Police and law enforcement officials increasingly view photography as a criminal act

February 19, 2:07 PMWilliamsport & Susquehanna Valley ExaminerShawn Landis

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Williamsport & Susquehanna Valley Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.  While many people would argue that freedom of speech includes the freedom to take pictures, although an increasing number of police officers would disagree.    

The trend of photographers being arrested and harassed by police has become commonplace in many Western countries since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  Police have often used the excuses of preventing terror attacks to keep people from taking pictures.

Recent cases are ones such as the case of a Pennsylvania State University journalism student Michael Felletter, another case of an Amtrak police officer taking a camera from a photographer taking pictures for a contest sponsored by Amtrak.  The latest addition to this erosion of first amendment rights is the case of Robert Taylor, an employee of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Taylor takes pictures of trains to use as his computer desktop wallpaper and is well acquainted with the rules for taking pictures of the subway.  A New York city police officer disagreed with his assessment of the situation, however, according to the New York Times and the Photography is not a Crime web log.  

The officer approached Taylor to tell him that he was not allowed to take pictures. Even though the rules of the Transit authority were shown to the officer on his Blackberry.  An argument quickly ensued.  Three officers came to the scene before Taylor was taken away in handcuffs. Taylor spent an hour in a police station until it was determined that there were no warrants for his arrest.

Stories of law enforcement personnel abusing photographers who are not breaking any laws  have become increasingly common across the world, even in countries that allow freedom of speech.  In the United States, which constitutionally guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of expression the behavior by officers like this and Center County District Attorney Michael Madeira is disgraceful.  

People who follow the rules and who are not likely to commit a terrorist attack should be left alone. While there are police officers who are not photogenic and do not like having their picture taken, the authority given to the police officers does not give them the right to harass people who are following the law and do not intend to commit crime.