citizen journalism

A YouTube video shows Texas deputies detaining PINAC correspondent Phillip Turner for suspicion of burglarizing vehicles, and possibly plotting to help an inmate escape from jail in late September.
Their reason: Turner was video recording the City of Midland Police and Communication Center and Information Systems Department from the sidewalk.
That, of course, gave deputies the impression that Turner was plotting to bust someone out of jail, then break into cars right in front of the police station where seven cameras are mounted on the front of one building.

The United States Department of Justice says it welcomes all journalists into their press conferences as long as they follow a short list of criteria listed on its website.
However, that turned out to be a lie as a pair of Portland journalists learned earlier this week.
The journalists were from Flossin Media, a black-owned, Portland-based digital magazine founded in 2004 that covers social justice issues as well as other general interest issues.

PINAC correspondent Mike Smith attended a free speech rally in Portland only to be physically thrown out by police.
Smith was at the Patriot Prayer rally at the waterfront last Sunday, which is a popular place in the Oregon city for events and protests. There were several other groups counterprotesting the Patriot Prayer group which is why police were there to keep the peace.

Oklahoma military police, assisted by two Oklahoma state cops, were recorded lying to a citizen journalist in order to get him to surrender identification while peacefully and lawfully recording the Oklahoma Air National Guard base from a public space on August 31.
“Are you aware in the state of Oklahoma when a law enforcement officer asks you for identification that you’re required to produce it?” asked Master Sgt. Jason Cattleman, even though that is a blatant lie.

 
An undercover Minnesota cop was caught on camera threatening a man and shoving his camera into his face when asked for his badge number after he and his partner mistook him for a vulnerable missing person.
“911,” officer Benny Williams told 36-year-old St. Paul resident Andrew Casey before physically confronting him.
“I work for St. Paul police, bitch,” Williams added.
Williams also threatened to tow Casey’s legally parked car for recording him, and spat on him.

With bloody bodies scattered on a pedestrian street in Barcelona after a man plowed a van into a crowd of people, killing at least 13, a Spanish police officer took the time to order a man with a camera away.
The cop, who was tending to one of the victims, had no expectation of privacy. At least according to American legal standards.
But under Spanish law, he could have arrested the man with the camera, who was showing the world the tragic and devastating aftermath of the terrorist attack, which

Anne Arundel County Police Officer Scott Wolford was called to assist citizens with a dispute, instead, he had an issue with his activities being documented, tried to snatch a cell phone and is now suspended.  All this happened in Severn area of unincorporated Anne Arundel County, Maryland on Saturday, August 5, 2017,  after having a dispute with a customer Elias Crespo Tejada and his co-worker requested assistance from the police.

July 9, 2017, Philadelphia, PA. After spending the afternoon at a pool party, celebrating a child’s birthday, Ariel Rivera hears a commotion outside her home in the Kensington neighborhood. When she opens her door, she discovers three uniformed police officers beating a half-dressed man.  Ariel recognizes the man as a local urban camper. Without hesitation, Ariel documents the incident with her cell phone camera and later uploads the video to Facebook.

Police in Pocatello, Idaho arrested a man for filming an FBI building from public property. It is becoming an all too common occurrence for officers to stop and detain citizens for recording police or law enforcement activity of any kind. But the aforementioned video recording is a First Amendment protected activity, so anyone has the right to do so.

Portland Oregon where journalists are arrested for attempting to interview Portland Police Officers and District Attorney.  Oregon Journalists Bob West and Eli Richey both have a colorful history as it relates to documenting the employees of Oregon Law Enforcement agencies, both have been arrested multiple times for various phony charges only to later have the charges dropped by the DA’s office sadly this is not the case this time.