was: Pedine was arrested, taken to a precinct and charged with blocking a bus lane. She said she never raised her voice and was never in the street. The charge, which she said was “100 percent a fabrication,” was later dismissed.
The department’s controversial practice allows officers to stop-question-and-frisk people, but only if they have reason to suspect criminal behavior. The NYPD stopped 533,042 people in 2012.
Pedine, who works at a social justice non-profit, was incensed. She’s pressing her lawsuit, she said, as “an opportunity to spread awareness about stop-and-frisk policy, and to have real, genuine conversations about the consequences.”
“I recognize that this happens constantly, constantly, so I just felt like I wanted to be a voice,” she said. Her lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
I think the funniest headline I ever saw was the one that declared (when Nelson Mandela took over in South Africa) “First African American President of South Africa.” Somebody had told the headline-writer not to use the adjective “Black” for African Americans, so he used the adjective “African American” for Blacks. 😆 😆 😆
Okay, idealist, that’s it until you get back to us with the missing link 😉 :
http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Are-You-Ready-for-Civilian-Drones.html
Drone Commotion
In June, rumors spread about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) using drones to spy on cattle farmers in Nebraska and Iowa. “The problem is, the EPA doesn’t have any drones,” said Matt Waite, professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “They were doing it the same way they were always doing it, which is two dudes in a Cessna.”
The EPA uses manned aircraft to monitor for clean-water violations, such as dirty runoff or manure dumped into a stream. But drone use may not be all that far-fetched, Waite said. “The EPA’s enforcement division is too small for the job that they have to do — single enforcement officers being charged with impossibly large areas to cover — and they can’t just randomly check in on different problems or projects because they’re overworked,” he said. “UAVs might open that up a bit.”
“All that’s in the works, according to Mary “Missy” Cummings, a former F/A-18 fighter pilot who is an MIT aeronautics professor focusing on human interfaces for UAVs….A hobbyist has reportedly used a drone to track cattle (apparently taking up the slack left by the EPA, which contrary to widespread reports, is not sending drones to spy on farms throughout the Midwest.” -from the following
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/oct/20-impatient-futurist-rise-of-the-friendly-drones#.UUIyoFfWM40
“Here Come the Flying Tacos
I, for one, can’t see what could possibly be wrong with providing personal air-force capabilities to the masses. But if we’re going to get truly interesting things done with our drones, we’ll need them to fly farther, higher, and longer, as well as to carry more, and do it with much more sophisticated control. All that’s in the works, according to Mary “Missy” Cummings, a former F/A-18 fighter pilot who is an MIT aeronautics professor focusing on human interfaces for UAVs. “This is the best thing to happen to aviation since the space race,” she says. “We’re talking about a technology with a low cost of entry that anyone with a cell phone can use.”
The new field is engaging students around the world, Cummings adds, and is engendering some creative ideas. At the top of her wish list: a personal drone to shadow her 3-year-old daughter when she’s old enough to walk to school. A hobbyist has reportedly used a drone to track cattle (apparently taking up the slack left by the EPA, which contrary to widespread reports, is not sending drones to spy on farms throughout the Midwest). And one group of students, Cummings says, is drawing up plans for a drone-based taco delivery service.
Affordable microdrones could give ordinary citizens and small businesses access to the kinds of tools that are currently available only to government agencies, well-funded scientists, and big corporations. “If there’s an earthquake, we could readily adapt our UAVs to serve as flying cellular towers to restore communications and help look for survivors,” says Lora Weiss, a Georgia Tech researcher who heads up a robotics and unmanned systems lab. How many times have I been stuck in camping sites, rural towns, or Houston wishing I had that sort of basic trapping of civilization? My drone could provide it, relaying the Wi-Fi signal from whichever Global Data Communications Node (otherwise known as Starbucks) is invariably sitting nearby, just out of my line of sight.”
Mary “Missy” Cummings, Idealist?
http://stopmakingsense.org/2013/01/28/drones-in-america-jon-stewart-fails-to-question-drone-expert-on-the-daily-show-policy-mic/
Idealist, give us a link!
EPA and cattle farmers? I can’t think of a thing…
idealist707 1, March 14, 2013 at 3:21 pm
OTOT=pronounced OTTO, that’s my middle name …
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Live long and prosper.
OTOT=pronounced OTTO, that’s my middle name.
I got word today that I will probably survive March 21. Don’t faint. I am still looking for how I can say something without making a fool /a55 of myself.
So no sweat, while you are hyperventilating you can calm down(?) or preferably laugh/smile ironically by looking at Jon Stewart.
Four days ago, March 8, 2013, he brought up a problem…..you know one of those that persist, and have long historical roots—–and seems to be a subject that concerns the EPA and cattle farmers. Actually, it is a subject which all here have had concerns—on both sides of the fence.
If you endure it all, you get to meet a young proffs in the area. Her name is Cindy Cummings—–seriously. And Jon Stewart led off the program with a comment on that.
Enjoy.
they referred to the black persons as an African American? -Mack
I found that odd, as well.
Sorry should have pointed out this occurred at the 19/20 second mark.
Something strange as hell to me is how even in the land down under, they referred to the black persons as an African American?
There is nothing wrong with having people film what you are doing if you are doing your job right. I guess it is just a Washington thing. Filming in a public place of general events happening in the public is not illegal here. We were the first state in the US to broadcast our state supreme court’s hearings back around 1995. Anyone can watch it on TV, or attend in person.
We have not had this problem in our area. I hope we don’t. I am still puzzling over how on earth the woman standing on her front porch with her video camera was interfering with officers out in the street making an arrest.
Cameras have become so small, they can be hidden in eyeglass frames or a button. Recall the off duty officer who stopped the motorcyclist with gun drawn? He was unaware the biker was wearing a helmet cam. Charges were brought later when the motorcyclist posted the video online and it went viral. The drawn pistol for a traffic stop set off a firestorm resulting in belated charges, which were later dismissed.
Regarding Ross’ suggestion above. I read recently of one department that had numerous complaints about excessive use of tasers. The department installed miniature cameras on all their tasers, and suddenly taser use dropped to zero.
http://www.taser.com/products/on-officer-video/taser-cam
The same company makes cameras for glasses that work with regular glasses or sunglasses.
http://www.taser.com/products/on-officer-video/axon-flex-on-officer-video
It seems like a world wide epidemic of police out of control. -Justice Holmes
It’s worse than many realize.
It seems like a world wide epidemic of police out of control.
Reminds me of what Orwell said just before WW II.
He indicated that bullying by authorities was happening in several countries.
With modern camera technology why not mandate cops wear cameras 100% while on duty and make it a crime for cops to destroy the video/ audio? It would protect the cops operating legally and only harm the corrupt cops. Archive the videos with the Internal Affairs or other oversight institutions. It protects the citizens and cops that follow the law.
“In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone to far.
Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on VTR.
You are a radio star.
You are a radio star.
Video killed the radio star. ”
Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.
The idea that the people cannot monitor the police authorities is preposterous. If they can film us on every street corner and from the cameras in their police cars, we have the same right.