NYPD Put Couple On 'Wanted' Poster For Videotaping Police

by Mike Masnick
Techdirt
Jul. 10, 2012

We've had plenty of stories lately about police overreacting to people filming them -- and multiple courts have ruled that filming the police is perfectly legal. Even the Justice Department has spoken out and warned police departments that they need to let the public photograph and video tape them if they want.

And yet, we keep hearing of new incidents of police going after people for filming them. Slashdot now points us to a story that takes that to a different level. It involves the NY Police Department creating a "wanted" poster for a couple who have been regularly filming them and posting the videos to a YouTube channel. While the poster did not technically say "wanted" it sure looked like a Wanted poster, and the couple worried that anyone who saw it would think they were sought for arrest. The poster did describe them as "professional agitators."

After calling police about the posters, they were told that they had been taken down, but the police still have not explained why they created them in the first place.