Bakersfield,CA - news photog assaulted at shopping mall and held against his will by mall security

[chris_waller]

It doesn't surprise me - I'm gradually getting used to the fact that the so-called 'free' world has fallen into the hands of morons. I've just finished reading a book about the rise of Nazism in Germany under Himmler's SS - this is how it started back then.

[jeff_conrad]

<cite>

The 1st Amendment places restrictions on the government and has nothing to

do with illegal actions by private parties.</cite>

<p>

This, of course, is correct. However, the guards’ actions may have

violated the cameraman’s expressive rights under the California

Constitution, which offers broader protection than does the U.S.

Constitution, placing similar restrictions on private parties. Those

additional rights were the basis of <cite>Robins v. Pruneyard</cite>.

<p>

The down side, of course, is that <cite>Pruneyard</cite> applies

<em>only</em> in California and in other states with similar constitutional

provisions. Moreover, subsequent decisions by the California Supreme Court

have somewhat narrowed which private properties constitute traditional

public fora--stand-alone retail establishments such as Wal-Mart and Home

Depot, no matter how large, do not qualify. I’m not familiar with the

Valley Plaza Mall, but from the description it sounds more like the

Pruneyard than Home Depot. Time will tell, I suppose.

[Alex_Es]

Fear is a universal instinct and nature put it in all living things for a good reason. As a photographer I've never been afraid of either New York City or the US until now. I'm not talking about white-knuckle fear but constantly-looking-over your-shoulder fear. NYC, its many virtues notwithstanding, is notorious for a brutal and human rights denying police force. I have, I think, a healthy fear--the sort that that naive Japanese guy Koda-san should have had when people in Jordan told him not to go backpacking in Iraq. (Kidnappers cut his head off.) Fear or no fear, I'll be doing meaningful street time in NYC.

[jtdnyc]

<<NYC, its many virtues notwithstanding, is notorious for a brutal and human rights denying police force.>>

 

This statement is so ridiculously false that you should provide your source so we can all have a good laugh.

[roger krueger]

I've always found thugism to be FAR more related to the size of the chip on someone's

shoulder than the policies of the administration in the White House.

 

Specifically, I've found in my personal encounters (I shoot mostly at night; encounters are

a regular occurance) that real cops with real responsibilities are most often at least

vaguely reasonable, and try to avoid escalating situations. They also tend to have

significant training, various standards to meet to be hired, and a career they'd rather not

lose to a stupid excessive force situation.

 

Way too many security guards have no training, no hiring prerequisites beyond a pulse,

and MAYBE a felony check, a dead-end minimum-wage job whose loss would only be a

temporary setback, cop-show fantasies, and a burning need to prove that they're better

than you, have more power than you. It's the only power they've had in their bottom-of-

the-ladder life. These people can become very agressively intimidating, and even physicaly

dangerous, as was the case here.

 

Not, of course, to say there aren't decent security guards, but they're the ones law-abiding

citizens tend not to meet.