Posted on 02/16/2009 6:10:12 AM PST by tcg
Kortney Blythe, Director of Survivors Campus Life Tours, will hold a news conference in front of the Birmingham Police Department Central Headquarters at 1710 1st Avenue North at 12:00 noon today. She will demand the release of the Survivors' cameras and videos that were confiscated and held by the Birmingham police following the Survivors' arrests last week Thursday.
On February 12, nine members of the Campus Life Tour team were arrested while handing out literature on the public sidewalk outside of Parker High School in Birmingham. They were held overnight in Birmingham City Jail and charged with trespassing.
At the time of the arrests, a member of the Campus Life Tour overheard police officers saying, "we need to wipe the cameras", because of the evidence contained on the video - the Survivors were not trespassing on school property at any time during their literature distribution, as the video footage will clearly show.
Following the release of the young people from Birmingham City Jail on Friday, the group attempted to recover their video cameras from the Central Headquarters. They were told that the property was logged as evidence and needed to be released by the officer who checked it in, Officer C. Smith.
Officer Smith's normal shift was 3:00 - 11:00 pm, the Survivors were informed. When they called at 3:00 pm to speak with Smith, they were told she was running late and would not arrive until 5:00 pm, at which time the property department would be closed and the Survivors' cameras would be inaccessible.
"How convenient. The property department closed at 5:00 pm and Officer Smith just happened to arrive late to work the day she was needed to release our cameras," said Blythe.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
Letter from a Birmingham jail? : )
Sounds like the Birmingham PD has set itself up for a big lawsuit, especially if the cops screwed with the video equipment.
More from the Birmingham News.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/02/prolife_activists_arrested_at.html
Birmingham, huh? No fire hoses?
The underlined part is also quite criminal. If the cameras are wiped, the data may still be there and recoverable. If that is the case, the police are in very, very deep yogurt.
Always have another camera taping, away from the group.
Campus Life was around when I was in high school. If the police were to have rousted the Latin club it would have made as much sense. Times are a changing.
Excellent advice.Even more,the other camera should be as well hidden as possible so the police and others don't block or take it by force.
Wireless cameras can feed a recorder discretely located in a nearby vehicle ,building or coat pocket.
A friend of mine was ordered by an officer not to take pictures from his own front yard of police activity across the street ;that has only added to his hatred of the arrogant Homeland Security thugs.
Catholic/Moral Absolutes/Pro-Life ping!
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