“Don’t try to leave. I will tackle you.”
That’s what rent-a-cops say to you when you take a picture of an open ATM being serviced by two Loomis & Fargo guards in an REI store. That’s right: snap a picture of publicly available ATM innards and get tackled by a fake cop.
Shane Becker, an anarchist, straight-edge, vegan, Rails developer who most of us would assume just needs a sandwich and a beer and he wouldn’t be so interested in seeing inside of an ATM, was arrested at a Seattle REI after snapping the photo above with his iPhone. The Loomis officers first asked him to show ID so they could fill out a report about the incident for the boys back at HQ and when Shane refused the real-live police took him down to Chinatown after playing the 9/11 card.
Officer Debra Pelich (#5976)
Remember 9/11? I saw pictures of those buildings. One time when I was in Florida I was wandering around taking pictures. A security team came up and told me it was a high security restricted area. I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures there. I explained that I didn’t know that, was a police officer, showed them my ID and complied with them. We cleared it up and I left.
Me (totally baffled)
Since you managed to pull the 9/11 card somehow, does that mean that everyone that took a picture of those buildings—
While this is really just one vegan, Rails-developing, typophiliac anarchist vs. the world, his experience could soon be all our experiences once this anti-photo wackiness strikes one or more of us while we’re out snapping some shots.
The dude seems to be handling everything in stride.
I think that I would be making a few emails to REI corporate and probably getting a lawyer talking to the police department, REI and the ATM company. He likely has a huge case against any or all of them.
Yay, another frivolous lawsuit for nothing that wastes the time of all parties involved when they could be better engaged in doing real work. You made your point. The Loomis guys were cop wanna-be’s, the cops used some poorly-chosen words, and no one really cares that you took a picture of the inside of an ATM. In the meantime you wasted a few people’s time by being obtuse. That’s about as much time as needs to be dedicated to this. Maybe file a complaint to the involved parties, and maybe the people involved get tought how to interact properly with the public. Or maybe not. You might have had my interest if they had bopped you over the head or something. But as it is, resounding “meh”.
Its typical that people like SwissFreek see any rebellion against unjust exertions of authority as juvenile, when in reality this is what freedom is about. Being able to do something that’s NOT illegal and expect NOT to be treated like a suspected criminal is the SUPPOSED difference between ‘american democracy’ and the tyrannical rule of ‘communist china’, ‘Stalinist russia’ or any other country we are taught to be afraid of because of gestapo police forces that harass and demoralize the citizenry.
What you fail to understand is this sort of “We’re the police, we get to make the rules” attitude is exactly what leads to people getting cracked over the head, and worse. We have made it very clear to police that they are a special breed of human, above the laws that govern the rest of us, and that they are now allowed to do whatever they feel is right to make their jobs easier. Problem is, their job isn’t supposed to be easy, and they are supposed to enforce the laws our elected representatives make, not make the laws themselves out of expediency.
To my knowledge there is no law anywhere saying it is illegal to take a photograph of an ATM being serviced, so why should the cops be involved at all? We are quickly moving to a society, thanks to attitudes like yours, where we all have to walk around on eggshells, trying not to do anything which might annoy a cop, lest we get hauled in for nothing more than failure to show proper respect to our armed police overlords.
SwissFreek misses the point. This guy was arrested for doing *nothing wrong*. He was in a clearly public area. I don’t know why he wanted to take a picture of an open ATM, but that is irrelevant. There is no law against it. This man was wrongfully arrested and physically manhandled for no valid reason.
I’d be considering a lawsuit as well unless I received a letter signed by the rent-a-cops, the arresting officer, the head of REI, and that officer’s top boss stating that, not only was there no law against taking a picture in a public place, but that the rent-a-cops and the arresting officer had no valid reason for the arrest and that they accept personal responsibility for the error. I’d *also* expect to see all those people at a news conference where the arresting officer reads that letter aloud. “We regret what happened” is *not* an apology or an admission of responsibility- I’m certain Shane Becker “regrets what happened”, but that doesn’t make him responsible.
The law is what the law is, not what someone says it is. If all- and I mean *all*- of the responsible parties did not state in public that their actions were wrong (the bosses are responsible for the lack of training), then let the lawsuits begin. How else are they going to learn the error of their ways if they aren’t willing to accept personal responsibility?
Furthermore, as a United States citizen, he doesn’t have to carry ID or provide his name except under very limited circumstances. It’s just not the business of the police unless a crime is being committed or there is probable cause for a crime, which isn’t the case here.
This is not a rare event, but happening more and more frequently.
The 9/11 was played last month in London when two tourists for Vienna were stopped by the Met for taking pictures of red double-decker buses. The Bobbies forced them to delete the offending photos. Subsequently Scotland Yard has backtracked saying this clearly wasn’t a violation of anti-terror laws.
In both cases officers (official and rent-a-cops) were way overstepping their authority. We need to focus on exactly *what* are we trying to protect ourselves from and dispense with the petty distractions and irritations.
get a lawyer!!!!
Said in ’superhero announcer voice’- “This is a job for…da da da da…The ACLU!”
And rightfully so since the unpatriotic Patriot Act basically applies to Federal law enforcement of national security issues. This seems to be abuse of local law enforcement powers and a violation of civil rights. It does not appear that the photographer committed any actual crime or local penal code. Plain sight is plain sight. End.
You’ve got to be kidding me! Are we looking to become a police state type of country? I mean, what’s next? “Sorry sir, but you can’t take a picture of the engine in that new Camero. Book’em Dano!”
The best part about this is that if they didn’t confront him and then arrest him 99% of the people that have now seen this photo would never have had a chance.
Becker is a douche bag (expression chosen intentionally). I could ramble on with my own opinion as to why I think so, but it wouldn’t make an ounce of difference. Go on Becker, lawyer up and then blog the story, you apparently have nothing better to contribute to this world.
Becker is a douche, and Alex is an idiot.
Either way I was gonna get a sleeping bag from this REI today but not anymore.
yay! now I can….um….use this picture to my advantage and……um……I’ll figure it out later….in my super!secret photo examining lab where I plot to steal petty cash from a failing bank!
seriously, what kind of valuable information can be gleaned from a fuzzy picture of the inside of a machine that isn’t even that much of a secret. I just spent 12 seconds on google and found a nice, in focus, high(er) resolution photo of an ATM fully open without 2 rent-a-cops blocking all the goodies inside…
The world would be so much cooler if people used that mushy thing inside their heads…
OMG, do you see that?! In the picture! I could totally hack that ATM now that I see that.
This story produced a *huge* discussion over at Slashdot. I managed to provoke an interesting thread by saying that (basically) Becker took a civil rights situation and turned it into an uberpetty crime by copping an attitude. Here’s a link:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1231049&cid=27930597
The civil rights issue deserves more thought than Becker gave to it, with his “Don’t play the 9/11 card” attitude. To see why, check you this guy’s blog:
http://carlosmiller.com/
And consider donating to his defense fund.
all i have to say, is if he was put in hand cuffs you are technically under arrest. therefor, it is a wrongful arrest/detainment. sue them!