Photography is not a crime

By Carlos Miller
Just over a mile from where the U.S. Constitution is permanently displayed in Washington DC, photographers have been routinely harassed and threatened with arrest for daring to snap a photo inside one of the most historical and picturesque train stations in the United States.
The situation got so bad that even a TV […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
Adam Kokesh, an Iraq War veteran turned antiwar activist, was handcuffed by undercover FBI agents after trying to photograph police making a traffic stop.
The incident occurred Tuesday when Kokesh and a friend were walking down the street and encountered an agitated police officer ordering another car to stop.
Kokesh pulled out his cell phone […]

Popularity: 6% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Milller
Hopefully, this is the first of more to come.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is holding true to her promise by scheduling the first hearing over the flap regarding photographers and Union Station security guards and management.
According to LightboxDC, the meeting will be scheduled as follows:
 The hearing is set for next Tuesday, July 22, […]

Popularity: 5% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
In a clear violation of his First Amendment rights, Tennessee deputy Starling McCloud arrested Scott Conover last week for photographing him with an IPhone during a traffic stop on a public road.
McCloud went as far as using two sets of handcuffs to arrest Conover, according to a witness statement from another police officer.
McCloud […]

Popularity: 6% [?]

[Read more →]

Update: So what exactly is “unlawful photography” anyway?
 By Carlos Miller
And yet another law enforcement officer proves clueless of the First Amendment.
This time it was a Johnson County Sheriff’s deputy, who said he “feared for his life”, when civilian Scott Conover snapped a photo of him with an IPhone during a traffic stop in Tennessee […]

Popularity: 26% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
The most humiliating part of my arrest was not necessarily the way the five Miami police officers slammed me down on the hard sidewalk and bashed my forehead against the concrete. Nor was it the way they tightened the handcuffs on me until they cut off the circulation in my wrists. Nor was […]

Popularity: 17% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
This is a bit belated but it’s been a busy week and I was hoping to incorporate this information in a longer post about what I’ve accomplished on this blog so far, but I’ve really haven’t accomplished anything yet except maybe stir the pot a little and hopefully raise a little awareness, so […]

Popularity: 9% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
I wrote an article about photographers getting harassed by cops which will be published in Thursday’s edition of the Miami New Times.
The article, titled “Cops Target Photographers”, has already been uploaded to the New Times Website. Check it out here.
Popularity: 9% [?]

Popularity: 9% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
An Oklahoma photographer was thrown in the back of a police car last week and threatened with arrest if he did not delete the images he took of a crime scene.
Chris Owens, who was able to retrieve the photos using recovery software, is now considering a lawsuit.
The incident began last Monday in Oklahoma […]

Popularity: 8% [?]

[Read more →]

By Carlos Miller
Some people think that journalists have more rights than civilian non-journalists when it comes to accessing police scenes.
That is not true, of course, as journalists and civilians both have the same legal right to document police investigations in public as long as they don’t interfere.
However, Orlando police seem to believe that journalists have […]

Popularity: 9% [?]

[Read more →]