Apr 08, 2010 11:19
Yesterday there was a deadly crash on one of our main highways. Photogs showed up and started shooting the scene, public property and all that. The police told them to move along and/or stop shooting. They did. Did they have to?
ethics,
advice
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Comments 13
if it's the USA i'm pretty sure they didn't have to stop shooting. We don't have to in NY.
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In my experience, though, cops will ignore the First Amendment, as well as media credential language whenever it's convenient, especially if there's a death involved. State troopers here in NJ are notorious for threatening to arrest photographers for doing their jobs at accident and fire scenes.
The only thing you can do is shoot whatever you can as quickly as possible, leave the scene (no accident is worth getting arrested), then lodge a complaint with the top brass at whatever station/barracks the police were from, and as high up as you can go if it's a state/county police department. Consistently hammering them for ignoring the law they're supposed to be upholding and protecting is the only way to affect any change.
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That's what I figured.
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