Vancouver cops affirm your right to take pictures

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 17, 2009 10:32 PM |
Vancouver, site of an upcoming Olympic games, has just announced a policy prohibiting cops from taking away your camera or making you erase your photos.
It's always been policy but now it will be enforced. Vancouver police are not allowed to seize cameras or cell phones from anyone, unless they have consent, a warrant, or the person has been lawfully arrested.

Constable Lindsay Houghton tells the Province newspaper the policy has always been there, but it's now in writing and updated in their official regulations manual.

Vancouver police update camera/cell phone seizure policy
posted in: Civlib ,  Photo
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Take a look at this
#1 posted by Anonymous, June 17, 2009 10:54 PM

"or the person has been lawfully arrested."

Just long enough to erase your data.

Catch & Release as they like to say. :/

Take a look at this
#2 posted by Anonymous, June 17, 2009 11:46 PM

Stand by for an increase in the number of people arrested for possession of a camera.

Stand by for a police policy that the high rate of theft involving cameras and cell phones means that anyone brandishing either device "suspiciously" ought to be arrested until ownership of the device can be determined.

Cops don't like cameras. No policy will change that.

Take a look at this
#3 posted by bearchild, June 18, 2009 12:40 AM

It's still better than the grey-area bullshit that occurs just about everywhere else :/

Take a look at this
#4 posted by Daemon, June 18, 2009 1:12 AM

Nice to know my city's police aren't entirely insane. You know, asside from that thing where they electrocuted an extremely tired and frustrated man from polland.

Take a look at this
#5 posted by Anonymous, June 18, 2009 1:35 AM

It's always been policy but now it will be enforced.

Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha. Yeah right.

Here's the real policy: Cops will do whatever the fuck they want to do, and if you don't like it you can tell it to the judge later.

Take a look at this
#7 posted by jmcgarry, June 18, 2009 5:43 AM

@Daemon that wasn't the City Police, that was the RCMP.

Take a look at this
#8 posted by Ugly Canuck, June 18, 2009 8:08 AM

Did you get your precious photos?

No - there were men there - police men.

Take a look at this
#9 posted by airship, June 18, 2009 8:11 AM

Such a shame. Vancouver will now be home base to hundreds, if not thousands, of terror cells that now have 'rights' which endanger our freedoms and our children.

/sarcasm

Take a look at this
#10 posted by igzabier, June 18, 2009 10:01 AM

don't take this news FEED at face value comrades, only the creepy PR face of pigdom business here in Van, as they regularly take cameras from official press or not.
example;#6 above TAKUAN
example: I worked for vancouver sun (biggest corporate paper in western canada) and cops got pissed and tried(unsuccessfully, hence the extra pissed) to take camera while lawfully shooting a protest(removing Agricultural land reserves for a golf course-oh yeah we have laws against that too, google Rich Coleman lands minister who was in trouble for building condo projects on agricultural land).
so I was attacked by vicious country cops(RCMP not city) and slammed wrist first into the door pin of cop car and then driven on back roads(deliberately) to a pink jail 300 km away then released with no charges because they didn't want the press(though it was a big story still)

Take a look at this
#15 posted by Baldhead, June 18, 2009 10:50 AM

This, I think would be why they're releasing this statement. first, most people don't really see the difference between RCMP and Vancouver Police (a blurring not helped by officers serving in both over their careers) and second, there's been a wealth of bad press about this sort fo thing recently.


This is a public clarification on the matter for the knowledge of all.

We'll see how well it's enforced, of course.

Take a look at this
#16 posted by prunk, June 18, 2009 1:22 PM

Hey, I'm glad to see this post made it up.
I was hoping the intent was more that people would take note of this policy and keep it in mind when a police officer comes to take your camera away.
Being in Vancouver there is a bit of tension about the olympics. There are a handful of local protest groups that I think will be out in full force for the olympics and there's going to be even more security. I can't remember what the latest overage in the security budget is but it's safe to say there's going to be a lot of police. Not just VPD but RCMP and military.
There is going to be a lot of pictures taken, and a lot of video. I just hope that maybe the VPD uses this as an opportunity to smarten up and work on that world image as it's been rather tarnished by all the links above.
It seems to be that the world is going to hell in terms of freedom of anything with communication and media. The only way I can see it ending is if each individual is aware that giving any ground on your rights for any reason is a slippery slope.

Take a look at this
#20 posted by fennel, June 18, 2009 2:02 PM

VPD confiscated a camera from a newspaper reporter last April, without consent, warrant, or even spurious arrest:

http://www.theprovince.com/News/Seizure+camera+sets+alarm+bells/1471719/story.html

Take a look at this
#21 posted by prunk, June 18, 2009 2:07 PM

@ Fennel

At the bottom of the News1130 post it says just that. I think that may have been what prompted the entry into their official regulations manual.

Take a look at this
#23 posted by bakelblog, June 18, 2009 5:19 PM

That's good news. Police Chief Jim Chu is still a weasel, though.

Right after the incident with Jason Payne (the press photographer who was put in a headlock and who had his camera confiscated for no good reason), Chu first apologized for his cops having maltreated a working journalist that way, while still suggesting that if Payne had been a regular member of the public, such actions would've been A-OK.

(He has since changed his mind, apparently, as the official policy now makes it clear that NO CAMERAS may be confiscated from ANYONE without a warrant etc.)

The other ridiculous apology from Chu at the time was that he was sorry for having kept Payne's camera for "too long." The duration of the illegal confiscation wasn't the issue. The fact that it happened in the first place was the issue.

I'm glad he and his PD now say they are committed to the rule of law after all, but originally the guy either WAS too dumb or PLAYED too dumb to even understand what the problem was.

Take a look at this
#24 posted by igzabier, June 18, 2009 5:46 PM

"The person who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either."
Benjamin Franklin

Take a look at this
#25 posted by Takuan, June 18, 2009 5:46 PM

shoot, run and upload right away.

Take a look at this
#27 posted by prunk, June 19, 2009 9:21 AM

"shoot run and upload right away"

there is actually memory cards you can buy that will upload your pictures from your camera automatically to your laptop which you could have running a script to auto upload to flickr as soon as the picture is taken making a live feed of pictures if you have internet access at the time.

Take a look at this
#29 posted by Takuan, June 19, 2009 11:01 AM

remember the RCMP seized the video of the killing of Robert Dziekanski from a witness and handed it back only after media attention demanded it.

Whether by handing off the camera and surrendering a decoy, simple lying, streaming video or later upload, it is imperative that the video evidence of police malfeasance hit the web as quickly as possible. Remember the BART murder, the first thing they did was go for the cameras. Even before trying to save the life. We have to establish a culture of any misconduct by public officials being an instant matter of public record. They know this is coming and this is why you see continual efforts by police and government to destroy the right to photograph and the right to privacy on the web. Fight back now while you can.

Take a look at this
#30 posted by Takuan, June 19, 2009 12:44 PM

http://www.theprovince.com/Cops+planned+Taser+Dziekanski+shock+mail+suggests/1713676/story.html

I seem to remember that at the very beginning of all this there was a media report of some airport employee or traveller saying that he had heard one cop say to another "Can I tase him?" as they headed towards the arrivals area. How very interesting that this now emerges as a "shock". It's as if they hoped the public had no memory.

This is why we need video records and why we need them out of the hands of police.

Take a look at this
#32 posted by Anonymous, June 21, 2009 9:36 AM

now try and get the transit police in vancouver to agree to the same policy
http://www.deepsicks.com/?p=257

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