I was harassed by The Roanoke Police Department for taking pictures

This took place 12-09-2009 after watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA i feel i did a HORRIBLE job standing up for my rights.. I was in the Campbell court a PUBLIC building in Roanoke VA and I attempted to photograph the elevator. Well a gentleman from who worked there (the janitor) exited the elevator asking me what i was doing and I told him. He said that photography was not allowed due to 9/11 and i needed to stop taking pictures, which i did and then i left the building. Pondering about what happened, i was pretty pissed so THEN I went back in the building to ask the person WHO i needed to talk to to get permission. at this point the associate told me to "GET OUT OF HIS BUILIDING!" whcih you will hear in the moving photograph as i took out my camera (which he saw) to record the audio and he threatened to smash it as i was on the way out the building, I kept asking him who owned the building and how to get in touch and he said it was "on his shirt and to look it up in the phone book" (not captured on audio) THEN i went back in the building to get his name and left, on my way out, he told me I was going to jail.. about 5 mins later I was DOWN THE ROAD and got stopped by the police on my scooter and after a 20 minute conversation with the cops, a trespassing order (shown at the end of the video) was issued, BY THE POLICE, not valley metro as ironically i was actually on the phone with a valley metro supervisor to tell him how unprofessional his associate was acting which you will hear in the video during the part where the security guard asked me about taking pictures. ALSO the police told me i could not take their picture, and every time i brought out the camera they told me to put it away. In my opinion the Roanoke Police department were polite in dealing with me, but do not understand photographers rights, and the first amendment but then again it was a JANITOR that called 911 on me and started all this crap. I'm pretty certain that they have to investigate every 911 call. In my opinion the officers had NO right to tell me i could not photograph them. I hope somehow the Roanoke Police Department sees this video so they can train their officers on photographers rights. REMEMBER PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME!!

UPDATE!!:: I got a letter this week (of Jan 24th 2010) the trespassing order was VOIDED by the manager of the building and I now have permission to film the elevator. SO in this case, the right thing was done!!! a big THANK YOU to the manager!!!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Police
• misconduct
• harassed
• harassment
• brutality
• roanoke
• va
• virginia
• police
• officer
• department
• photography
• is
• not
• crime
• first
• amendment
• violation
• waste
• taxpayer
• money

[FoxeoGames]

If it's private property you have absolutely NO rights to film inside the building. They can order you to stop filming, they can order you out of the building.

This is no different than if you were to enter into someone's home and start demanding that you can video them. If they order you out, you have to leave.

"Publicly accessible building" is what you mean, but it's still private.

Yes, you can video from the public sidewalk, but not from within the building if you are told to leave.

[kazikal78]

Wtf is wrong with your nails??

[TheBarerOfBadNews]

If you don't stand your ground, how can you say youre right?

[izzie5502]

@Vicfangio excuse me....asssss f***

TO:VICFANGIO

[delosdmi]

If you live in the Roanoke area then I think you should file a formal complaint but if you just visited from outside that area then you should tell them to just Drop Dead...

[Foxpoop]

People like that janitor are wasting resources that could be needed in a real emergency.

[elsalvadorvideo21]

ajajjjajaaj budy you should work for TV's New

[onsskater2]

wow, you are retard