Pixiq
Photojournalist Carlos Miller, who runs the blog Photography Is Not a Crime, says that police deleted video from his camera when they arrested him last week as he covered Occupy protests in Miami. After recovering some of the video from digital files, he’s learned that the officer who had him arrested is a public information officer, “meaning it is her job to deal with the media.” Last week, Miller wrote that he was trying to find a way back to his car as police cleared protesters out of an area:
…I figured the best thing to do is find the commanding officer and explain my situation.
Keep in mind there were several journalists in the area, including several behind the first line of cops on 3rd Ave.
As I asked the officer if she would allow me to walk back to my car, which was at Government Center and she immediately began yelling out “Arrestee! Arrestee!”. …
I told them I was a journalist as if all the camera gear wasn’t an indicator of that. She told me that I was getting arrested because I had defied their orders to leave the area, so I asked about the other journalists, but she didn’t respond to that.
The National Press Photographers Association has filed a complaint with Miami-Dade County police concerning the arrest. || Related: How to handle and protect your cell phone at a protest (Electronic Frontier Foundation) || Earlier: Memphis police delete video from photojournalist’s camera (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press)
