ACLU of Louisiana Releases Report on NOPD's Lack of Respect for First Amendment

From our friends at the ACLU of Louisiana:

In response to reports of widespread interference with the right to observe and record police activity in New Orleans, today the ACLU of Louisiana released a report outlining the problem and calling on the New Orleans Police Department to conduct training in First Amendment rights. The report recounts fifteen episodes in which police stopped, and sometimes arrested, people simply for observing and recording what the police were doing. The incidents are those of a wide range of people, including Times-Picayune City Editor Gordon Russell, faith-based organization director Don Everard, filmmaker Rick Rowley, lawyers and law students, and ordinary people simply seeking to record what they saw.

Marjorie R. Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said: “For years, people have told us that the New Orleans Police Department has stopped them from recording police activity and misconduct. The police simply cannot be allowed to abuse their authority by denying observers the fundamental right to watch or to record what they see. A free society demands that private individuals must have the right to record police activity.”

The stories, many of which were part of in-court testimony or sworn statements in the recent litigation involving the arrest of two men who filmed police officers, reflect a variety of fact situations in many different neighborhoods. They share a common pattern of police obstruction without provocation or justification.

Esman continued: “With a new Chief of Police, an independent Police Monitor, and impending oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice, now is the time to ensure that the police be trained on the public's First Amendment rights.”

The report, entitled Observing, photographing, and filming the New Orleans Police Department, asks the police department to explain to officers the First Amendment right to observe, photograph, and film police officers; to include training in the police academy; and to impose discipline on officers who do not respect that fundamental right. It was prepared in conjunction with the Tulane Civil Litigation Clinic, which partnered with the ACLU in recent litigation about this serious problem.

The report is available online here.

Pressure on NOPD Continues in Trial This Week

The right of New Orleanians to observe and question police behavior is on trial this week.

During Mardi Gras 2007, Greg Griffith videotaped police grabbing a young girl by the hair and throwing her on the ground. The girl was soon released, but Griffith continued to film the police involved. Although the police appear to move on, they soon returned. On the video (which Griffith was able to preserve and is posted online) it appears that one of the officers rushes up to Griffith and violently arrests him without cause.

According to a press release from the ACLU of Louisiana, the ACLU (in partnership with Tulane Law Clinic) have jointly sued the New Orleans Police Department, Chief Warren Riley, and several officers for wrongful arrest and suppression of free speech, on behalf of two men who were arrested for filming police interaction with the public.

Greg Griffith and Noah Learned were watching the 2007 Bacchus parade on Canal Street when they saw and videotaped police officers engaging in what appeared to be rough treatment of a teenage girl. When the police realized that they were being filmed, they tackled and arrested both plaintiffs, seized the camera, and erased the video footage. "The public has a First Amendment right to film all activities that occur on public streets, including police activities," said Marjorie R. Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "In fact, public scrutiny of the actions of the police and other public officials is essential to the preservation of basic rights."

The lawsuit...seeks a declaration that the arrests and the seizure of the camera were illegal, an injunction prohibiting any future interference with the public's right to film police activities, and damages.

The case is being heard in the federal courtroom of Judge Jay Zainey, US District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. We're told it's important for supporters to be in the courtroom.