Pixiq

It's amazing what passes for good reporting these days.

It's not even legal for them to look at your photos without a court order unless you give them permission.

I'm certainly no lawyer, but I would think that, at the least, deleting photos is destruction of property. It's also a First Amendment violation and, if the photos contain evidence of a crime, destruction of evidence.

The news service will not likely follow-up or push the matter. They will be afraid of retaliation from the cops in the form of future additional hassles (e.g. getting quotes, access to sites for stories, etc). With news services cutting staff and services, no doubt legal backing is declining, which means in the future bloggers and newspapers will be under total threat of defamation lawsuits that they cannot afford battle out. Only a few large conglomerates will be able to withstand such storms, but they are being bought out anyway, so everyone loses.

"What we need to do is ask Armstrong how he plans to deal with the officer who broke the law."

He'll deal with it the same way cops always do - sweep it under the rug.

Did the Officer break the law? The officer is probably trained to phrase his words in the form of questions confusing people into believing they are lawful orders.When they are actually questions asking for consent. May I take your phone? Yes, Consent given. People need to at least know how to make it clear that they do not consent to searches of any kind. They will break the law anyway, but if the officer has on a recording device. Accountability later would be so much easier.

Oh and the mainstream media is a bunch of Authority Felating douchbags.

A lot of people believe the police have absolute authority, which as the saying goes, corrupts absolutely.

I think it stems from the grade school indoctrination that 'the policeman is your friend.'

I hope Armstrong comments on whether or not it's legal for officers to delete photos.It would either force him to admit that the officers are in the wrong or it shows that he and his department are clueless of the laws.

People need to start cracking down on the police and their illegal behavior. It's not the place of the police or governments to crack down on the people, it's the place of the people to crack down on the governments/police. That was the whole point of creating a constitution, as to crack down on the government.

I have a feeling that Armstrong will not comment.

On a different track, when did LL Cool J become a Police Director? http://tinyurl.com/7ta3gjo

"Police cannot delete your photos."

How about a more realistic perspective--police
can do whatever they want, including
beat, frisk, tase, or shoot you.
It is incumbent upon citizens to fight back vigorously
if police violate the law in committing any of these
acts, because, except in rare cases, nothing will come of it if they leave it to the gov't to police itself.

I carry a compact camera with video capability AND a back-up digital recorder. If the cop illegally confiscates the first, he may miss the second.

These thugs have got to be defanged if we want any sort of future as free individuals.

Oh goody I'm heading home to Memphis in 2 weeks. Qik might just come in handy.

In what world would it be acceptable for the police to destroy personal property without cause? Even if in some alternate universe taking photographs in public is illegal, the photos would be evidence of illegal activity themselves; not subject to destruction.

It's illegal and wrong no matter how you look at it.