Filming police is a Constitutional right but many police continue to harrass and arrest citizens filming them.
Wielding a camera, activist takes on police misconduct.
Walking home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn in 2002, Dennis Flores witnessed several police officers terrorizing one of his students. Using his camera, he filmed the beating from a telephone booth where he was trying to dial 911 – until the police officers noticed his presence.
The result of his ordeal: a fracture, a head injury, and the destruction of his camera.
After the beating, Flores won his case in court, the first of many that he says has earned him a spot on the NYPD’s blacklist. “The police say I do it to make money, and that’s why they’ve got their eye on me.”
Spokespeople from the NYPD refused to answer questions about Flores’ case.
Flores used the $270,000 that he won at trial to organize his efforts to monitor police activity.
Flores gives workshops to high school and university students on how to use technology to defend citizens’ rights. He is currently a media and documentary film instructor at the Educational Video Center, an organization that strives to develop the skills of young documentary filmmakers.
“We make documentaries on the relationship between police and the community,” Flores explained. He has given talks on the issue at Columbia University, New York University, and Hostos Community College.
Read more:
http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2012-07-wielding-a-camera-activist-takes-on-police-misconduc