Pixiq

What? Isn’t it the job of the police to protect librarys, that prime target, from those terrorist meteorologists?

And here I thought that people in my state were normal.

Oh, and somebody tell the police that there’s a picture of the library on Wikipedia. Better launch an investigation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franklin4.jpg

We can’t let one more library fall to terrorists! Not one more!

Not that there’s been a first one to fall that I know of.

I think we should let the Chief know how we feel about our rights, and his police state, I have. Contact him at:

Chief Richard Oliva

roliva@franklinwi.gov

Primary: (414) 425-2522, Ext 2603
Fax: (414) 425-0391

Franklin Law Enforcement Center
9455 W. Loomis Road
Franklin, WI 53132

The truly amusing thing about much of this is, as Josh pointed out and Carlos did on an earlier post, many if not all of these buildings have been photographed and the pictures are on the web, and have been for some time. Our police seem to know nothing about Google, and seem to be stuck in 1941. All of this while neglecting the State and Federal Constitutions too.

Someone should also inform the chief of the lawsuits that it took to finally get the NYPD to issue the operations order mentioned in the article. Perhaps a city like NY could afford repeated multi-thousand dollar settlements but I doubt that his town can!

Scott Chamness // Sep 26, 2009 at 11:07 PM

“What? Isn’t it the job of the police to protect librarys, that prime target, from those terrorist meteorologists?”

do people that say things like that even know that someone died for them to be able to say it? it sure doesnt seem so to me! thats it, give up all our freedoms in order to protect them? is that BS or what, hows it go again, “cant see the forest for the trees”, “see the stars, but still cant see the light”? well something like that. heya?

well i emailed the chief, and will do so for anyothers that need to hear from me, everyone should get in on this, maybe the head will open and even allow a thought process for people like this that say BS things like that, i think they need to get a life, and another job. [enforce the LAW], i think most of them dont even know the LAW they have the job to enforce!!! they need to stop people from running red lights and leave the rest of us alone, i think thats their J-O-B!

and oh ya, i may have been a bit hard on that joke about terrorists and libraries, sorry, i don’t happen to think this is very funny!

I am considering taking a ride there next Saturday for some pictures of the library and police station.

Anyone else?

As someone from Wisconsin who routinely rides my bicycle around small communities taking a few photos here and there, this is disturbing.

PAUL:
thank you, my point exactly, have you used the info above, about how to contact the chief, i have and i am in south fla. the more he gets, mail, email, phone calls, FAX. the more chance he may even get IT! i doubt it, but i guess anything is possible?

I would really like to hear the tape of the call made to the police that prompted this in the first place. Was the caller indicating that there was more going on than there actually was? While I agree that the cops are often heavy-handed or showing themselves to be misinformed, I think that they can only address the concerns of the people who call.

The general public – not just the cops – need to know what the rules regarding photography are. The caller, while probably thinking they were doing a good thing, just caused a bunch of confusion…

well then, the cheif could have come here and said his piece? cant say he dont know of this place by now, oh ya word gets out, dont think it dont. he chose not to and here we are. he could have avoided a few emails perhaps? there is no defense for what has been done [in this case], and what is going on all over the USA!

I know it would piss them off, but it would be funny to get an old 35mm body and a junk or gutted lens and just stand somewhere and pretend to be taking photos. Do it for a while and see if you are paid any visits. Ta da! No film officer, no camera = no pictures. But of course I did have the hidden cam and mic recording the demonstrated assinine behavior he just showed me….Which I will now post on YouTube.

@Scotty: But what should the cops do when they keep getting calls from people who are convinced that there’s someone walking around with a camera, doing something nefarious?

JASON:
do what they do when they get calls from 80+ yr olds, people that keep calling cause they have no one to talk to, and leave the rest of us alone, thats what they could do, and should do!
what do you think they should do, perhaps throw us all in jail, so then perhaps there would be no phone calls, then they would be out of a job! everyone would be in jail/prison!

@Jason, how about interviewing the complaining witness first to find out if a crime is actually taking place? Ask specific questions to find out what actions the photographer actually took rather than taking the complaintents word that the the photographer was “suspicious” or “nefarious”. Or they could tell people that photography is not a crime. That might help too.

@Jason:

What if cops get a phone call that someone is suspicious because he is wearing a suit and tie?. A camera is a LEGAL piece of equipment just like a suit and a necktie – cops should tell the callers that there it is NOT A CRIME. PERIOD!

