SpeedyWilson Loc: Upstate South Carolina

The female photographer noticed some public activity by police and started recording. She was arrested, even though she had all the proper newspaper credentials ...

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/07/16/freep-photographer-arrested-while-recording-an-arrest/

With all Detroit's problems, it seems like they don't need another law suit.

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

The cop was wrong, discipline him and move on. Do we really need to make a national incident out of every mistake that's made in this country? Now we'll just have to wait and see how many millions of dollars the lawyers will go after, then bitch about insurance premiums.

MonochromeB Loc: Chandler, AZ

Now that Detroit has filed for Bankruptcy, they will be defended by the Rural Law Associates :)

@Pepper 'The cop was wrong, discipline him and move on'

I'm guessing you haven't been 'wrongly arrested, held overnight, arraigned, and had to defend your right to be on a public sidewalk photographing police in action'...

I'm still waiting for the return of my camera, bag, lenses, etc. "Being held as material evidence in an internal investigation'. Been 6 months. My legal bill to this point is right around $8K.

Every time one of us gets arrested for something every cop knows is legal, it IS an issue, and needs to remain an issue.

Ron K. Loc: Upstate NY.

As Hillary Clinton once said, "It's all just a vast right-wing conspiracy."

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

It's all Bush's fault. Lol

jamitjim73 Loc: Franklin,Tn.

And don't forget HILLARY's WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE

krgatlgm Loc: Las Vegas, Nv

The chief apologized??? :shock: With the number of these stories as of late it is obviously a training issue for law enforcement. Does Detroit Police Department have a written policy concerning photographers? If not the Chief needs to get off his butt and publish one and insure all his officers get it, understand it and then do it!!! If they do, why didn't this officer follow it?
Did a supervisor ever get into the mix? Should have been rectified at that point.

This stuff is Constitutional Law 101!

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

Detroit has had 4 Police Chiefs in the last 4 years. The Police Pension Fund is broke. The city has paid more for lawsuits than they should have do to these types of instances.

krgatlgm Loc: Las Vegas, Nv

What a shame. The residents deserve better than that. I was always of the opinion that every time my department was sued and lost that was X amount of patrol cars we wouldn't get, X amount of $'s that couldn't be used for training and X amount of $'s that wouldn't be available for salaries/benefits. Kind of a common sense approach? :thumbup:

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

I clearly stated he should be disciplined, you even quoted me, what more should be done? Most of us have been wronged a time or two in our lives and yes I have too.

MonochromeB Loc: Chandler, AZ

Disciplining a cop may fix the police department's problem, but many, like you in this case, have the wrong attitude when it comes to the larger problem.

Every time we allow a Constitutional right to be bruised, broken, denied, abridged, or otherwise taken from any person it is an affront to everyone's Constitutional rights.

In both theory and practice we should demand more than 30 minutes in a room listening to the Watch Commander or Day Officer drone on about anything but how someone's rights were usurped, which is quite illegal in all of the 50 states in the Union.

Compare this to the BS going on with the DOJ investigating Civil Rights violations in the wake of the Zimmerman acquittal.

Groups are marching, Presidents are talking about being Trayvon Martin, all over 7 words, "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" Funny thing is, these seven words are not in the Constitution at all! They are in the Declaration of Independence. We have no Constitutionally enumerated right to "Life, Liberty, or the pursuit of happiness" If we had a Constitutional right to life, Capital punishment would fundamentally be illegal, and Stand your Ground laws, which I support, could never come to law because the process of removing a person's constitutional rights requires a conviction or surrender of citizenship.

The only rights we have are those which are expressly granted by the Constitution, of which, The First Amendment guarantees the government shall not abridge the right of free speech.

Pardon my bluntness, but the mindset and attitude which says, "Hell, the cop got his hands spanked...move on" Only weakens all Americans' grasp on our ever more fragile Constitutional rights. Just rubbed me the wrong way.

Do I want the cop fired, no. But look at it this way: If I made it impossible for a person to speak his mind in a public place, in such a way which prevented him from expressing his free speech about something I truly could not stand, and the same cop witnessed it, I could be arrested under a civil rights violation and face federal prison time for doing so. The cop, in my case, which deprived me of my right to free speech, aw well as the right to due process (my personal property was seized w/o a warrant) would be well within his duties to jail me.

It is that type of injustice nobody thinks about until it happens to them.

~ I enjoyed the conversation! I respect your right to express your view. I'm interested in hearing from you.

Best,

Ben

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Time for robocop?

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Have you filed with the A.G.? What's your status?

stevenelson Loc: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Obama is at fault again. He needs to be impeached. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Penny MG Loc: Fresno, Texas

You took the words right out of my mouth! :thumbup: