« Amy Poehler… Everything's Funnier with Braces | Main | I Read an Entire Book About Celine Dion »
Thursday, April 24, 2008
News DA Declines Prosecution of Citizen Journalist
Posted by on Thu, Apr 24 at 12:30 PM
The District Attorney has decided not to prosecute a citizen journalist who had his camera confiscated by cops for videotaping an arrest downtown:
JOE ANYBODY: Films police…blogs about it…
Nevertheless, the citizen journalist, whose real name is Mike Tabor, plans to pursue a civil suit for nominal damages against the police bureau, asking for an official change of police bureau policy so officers know not to arrest people videotaping their activities. Mayor Tom Potter already told cops not to arrest people videotaping them in 1991, when he was police chief, in response to a query from the National Lawyers’ Guild: 
POTTER LETTER: Take a second look at policy…
Following Potter’s decision, a training bulletin was distributed to officers from the City Attorney’s office, saying that during an arrest, officers could be videoed because it counted as an event. This all took place around the time of the Rodney King controversy in Los Angeles:
VIDEO ORDER: It’s allowed…
Unfortunately, the city attorney’s edict appears to have slipped to the back of police officers’ minds, and Tabor’s attorney, Ben Haile, says he plans to pursue the civil suit to try to bring the Bureau’s policy manual in line with the law.
“I think there’s not enough institutional memory in the Police Bureau,” says Haile. “And there needs to be an actual policy in the Bureau’s manual, not just a bulletin that can fall to the bottom of a stack of papers.”
Comments
the one that is normally the one that people get twitchy about is audio recording.
that said, 'ORS 165.540 Obtaining contents of communications' seems to imply that all you have to do is "specifically inform" the person that you are audio taping them, not get permission to audio tape them.
I wonder if there is one for the city that overrides that?
thanks
Patrick
Congrats, Mike. Glad to see common sense prevail. Now, if we can only shine a light on more of these police and quasi-police actions, maybe the city will wake up
Would whoever posted those documents e-mail me a printable copy? Pretty Please? docdem38@mail.com
since Tom Pooter wrote the Letter in 1991,
the Testosterone Tommies they've hired in
the meantime can't read as well as those
could in 1991. This is what happens when
TPTB lower the hiring standards and take
on the double-digit IQ crowd. Tsk! Tsk!
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Your Daily Awesome
- Portland Metroblogs
- Hype Machine
- Lelo in NoPo
- Furious Nads!
- Oregon Media Insiders
- Huffington Post
- Loaded Orygun
- Food Fight Grocery
- Jesus Christ's Blog
- Willamette Week
- BlueOregon
- Pampelmoose
- The Etchasketchist
Our Enemies
- Russian Amputee Brides
- God Hates Fags (Westboro Baptist Church)
- Portland Indy Media
- Oregon Republican Party
- Jack Bog's Blog
- The Stranger
- Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers
- Any Dumbass Still Using MySpace
- Portland Monthly
- Life Decisions International
- Courtney Taylor-Taylor
- The Earthly Minions of Emperor Klaktu
All contents © 2006 Index Publishing • Privacy Policy • Contact Info • Production Guidelines
When I was studying journalism in the 90s, I took a media law class and I remember reading about a court decision (can't remember if it was supreme court) that says it's OK to photograph anything or anyone that can be seen from a public place, such as from the street. If I'm recalling this correctly, it also included anything you could see through an open window --like you can take a pic of someone in a restaurant while you're standing in front on the sidewalk.
Look it up, Matt...