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| Re: How NOT to handle an encounter with police (Re: ROBBED BY A COP— PROPERTY DESTROYED!) (424950) | |||
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Re: How NOT to handle an encounter with police (Re: ROBBED BY A COP— PROPERTY DESTROYED!) |
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Posted by Nilet on Thu May 3 18:44:08 2007, in response to How NOT to handle an encounter with police (Re: ROBBED BY A COP— PROPERTY DESTROYED!), posted by railbus63 on Thu May 3 13:07:29 2007.  But, geez, you could've avoided that outcome with a little common sense. How so? I agreed to leave, I did leave, they chased after me after I left on their instructions. You crossed the line when you accused the officers of unreasonable search and seizure when all they were doing was looking at the photos on your camera. Looking at my photos is a search. I did not consent to the search. "We suspect you're going to do something illegal" does not constitute probable cause. Therefore, the search was illegal. Look at the situation from their point of view - why did you have a problem with them looking at all of your pics? Did you have something on that camera that you didn't want them to see? Refusal to consent to a search cannot constitute probable cause. Would you allow a random stranger to look through your pictures? I get scared when people say: "Why bother with your constitutional rights? If you're not doing anything wrong, you won't get in trouble, right?" You then compounded this by recording their badge numbers - was that really necessary? I have a right to record their badge numbers, and yes, it was necessary. Up to that point, they had done nothing wrong that I can see, and now you've basically told them that you're going to report them. I didn't tell them I was going to report them, but they did illegally order me to stop a legal activity and leave a public place. So if you did in fact come across cops who are willing to break the rules, you just got on their bad side. Why should I be obligated to appease someone just because (s)he is willing to break the rules? The result was an embarrassing episode of being handcuffed in public and having your camera taken away and the photos somehow lost. Wouldn't it have been preferable if you addressed your concerns about being told not to take photos after the fact with the NYPD? You still would have had your pics and video. You said I should report it to the NYPD, yet you also said I shouldn't record their badge numbers... These officers will no doubt have detailed reports which justify their decision to stop you on the platform and later putting you in cuffs. If they made false reports, they could get in trouble. I'd need to track down the eyewitnesses on the scene, but it's not completely impossible. If they did delete your photos, then they may well say that the photos were still in the camera when they gave it back to you. Well, there are a few avenues of proof I could use. 1. The photos are time stamped with EXIF data (well, the video of me re-recording badge numbers). Perhaps the deleted photos will be time stamped with delete time when I recover them or the undelete program will unearth it. This may contrast with their own reports of when they left me. 2. I don't know where she took the camera, but there could be eyewitnesses. There were certainly plenty of TA workers on the street. 3. She was gone a long time, and her partner said that she was calling a sergeant. Perhaps she was given orders from above to delete, in which case a higher-up could be held responsible. 4. If I can track down people on the scene, I may have an eyewitness to my reaction when I saw the photos gone (and her reaction to that.) You have no proof that it was the NYPD that deleted these photos. I can work on it. Absent any concrete proof of wrongdoing, it will come down to the word of two uniformed police officers against your word. Few of us will win that encounter. ...and as many eyewitnesses as I can find. Combined with some time stamp evidence. |
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