I was awakened last night by the god bouncing off the bedroom door. We were having a wild and wooly thunderstorm and he doesn't like heavy weather. I got up so that Belle could sleep and went outside to watch the light show. It was spectacular.
Getting up this morning, I see that the tomato plants took a beating in the storm last night. They'll be okay, and I'm looking forward to fresh, home-grown tomatoes in the coming weeks.
Scrolling through YouTube reels lately, I'm seeing something that they call First Amendment Auditors or some such nonsense. These bozos go about filming at places that attract attention to themselves. Then they get upset when the attention they attract is negative.
The law is, as yet, unsettled. We generally accept that a citizen can film police. Indeed, in my last ten years of police work, I not only assumed, but took comfort in the knowledge that my actions were being recorded. I never had any problem with being recorded, but then I am a First Amendment absolutist.
What I did have problems with are people getting in the way. If I'm working a scene and someone wants to film, that's fine. No problem, stay out of the way and film to your hearts content. Just don't get in my way. What I do not want is some bozo leaning over my shoulder trying to get a better camera angle. If you are in the way, I'll tell you to move, but I'll only tell you once.
Louisiana Law makes it illegal to interfere with a law enforcement officer while conducting official duties. What the "citizen journalist" needs to understand is that the police decide who is interfering, not the citizen. If I tell you to move, you have been warned.
Again, I don't care if you film, just don't get in the way.
2 comments:
Keeping a respectful distance (say 8-10 feet) and recording seems completely reasonable to me. Especially since the hard truth is citizens bringing irrefutably proof of bad police behavior is often the only way to get accountability.
If cops don’t have anything to hide I can’t see why they would have a problem with it.
Kind of like body cams. Good honest cops who do the right thing don’t seem to have an issue being recorded. It helps them.
We used to call them the 'Uh-oh' squad when I worked fire/rescue. And we did have a couple of them arrested for interfering with us.
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