Pixiq

If they truly believe it's a crime, then deleting the footage would be obstruction of justice wouldn't it? They just deleted the evidence?

This is the part of these stories I don't get, they say it's a crime, they need the camera for evidence then they tamper with it.

Carlos: "it would NOT apply in this case," I think is what you meant in the next-to-last graf.

Of course the officers don't really believe it's a crime. They couldn't possibly be so stupid as to believe it's a crime and then destroy the evidence of it.

Right?

Although I do not photograph federal buildings often, not that many in rural PA, I still printed and carry a copy of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Protective Services Information Bulletin that was mentioned in an earlier post. If I ever go to DC you can bet I will have a copy in my pocket.

http://www.pixiq.com/article/homeland-security-publishes-new-directive

I also carry a copy of the Photographer's Rights written by Bert P. Krages II. I never know if I will ever need them but if I do, it will be easier to "show" them the proof rather than try and argue with law enforcement/security about it.

Whenever I talk to students about photojournalism, I tell them the best thing they can do is become friendly with the police and the firefighters. They love photos of themselves in action, plus they will be the ones giving you access to a scene, or possibly holding you back leaving you looking for another way to shoot the incident.

Never ever do this alone, this man would have no problem if he had a partner in the background recording the entire event from a public sidewalk without audio. He would then have something credible. THen after waiting for all involved to file sworn statements provide the extra footage in discovery. OF the thugs stealing his camera and using the color of authority to violate his rights.
This guy needs to get a lawyer and have the video footage from the security cameras.

how recent was this? Very true,travel in pairs if at all possible, and groups are great, if there were all of a sudden. 20men or women with camcorders. surrounding them, the U.aSs.Marshalls would be gone like hudini..[or they would start shooting real bullets thinking they were about to be attacted]...lol
this shit still happens, funny aint it,,,they just dont get it?
and the stupervisor backed them up, i would love to have his name!!!

Sigh, maybe in 20 years it will finally sink through law enforcement officers thick skulls that yes, you CAN take video/photographs in public areas of public officials and buildings.

I often carry a flip camera for such situations because it is quick and easy to use. Unfortunately that ease of use makes it way too easy for officers to delete footage when illegally seizing the camera.

It would be great to see a "tamper proof" DIY project for the flip camera or something similar.

I don't have the technical expertise to do this, so I will through it out there for other fans of the site.

The "officers" confronting Jerome Vorus were either thugs or ignorant of the law. In either case their deficiency needs to be addressed by their superiors. Confiscating the Flip and then destroying the data on it falls squarely in the thug category, and that person should be fired.

Either this is a case where the so called "Officers" believed that there was some law against photographing despite much evidence to the contrary, or were trying to show that they were the "Alpha dog" in intimidating Jerome to stop his photography.

Regardless, these officers and their department need to be held accountable for violating Jerome's Constitutional Rights. I would assert that in addition to the department being liable, the officer also needs to be financially liable. This would send a message to other potential LEO bullies that it might hit them in the pocket book.

I wonder how involved it would be to make a new Flip camera firmware that requires a password to delete video or access the USB port? Or make it so it pretends to erase videos. :D

That there exists within the contemporary American Law Enforcement Community remnants of what were once institutionalized anti social and patently illegal proclivities just a generation ago comes as a surprise to few.

It can safely be said that it would be equally unsurprising to most that there are dark recesses all across our America where evil lurks behind a badge.

And many are even willing to begrudgingly accept the premise that weeding out that evil takes time and is an ongoing battle.

However...

What increasing few Citizens are willing to accept and fail to understand is, why, when confronted with overwhelming evidence of behavior that goes beyond the pale of merely betraying some nebulous concept like the Public Trust; when shown evidence uncovering acts of overt - even proud - brutality and criminality, are our nation's law enforcement professionals not dropping the hammer on them in a manner that is swift and merciless enough so as to provide an Über Deterrent.

And as a technologically empowered citizenry document these acts in ever increasing numbers, that sense of disbelief and outrage grows.

If Upstanding Professional Law Enforcement Officers, Departments and Unions fail to proactively distance themselves from and weed out the sociopaths and criminals in their ranks they sully one of mankind's noblest callings and risk the very real possibility of sparking a multiple front Guerrilla War they cannot win.

The war of words, political backlash, and loss of support among supporters. And of propaganda. In turn, allowing yourselves to be demonized and believably cast as a target "worthy" of the righteous ire, keystroke and Molotov Cocktail of the anarchist.

Too bad the firmware isn't open source like most of the Linksys stuff. We could tweak the software up for this..

Things like the Flip and digital cameras aren't currently much good for changing the firmware for tamper prevention. It's not usually capable of being updated and (to my knowledge) always closed source.

But newer tablets and phones, with front and back cameras embedded, wi-fi, and based on the open-source Android OS... might be far better suited than current consumer cameras for this kind of anti-tamper/netcast upload tweaking.

Pfft, They obviously don't realize that recovering deleted data off a flash drive is an incredibly trivial task.

http://www.diskinternals.com/

(there are free open source examples as well, but that was a very fast Google search result)

If you take back the formatted device, turn it off and go home you can get back 100% of the images and movies very very quickly and easily.

Carlos, are you sure D.C. requires two-party consent? All of my casual research into the topic said it is a one-party consent jurisdiction, but it would be great to confirm one way or the other since I work in the District.

