Photography and the Law: Arrested for snapping a Policeman

Yet another worrying event in the ongoing “law versus photographer” trend. The latest reported by Thomas Hawk is a guy who was arrested for taking a photograph of a policeman making an arrest …

Cruz, 21, told the NBC 10 Investigators that police arrested him last Wednesday for taking a picture of police activity with his cell phone. Cruz said police told him that he broke a new law that prohibits people from taking pictures of police with cell phones. “They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation. … They said, ‘You were impeding this investigation.’ (I asked,) “By doing what?’ (The officer said,) ‘By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone,’” Cruz said. Cruz’s parents, who got him out of jail, said police told them the same thing.”

This is very worrying, society needs to know that the Police are accountable and that means the ability for a citizen to make documentary evidence. I just hope it is a one-off bad judgment by an individual police officer and not policy.

Technorati Tags: photography, law, news

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