PINAC - Photgraphy Is Not A Crime

Years ago there was a website called Photography Is Not A CrimePhotography Is Not A Crime, started by Carlos Miller after getting arrested for filming the police in his town. Sadly, Miller's original PINAC website is no longer online (due to hosting costs), but he now a a Facebook pageFacebook page. Since Blogspot is free, I want to keep Miller's story - and his work -alive.

    While Carlos Miller started PINAC to tell his own story, many other people around the country had the same story to tell: their local police violated their rights while filming in public. For some, their camera or videotape was seized illegally, often forcibly. For others, their footage got deleted. And while public photography is not illegal, Destruction of Evidence is.

    (Don't just take my word for it; see what the American Civil Liberties Union says about your rights: https://www.acludc.org/en/know-your-rights/if-stopped-photographing-public)

    PINAC did more than just complain, they offered a useful solution - which often achieved results. First, people would ask the police to return their footage, or complain to the police department their footage had been destroyed, and they would get laughed at: "Well, what are you going to do about it?" Next, they'd find a local journalist to cover their story and PINAC's website republished it. Then people around the country would call that police department, reminding them their actions were illegal and letting them know the eyes of the world were watching them. 

    While police do nothing when one person complains, when their Chief of Police is getting dozens - or hundreds - of calls a day, the public humiliation shames them into "doing the right thing." Sometimes this even resulted in a financial settlement for the citizen harmed by their police department's illegal behavior. PINAC had a pretty good track record, and almost every week they posted another success story.

    My own personal story, involving the Santa Rosa Police Department, never got shared on PINAC because I never found a local journalist willing to retell my story. And, at the time, I did not have a blog to post my story on, but mostly I was trying to get a local reporter to cover it. And I still am; but that's another story: https://erikmiddlenamejorgensen.blogspot.com/2024/06/vehicular-assault-legalized-in-santa.html  

    My own story is actually two different stories, a year apart. In one the police illegally seized, duplicated, and distributed my footage (without paying me); in the other, the police illegally suppressed my footage of a Vehicular Assault, protecting the wrong-way driver from prosecution.

    While my own stories (posted at https://www.youtube.com/ApeOfThoth) were never on PINAC, I like what Carlos Miller achieved and I would like to duplicate his efforts here, on my own blog.

    Here is my video footage illegally seized, turned into a "Training film", then given without permission or payment to History Channel for their Gangland series: 

Here is my footage of a Vehicular Assault during a peaceful protest in front of Santa Rosa High School, where an angry girl, late for work. drove through a crowd of people on the wrong side of the street, hitting at least two people, then speeding off with one person stuck on the hood of her car. When police officers finally pulled her over, an SRPD officer grabbed the camera from my hand and shut it off. 

    When I filed a complaint, the officer said the driver had stopped "several times" but her "passenger" refused to get off. When I reminded the "investigator" about my videotape, and that it showed his officer was lying, he told me, "As far as I'm concerned, this investigation is over."

    I hope that bothers you as much as it bothers me. I hope you let the Santa Rosa City Council know:

• the City Council as a whole at citycouncil@srcity.org
• Mayor Natalie Rogers at nrogers@srcity.org (707)494-8378
• Vice Mayor Mark Stapp at MStapp@srcity.org (707)328-7024
• Eddie Alvarez (District 1) at ealvarez@srcity.org (707)791-5282
• Dianna MacDonald (District 3) at dmacdonald@srcity.org (707)495-7599
• Victoria Fleming (District 4) at vfleming@srcity.org
• Chris Rogers (District 5) at crogers@srcity.org (707)543-3017
• Jeff Okrepkie (District 6) at JOkrepkie@srcity.org (707)531-0056
• City Attorney Teresa Sticker at caoffice@srcity.org (707)543-3040

Also let Santa Rosa Police Department know: https://www.srcity.org/2443/File-a-Complaint - 

(From City of Santa Rosa website):

The following options are available (for Police Complaints):

• Mail or drop off a letter to the Police Department at 965 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA  95404.
• Call (707) 543-3559, Fax (707) 543-3557.
• Send an email to srpdinfo@srcity.org
• Pickup a commendation/complaint form, in English or Spanish, from the Police Department lobbies.
• Download a commendation/complaint form. Forms are available in either English or Spanish.
• If you prefer to communicate with someone outside of the police department, you may contact OIR Group LLC, at (310) 906-0259, or directly at this link