The availability of smartphones and cameras has empowered citizens to become guerrilla journalists who feel protected by the First Amendment. However, many have been shocked to discover revealing police misconduct may result in being targeted and harassed by law enforcement.<\/p>\n
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Filmmakers David Felix Sutcliffe and Laura Poitras have asked the documentary community to show their solidarity for civilian journalists by signing a petition. So far, the petition has at least 306 names, including multiple Academy Award-winning and nominated documentarians.<\/p>\n The Electronic Frontier Foundation has endorsed their petition, saying in a statement<\/a>, \u201cArrests of grassroots journalists who record police activities implicate not only the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, but also the very legitimacy of our legal system, which grounds its claim to power in impartiality. Yet, around the country, the law has subjected to penalties people pursuing constitutionally protected activities that enhance transparency, while turning a blind eye to the violence prompting residents to place themselves at risk.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n The petition asks the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the arrests of civilian journalists who film police actions. This shouldn\u2019t be a difficult request, because the DOJ has acknowledged it as a problem in prior investigations.<\/p>\n In the DOJ\u2019s 2015 report on the Ferguson Police Department (FPD), they wrote, \u201cFPD officers also routinely infringe on the public\u2019s First Amendment rights by preventing people from recording their activities,\u201d and \u201cthe federal courts of appeal have held that the First Amendment \u2018unambiguously\u2019 establishes a constitutional right to videotape police activities.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Despite this, citizens who record police often find themselves in the crosshairs. For example, the day after Chris LeDay filmed the death of Alton Sterling, he was detained after police told him that he \u201cfit the description<\/em>\u201d of someone wanted on battery charges. He would end up spending the night in jail for unpaid fines, Complex reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Abdullah Muflahi owned the convenience store Sterling died in front of and is now suing the Baton Rouge Police Department after that they detained him for four hours while they confiscated his store\u2019s security system along with his cellphone, the Daily Beast reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n While police may be more aware of citizens\u2019 rights to film them, they still have the power to make watchdogs and whistleblowers\u2019 lives miserable. For example, Ramsey Orta\u2019s name became public news when in 2014, he recorded the death of Eric Garner at the hands of the New York Police Department (NYPD).<\/p>\n Since then, Orta found himself on the NYPD\u2019s radar. He claims they\u2019ve harassed and targeted him. In January, he told<\/a>\u00a0Democracy Now! that after telling the Daily Mail he had a video of Eric Garner\u2019s arrest, he was targeted.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom then on, I\u2019ve been targeted by the NYPD,<\/em>\u201d he said, explaining \u201cI got five pending cases right now\u2014two in Supreme Court, three in criminal. Since then, I\u2019ve just been harassed. I\u2019ve been almost killed in Rikers Island.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It was not just him, but his family as well. His wife was arrested on assault charges.<\/p>\n \u201cShe got arrested for assault charges that were allegedly caught on camera,<\/em>\u201d Orta explained, but the charges were mysteriously dropped when they arrived at court.<\/p>\n His stints at Rikers Island were fraught with tension, as he only ate pre-packaged commissary foods after learning that guards were slipping rat poison into the food, he told<\/a>\u00a0Vice. In fact, a local New York newspaper managed<\/a>\u00a0to get photos of rat poison tablets in meatloaf.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Ramsey, some of the charges thrown at him have managed to stick. On Saturday, he will begin serving four years on drug and weapons charges.<\/p>\n On his last day of freedom, he spoke with RT about what he experienced. He told RT that, \u201cInternal Affairs came to my house, tried to get the video from me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Orta was no stranger to recording police activities prior to Garner\u2019s death; he had been posting videos of what he believed to be excessive force on YouTube. However, he believes that the ability to do so may be at risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the only reason why they\u2019re trying to pass laws to lock people up for it<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Orta mentioned spending time with Kevin Moore, the man who filmed Freddie Gray\u2019s arrest. Moore was arrested at a protest in May 2015 in a move that he believes was a form of witness intimidation. He told<\/a>\u00a0Vice that the police “waited until I got away from the protest and my people to protect me.<\/em>“<\/p>\n Following the death of Freddie Gray, Moore was surprised to see his own face and personal information shared on the internet, saying he was wanted for questioning.<\/p>\n “They plastered my picture all over the internet hoping people would come forward and tell on me,<\/em>” he said.<\/p>\n But for those who are willing to film, he advises anyone to \u201cMake sure you have a legal team backing you up.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n
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