@Tony: You’re misinterpreting what I’m saying.

@NYCPhotorights: I agree with you, see below.

@Josh:

“Or they could tell people that photography is not a crime. That might help too.”

That statement is what I’m getting at.

There needs to be a wider awareness by the public as to what’s legal and what’s not. If more people actually knew what they were allowed to do, then there’d be a lot more public pressure on the police to either (or both):
- get educated about photography being a legal activity, or
- stop arresting journalists/photographers/hobbyists/tourists because they guess there’s something illegal about what’s going on. If they don’t know the legality of a particular action, fine (there are an awful lot of laws out there nowadays), but their default action should not be to presume guilt…

JASON:
part of the problem with that is, the police have the power to arrest much easier then you or I do, what i am saying, before they even think of arresting anyone they may chose to, if the law is not made right by the “lawcreators” then, dont use that to your advantage and arrest everyone and figure the courts will get it right, dont arrest anyone I say and MAKE THEM GET THE LAWS RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE, like they get paid to do! MOST dont know, if you get on a jury, and dont convict anyone breaking one of those KRAZY laws, then that will send a message also, most dont know they may do that!
[juries are not required to convict anyone, even if they broke the law!, thats a fact many dont know that!]

@tony; Thank you for shedding light on perhaps the greatest secret in our judicial system. A juror who knows the truth of his/her power in the courtroom can make differences that no politician, cop, or judge will dare. A jury has right, power, and DUTY to judge both the law and the facts. Judges NEVER tell this to jurors, as judges want to hold the courtroom captive to their illusion of absolute authority. A truly knowledgeable juror can exercise their faculties and their brain to conclude something outside of whatever they hear in the courtroom. Is the law a ridiculous one? Due the circumstances of the case not fit the charges? How can people be required to swear to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’ while then being restricted to only giving direct answers to specific questions? How is that the whole truth? How can one be sure? What about suppressed evidence? This list goes on….
So much that takes place in a courtroom should never even reach that point, but, if so, then a juror is the last guard against the state being oppressive against the citizenry. No judge, cop, lawyer, politician, nor the President can tell a juror how to vote. A juror can disregard the law and vote to acquit with impunity.

If more people would educate themselves about legitimate juror’s rights and powers, some of the BS we see happen to people in courtrooms might slow down.

It’s a bunch of cheeseheads. What do you expect? A sudden outbreak of common sense?

Wisconsin is a godforsaken state, worse than West Virginia.

Did anybody else listen to the Podcast of Jeff Wagner talking about this?

http://www.620wtmj.com/podcasts/jeffwagner/61463527.html?video=pop&t=a

Another resident of Franklin calls in and talks about the police stopping her for taking pictures of the water tower.

It’s been said before, and it always needs saying: Photography was not used in the planning or execution of the attacks on 9/11.

The weapons of mass destruction used then, and at WTC in ’93, and in Oklahoma City in ’95, did not require the accuracy that cops seem to assume photographs would provide.

It’s worth repeating Bruce Schneir on photography, cops, terrorism and the movie plot threat:

“The 9/11 terrorists didn’t photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn’t photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn’t photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren’t being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn’t known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about — the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 — no photography.

Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don’t seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets? Why are our fears so great that we have no choice but to be suspicious of any photographer?

Because it’s a movie-plot threat.”

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/the_war_on_phot.html

Cops are afraid of movie plots… not reality.

Being the brave person I am, I went to franklin with my Chicago Bears sweatshirt and took pictures of the library and police department.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullsfan/3980270241/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullsfan/3980265979/

you are a brave soul, i wish i was up there, i could have went with you,[you being the brave one], and we both would have been arrested….LOL

i would have been wearing a MARLINS uniform shirt! we may have not made it out alive!

“Report your neighbors, report your friend, report your family. The state requires your vigilance.”

At least the police didn’t pull him from the car in front of his wife and child and beat him. This time.

getting stopped by the police for taking photos happens all the time in UK, my neighbour was arrested for taking photos of his son playing soccer, i’ve been arrested twice so far this year for taking pics of train stations

The person that called the police in the first place should be arrested and charged with calling in a false report.

All of these wisconsin pigs need to be fired immediately!! now… and pay taken from them retroactively!