Little Brother Is Watching

[NRM_Oz]

Having watched many YOUTUBE and the like clips of arrests and security staff conducting their duties but being filmed by the general public, I am curious as to how you and your employer deal with these public journalists. Fortunately, I have never been in a situation where I have been conducting my duties for an arrest where a member of the public has interfered with my actions apart from a few comments of WHO ARE YOU and WHAT ARE YOU DOING which a quick identification of myself has moved people on.

So what are you experiences if any and how have they been dealt with ?

[sgtnewby]

Just the other day, a co-worker, by order of the duty supervisor, took "little sisters" disposable camera away... Patient privacy laws and such, gotta love'em...

[Andy Taylor]

Cameras are not allowed inside the building. Oustide it hasn't come up. Acually it hasn't come up inside either, but if we see anyone with a camera, they are asked to leave and come back without the camera.

[Curtis Baillie]

[QUOTE=NRM_Oz;43848]Having watched many YOUTUBE and the like clips of arrests and security staff conducting their duties but being filmed by the general public, I am curious as to how you and your employer deal with these public journalists. Fortunately, I have never been in a situation where I have been conducting my duties for an arrest where a member of the public has interfered with my actions apart from a few comments of WHO ARE YOU and WHAT ARE YOU DOING which a quick identification of myself has moved people on.

So what are you experiences if any and how have they been dealt with ?[/QUOTE] Many - Many most came when I worked LE plainclothes.

[ddog]

I find it refreshing that the technology is available to little brother. If big brother was the only one, it would be biased to no ends.

Just accept anything outside of anywhere is free game. That is what civilization requires, as well as crime rates in certain areas. But big brother can 'now' go inside one's home since GW Bush oked spying for big brother under any circumstance (like invisible terrorists, the perfect 'excuse').

Time to get a $70 (+ shipping) bug checker and start flushing big brothers transmitter resources down the toilet, lol. Top item on link below:

http://www.amazing1.com/fm-transmitters-receivers.htm

[ozsecuritychic]

I have told a few people that they are not allowed to film inside the mall and they filmed me walking up to them, but I havent seen any pop up yet. When I was first starting out and doing bouncer work at a pretty rough pub there was a group of guys that tried to get me to go into another area of the pub to get a naked bloke off the stage while they filmed it and didnt appreciate the fact that I said it wasnt my area and sent the bloke that I was working with in to get him

[N. A. Corbier]

Unless you can lawfully justify it, seizing a camera is probably not a good idea.

Now, on private property, you can tell anyone to leave for any reason... So... You can keep filming as you leave, right now.

I think this is the best policy for people who are dealing with unauthorized camera users in a private place. And private place == owned by a private party, not the government. Yes, a mall is a 'public space,' but its private property.

One thing I would note, however, is telling a "citizen activist journalist" to turn his camera off is more trouble than its worth. Ignore the camera, tell them to leave, and tell them to leave immediately. Let them continue to film unless that filming is a criminal violation (then, arrest em for it! The camera becomes yours as a search incident to arrest anyway...), because telling them to stop won't accomplish anything, and its not lawful for you to stop the camera for them.

[echo06]

We are private...therefore we seize , thank you and good night!!

[bpdblue]

Just remember, many camera's are out there, so always try to act like you would if you were being recorded, so if the time ever comes that the SHTF, and someone is recording it, you will come across well for the probable lawsuit and possible criminal case that will follow.

[N. A. Corbier]

We are private...therefore we seize , thank you and good night!!

This is what I'm referring to. Under what Florida Statute do you have an affirmative defense to "theft," and in the case of many electronics, "Grand Theft?"

You are seizing an item against the person's will. Do you give it back to them? If not, there is deprivation for the element of "theft" or "grand theft" under FSS.

Under what statue are you authorized to commit simple battery to forcibly remove someone's camera from their person?

Its questions like these that trip a lot of people up when they think, "I'm on private property, I can seize a video camera cause I don't want it recording." You can order them to leave. You can call the police and have them trespassed. If you weren't a Class D officer, you could throw them off the property.

But what statutory authority gives you the legal right to steal someone's property?

[Hank1]

If you weren't a Class D officer, you could throw them off the property.

Even that still blows my mind!

[NRM_Oz]

I got a tip off that a political group were going to march on our flagship store over alleged child labour / sweat shops (our dresses are $2k US and up) just like Kathy Lee Grifford (sorry I forgot her surname) had around her clothing empire. Everyone in the group had tie-died clothes and and a video camera to record everything. I gave our PR person a script to read and to provide documents to the group leaders of where our merchandise is sourced from (made in Australia or imported from Europe) as I had a PI blend in with the group to keep filming the whole incident. 10 minutes later, they all disbursed and after a quick debrief to our CEO and board members, flew home that night thinking of the "what ifs" if it had gone sour.

[kingsman]

[NRM_Oz]

True and I recall a case of a female customer who reported that 2 men were following her and filming her with their mobile phones. When they came back into the store they repeated what they she reported to me and I approached both of them as she was escorted out a back door and suggested she leave the store and area asap. I spoke to the 2 gentlemen and asked them to come and speak with me in my officer (note I asked). I then asked them delete all footage off their mobile phones of her and asked for their details with the promise of no police (I couldn't anyway due to store BS) from me unless the victim reported the matter to them. A few weeks later they were caught by the police doing the same thing in a competitor's store when the police finally got back to me on the victims report.

[Badge714]

About 6 months after the Mall of America opened, I was following a woman there as a favor for a PI friend of mine. I was stopped by two mall guards and a cop who told me the inside architecture and store signs of the mall were copywrited and therefore it was illegal to use my video camera in there. I told them I was just taking some video to email the folks back home. I apologized for being stupid and left the mall. They didn't ask to see what I had filmed or to erase the tape.