Vinny said in part..

"Whenever I talk to students about photojournalism, I tell them the best thing they can do is become FRIENDLY with the police......."

You're kidding.. Right!!?

After reading all the miscarriages of justice when it comes to photographers rights, I can't believe you don't realize that Cops really don't care if you want to be their friend.

In most cases they only care for you to know that, "they are the ones who have the badge and gun".. "they are the ones in authority here".. and "YOU will do what THEY say" because contempt of Cop is forbidden.. and God help anyone who tries to prove them wrong.

As it has been said here before..

"COPS ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND!!"

Rail Car Fan

I have a photographic memory.
I wonder if I could be arrested for just visualizing
a Federal Building.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm..."

There are some good comments here. It's been a while since I've commented but I will relate a few things from experiences I've had through the years.

Most of the time these guys, street cops, don't care if you're correct or not. They just care what their perception is of what's going on. They don't care if you have something that says you're allowed to do something from Bert Klages, or a copy of an operational order from their department. As far as they are concerned the papers you have have been concocted as a part of some kind of conspiracy. If they had the ability to comprehend that paperwork they wouldn't be bothering you in the first place.

You can't argue or reason with a cop or US Marshal in the street. They don't have the brain power to reason with you and they aren't in reasoning mode anyway, they are in brute force bully mode. Remember if they had the ability to reason they wouldn't be bothering you in the first place. That's also not their job, it's their bosses job and I'm not talking about the supervisor.

I have talked to a lawyer that used to represent a state police department. He loved having them as a client because, the state police always took the most inflexible stand on the wrong side of the issue. So that meant lots of billable time. He would have a case settled for giving up almost nothing and the department would refuse to accept the settlement on a case they were sure to lose. So now we are not talking about the cop in the street, we are talking about the senior leadership being unable to figure out that the department made a mistake or thinking that buy trying to bully the other side they were going to win like they SEEM to when they arrest you.

I'm not saying to give in. I'm just saying understand who and what you are dealing with. Your photos and your video is your property, you are entitled to protect it against destruction by the state. You have a right to take photos in public, you need to defend that right. You have a right not to be bothered by cops without suspicion of committing a crime.

The other thing that many forget is that it's the cops job to find a crime to charge you with to justify his job. Rant off.

you guys need to have a Mass Photo off..
Flash mob several hundred people in hundreds of locations and get them all to take photo's and films of public offices.

All legal and raising the awareness while simultaneously showing how stupid the whole issue is.

Duane Kerzic: thats exactly what the miamibeach pig did to me, then the arrest happened, one thing i cant figure out, do they still have to read you your rights?
thats a toughy!
senectus:
tell me when and where ill be there!!! area of USA i currently reside, south florida. and for anyone else that might attend one of those, please dont forget your tripod, or at least a monopod, those cameras get heavy ya know, well for ole ones like me they do, i mean it may take a whole ten minutes before someone comes over and says to ya!
"shut the camera off and go home, and if ya dont i may just haveta arrest ya, and destroy the evidence."

I wanted to echo my concerns about Jerome's safety when he does his walk-abouts in DC. My brother, Robert and I had the privileged of spending a couple of days with Jerome in DC during the Al Sharpton/Glen Beck marches and we left very impressed with how professional and polite Jerome is, but also amazed at his calm demeanor. He has b*lls or brass. This is a guy who knows no fear. While I admire his courage I also worry that he is going to get hurt while he's out exercising his and our rights.

The group idea is of course excellent. To that end, our dear friend Jerome is planning to visit us in Florida perhaps as early as next month. Maybe some of the regulars here would like to join us as we tour Florida educating authority figures about our First Amendment rights. Watching Jerome in action is truly inspiring.

Jerome, keep up the good work. Be safe and we'll schedule your visit ASAP.

Joel: please keep us in mind and posted when we get that visit from Jerome and all, would love to meet him. and partake in what things you all have planned, i can hardly wait.
has anyone given it any thought about what i said about taking this off the street into the political areana, or circus as it were. it could be a few different things, snail mail, email, phone calls, faxes! OH, they love thoses faxes.....lol. and all the details on how to make contact with those higher ups as it were, is all online.

Is a citizens arrest legal in the District of Columbia?

If so, do this:

Have one photographer photographing a federal courthouse.

Have one guy off a distance, with a video camera and parabolic microphone, to record what happens (sound and visuals) but so far away the criminals won't see him/her.

Have several people in the general vicinity of the photographer, waiting for the courthouse security, U.S. marshals or D.C. police to overstep their authority.

Photographer, when accosted, steers the conversation to get them to mention (or admit) they could use deadly force if he resisted their current actions, and to state that they were going to stop him from taking photographs. Long range camera catches them on tape saying both.

One person out of the vicinity group then comes forward and places the criminals under citizen's arrest for violating 18USC241 and 18USC242.

Is it resisting arrest to arrest the person who just arrested you? Is it flight from custody and/or escape to free yourself from an arrest by having your buddies come over and haul the person making the arrest to jail, letting you go free in the process? All very interesting legal questions, that would likely not end well for the domestic enemies of the constitution who come out to hassle photographers.

If conducting a sting operation invalidated the arrests, police wouldn't do them, right?