I've come across news stories lately concerning various incidents involving the police arresting people for taking photos and videos of skirmishes in which they're involved.
We're not talking about incidents occurring on someone's private property, or inside the police stations themselves
---these are incidents taking place on public streets and inside businesses and shopping areas...places ALREADY occupied by the general public.
So it's not like there aren't already witnesses to whatever's transpiring in said place at said point in time. Whatever's not photographed or videorecorded could still be recalled from memory by whoever happened to be present and had their attention diverted by and/or focused on said conflict at hand.
I'm not blaming the authorities for getting annoyed at certain insipid-minded overzealous camera-phone-obsessed twits---I've been in "tourist-trap" places myself in the course of my lifetime (i.e.: Bryce Canyon; Carlsbad Caverns; the Pegasus parade in downtown Louisville) and have had to endured all these simple minds constantly snapping pictures every five seconds (for their "scrapbooks" or something---like they have no faith in their own ability to remember events in their own lives)---I can understand how one can view such types as being "obstructive" and "interfering", but---then again---if you guys are in a public place you have to expect a certain degree of "mediocre mentality" type behavior.
If it's not actually threatening then attacking such people for their naive actions and even charging them with "crimes" seems a bit overkill
...like I said, these ARE public places, and if there's pandemonium going on in them you have to expect people to NOTICE and react somehow.
...and, honestly, arresting a professional network news crew for videotaping a skirmish involving police officers---transpiring on a public street?
We're no longer talking about amateur hacks looking to acquire more FACEBOOK or blogsite fodder
---we're talking about people who make a living providing coverage of major events that take place in the world as well as in their respective societies.
If this is some sort of "arrest quota" thing, then I must proclaim:
are police officers little more than a bunch of overaged "boy scouts" and "girl scouts" concerned only with "how many 'merit badges' they can earn during their tenure with their 'troops'"?
We're not talking about incidents occurring on someone's private property, or inside the police stations themselves
---these are incidents taking place on public streets and inside businesses and shopping areas...places ALREADY occupied by the general public.
So it's not like there aren't already witnesses to whatever's transpiring in said place at said point in time. Whatever's not photographed or videorecorded could still be recalled from memory by whoever happened to be present and had their attention diverted by and/or focused on said conflict at hand.
I'm not blaming the authorities for getting annoyed at certain insipid-minded overzealous camera-phone-obsessed twits---I've been in "tourist-trap" places myself in the course of my lifetime (i.e.: Bryce Canyon; Carlsbad Caverns; the Pegasus parade in downtown Louisville) and have had to endured all these simple minds constantly snapping pictures every five seconds (for their "scrapbooks" or something---like they have no faith in their own ability to remember events in their own lives)---I can understand how one can view such types as being "obstructive" and "interfering", but---then again---if you guys are in a public place you have to expect a certain degree of "mediocre mentality" type behavior.
If it's not actually threatening then attacking such people for their naive actions and even charging them with "crimes" seems a bit overkill
...like I said, these ARE public places, and if there's pandemonium going on in them you have to expect people to NOTICE and react somehow.
...and, honestly, arresting a professional network news crew for videotaping a skirmish involving police officers---transpiring on a public street?
We're no longer talking about amateur hacks looking to acquire more FACEBOOK or blogsite fodder
---we're talking about people who make a living providing coverage of major events that take place in the world as well as in their respective societies.
If this is some sort of "arrest quota" thing, then I must proclaim:
are police officers little more than a bunch of overaged "boy scouts" and "girl scouts" concerned only with "how many 'merit badges' they can earn during their tenure with their 'troops'"?
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