War on Photographers? *

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Anthony Citrano <anthony.citrano () gmail com>
Date: March 25, 2007 7:29:04 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: War on Photographers?
Reply-To: a () citrano com

Hi Dave,

As you know, I do quite a bit of avocational photography.  Having
spent the last six months traveling the US & Europe, it was more than
a little disheartening (but unsurprising) to find that the only
trouble I encountered was right here in the good ol' USA.

In a nutshell: I was taking pictures of a public canal from a public
sidewalk in San Antonio and was approached by a Bexar County Sheriff's
Lieutenant.  Despite my calmness and (firm) courtesy, I was threatened
with arrest multiple times (perhaps most notably being told I would be
jailed if I did not present ID) - shouted at, physically intimidated,
and interrogated - all in the name of "September the 11th."

My snarky piece on the event is here:
http://www.cosmictap.com/2007/03/phil_dreyer_bexar.html

The next day, to prepare for writing a piece on the encounter, I
contacted the PIO at the Sheriff's Office who verified the officer's
name.  We did not discuss departmental policy or the nature of the
event.

What's important to me now (and why I'm passing it to you for IP) is
not what to do about my incident - that's over and done with.  But it
points to two more important issues:

 A> the continual retail expansion of police power, permitted by a
slumbering public;
 B> the absurd underlying basis that taking photographs is  
suspicious activity.

Be well,
/aac

---
anthony citrano
www.citrano.com


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