Police
continued from page 1A
tute intimidation and are vital tools
for collecting evidence.
“We aren’t going to just show up
and monitor things,” he said.
“When there is an event with a his
tory of violence, we use [cameras]
so we can capture evidence and not
rely on eyewitness accounts.”
Though Critical Mass doesn’t
have a history of violence, Swenson
said it has “a history of violations,”
mainly traffic infractions. The event
is videotaped in case protesters who
receive citations appeal their fines
in court, he said.
“A picture is worth a thousand
words,” he said.
Lawfulness of taping in question
But many people who are cap
tured on film question the legality
of police videotaping.
“We’ve had many, many, many
complaints about this,” said ASUO
Legal Services attorney Ilona
Koleszar. “We’re researching the
propriety of it.”
According to the state attorney
general’s office, Oregon law doesn’t
contain a provision specifically ad
dressing police use of video cam
eras. But a statute does exist that
limits the police collection of infor
mation about political, religious or
social activists and organizations.
Oregon Revised Statue 181.575
states that law enforcement agen
cies can collect information about
activists only if the “information di
rectly relates to an investigation of
criminal activities, and there are
reasonable grounds to suspect the
subject of the information is or may
be involved in criminal conduct.”
As long as police are filming in a
public place and reasonably suspect
that criminal activity is occurring or
will occur, police have as much
freedom to videotape as private citi
zens have, said Pete Shephard, spe
cial council to the Attorney General.
EPD spokeswoman Jan Powers
said the department acts in accor
dance with this statute.
“Any time a criminal act is likely
to occur, we can shoot video,” she
said. “We certainly can’t just tape
everybody on the street.”
But some activists say the EPD does
exactly what it aren’t supposed to do
—tape footage of parties and peaceful
protests to identify troublemakers
and activists in the community.
“At any rally where the police
show up, they always have their
cameras trained on people,” Binder
said. “Their use of training cameras
on people has been absolutely op
pressive.”
Creating hostile environments
Regardless of the legality of police
videotaping, the use of cameras are
worsening relations between police
and the community, said University
sophomore Elizabeth Boyarsky,
who was videotaped at a party the
EPD broke up on Oct. 15.
“The video cameras are very intim
idating,” she said. “Now, I don’t feel I
could turn to a cop if I had a problem,
and I’ve had a few theft problems and
safety issues at my home.”
Eugene-based author John Zerzan,
an anarchist, said one of the reasons
Eugene anarchists started wearing
masks at protests is that they fear po
lice videotaping and harassment.
“Some people don’t want to be
known to the cops,” he said. “If
you’ve got a camera on you all the
time, you don’t want to come [to
protests].”
But Swenson, who said the EPD
began using cameras when they be
came more lightweight and afford
able, said that video cameras are so
widespread that they couldn’t be as
intimidating as some activists say
they are. Furthermore, he said, ac
tivists should appreciate the public
record the videotapes make.
A videotape that doesn’t contain
evidence of a crime is erased, and a
tape that is saved is discarded after
the corresponding case is closed,
Swenson said.
Adam Weiner, a Portland attorney
representing an activist who was
pepper-sprayed in a protest on June
1,1997, said the EPD videos shot at
the protest will be helpful in court.
“From my perspective, it’s a good
thing they videotaped, because
what they taped I’ll be using as evi
dence,” he said.
But those activists who fear po
lice harassment say the videotapes
record protesters and not police.
“Who’s watching the police?”
Binder asked.
Recently, activists have begun
wielding video cameras themselves
to record police. This was the intent
of the local television programs
Cop Watch and Cascadia Alive!.
“We’ve begun fighting back to
record their actions,” Binder said.
Privacy
continued from page 1A
must decide if it constitutes an invi
tation to the media to enter, said
Mike Hiestand, attorney for the Stu
dent Press Law Center.
He said the May 24,1999, rulings
by the U.S Supreme Court, Wilson
vs. Layne and Hanlon vs. Berger,
don’t necessarily ring true in
Schliefer’s case.
In Wilson vs. Layne, the court
ruled that a media “ride-along” in a
home violates the homeowner’s
Fourth Amendment rights to priva
cy. Though the officers had a war
rant, the court said, the presence of
the newspaper reporter and photog
rapher accompanying them “was
not in aid of the warrant’s execution.”
A similar case, Hanlon vs. Berg
er, contested that special agents
from the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service — who had a war
rant to search structures on a private
ranch owned by residents suspect
ed of illegally hunting wildlife—did
not have the right to allow media to
film the incident on private property.
A television crew from the Cable
Ne\tfs Network (CNN) “accompa
nied and observed the officers, and
the media crew recorded the offi
cers’ conduct in executing the war
rant,” officers said before the
Supreme Court.
The court ruled the officers’ ac
tions in this case violated the home
owners’ Fourth Amendment rights
on the same grounds as Wilson vs.
Layne.
“The fact is, both cases were dif
ferent [from Schliefer’s] in that the
media were invited along [in the
Supreme Court cases] by law en
forcement authorities,” Hiestand
said. The sticking point in
Schliefer’s case is whether or not the
sign constituted an invitation for the
media to enter the premises.
Though Schliefer is not pushing
for legal recourse, saying “what’s
done is done,” he said even if the
sign was an invitation for KVAL to
enter through the back door, the tel
evision news team did not enter
through his back door — they came
in the rear gate.
He said the back door is located
on the north side of the house by the
carport, not the south gate where of
ficers and KVAL originally entered.
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