Video: NYPD Photographs Protestors In Front Of Mayor's House

The demonstrators who fought for the right to rally in front of Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse claim the NYPD violated legal guidelines by taking photographs of them during the demonstration. Parents, students, and teachers who gathered in front of the Mayor's Upper East Side home to protest school closures allege that the NYPD's use of photography violated the Handschu agreement — a longstanding set of legal standards drafted to protect protesters from police intimidation.

A court ruling initially gave the demonstrators the right to protest directly in front of Bloomberg's East 79th Street home, but an appeals court overturned the decision hours before the rally on Friday and ordered the protesters to stay on the south side of the street, the Voice reports. When the demonstrators assembled across the street from the Mayor's residence, they spotted NYPD officers on the roof and in the windows of the Rudolf Steiner School with cameras. The NYPD has already been forced to stop videotaping protests unless there is illegal activity or the department plans to use to tape to study crowd control measures.

Civil rights attorney and failed public advocate candidate Norman Siegel told the weekly he was "outraged." "Handschu sets limits, when there's a first amendment protest activity, of what the police department can do with regard to recording people's activities," he said. "We want an explanation as to, one, why these officers were taking pictures of the protesters, and two, what is the NYPD planning to do with these pictures?" The NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information claims that "[a]t the direction of Department legal personnel present, the NYPD took still photographs of the demonstration — none of them focused on individuals — for crowd control planning purposes permitted under Handshu." Some protesters worry that they will now be targeted by the NYPD, as well as the Department of Education, which is also under the Mayor's control.

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By Ben Muessig in News on January 25, 2010 10:10 AM

Comments [rss]

Theodore Wirth

Big Brother is alive and well and nourished from the teat of Big Business.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

It's a joke the Bloomberg's townhouse is off-limit. We have the right to protest and yet NYPD doesn't permit it. shame.

amg2000

@ Petey

That's a good question. Part of the problem is how are these photos going to be used? The NYPD is allowed to used surveillance in investigations of crimes, however, a peaceful protest is not a crime. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I ever want to be one, but if you google Handschu vs Special Services you can find a much better explanation of why the rules are different when it comes to the police and photography.

Petey

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that these people protesting in a public place, who are being photographed by the NYPD are upset about that, BUT are photographing the photographers. So its ok for the protesters to film the PD, but not the PD to film them?

hotstepper

isn't it ironic that you are using your right to speak freely to scoff at citizens using their right to peacefully gather and protest free from government intimidation?

Petey

Having their picture taken in public is intimidating?

hotstepper

as part of creating dossiers of protesters? yes. that is why what the police are doing is illegal.

why would the police need to know your identity if you are exercising your political rights? do they attach your identity to who you vote for?

amg2000

Both of the cops are using flashes. I don't think a flash is going to be that effective from a roof 5 stories up, especially when it appears that he is shooting through a metal mesh fence. The other guy is taking a photo through a glass window (and the window appears to be closed). If you've ever tried to take a photo through a window or a chain link fence while using a flash you know what I mean.

SonofTheSniper

That's TOO FUNNY with the flashes! At least we can count on bureaucratic bungling to screw things up (it's nice when it actually works in OUR favor)!

BUT THIS IS NOTHING NEW.

I remember being at a City Hall protest/press conference a few years back and they had detectives (spies) in the bushes snapping pics of EVERYBODY.

DA, KOMRADE

JacqueMehoff

that got the black cop going all TMZ black dude pap with the sideturned cap. I'm assuming some of TMZ's airport guys are black because they can pull out the card when needed. hey, I did the same but just to bust chops.

JacqueMehoff

so the rudolph steiner school can't say no to cops using their roof? I hear cops on the scanner say they're doing a "vertical" do they need permission from the landlord to access the roof for these purposes?

longacre

As if that block isn't lined with surveillance cameras anyway.

Wza

This is Bloombucks city, we're all just squirrels...blah blah..

gothamguy

I have no love for Bloomberg of some of the NYPD's tactics, but, if this is the first protest in this particular location and there are expected to be more, why wouldn't the NYPD want to study it for future crowd-control purposes?

potsmoker

why wouldn't the NYPD want to study it for future crowd-control purposes?

***

because thats a bullshit reason.

how unique is a small protest on the sidewalk in front of a brownstone that it needs to be "studied"

as for the cops and tehir photography skills, its more of a plum assignment and overtime not a study of technical photography skills.

potsmoker

lawyers were standing there to make sure that the pictures were not focused on individuals,,,hahaha

so now in bloomturds upside down world, if you really need a lawyer standing there and really need a Public Information commisioner, was it really all that neccessary to be there taking pictures of that protest.

gothamist isnt exactly a minefield of really socially important topics, i garantee that 99% of the people here dont understand what baraba handschu fought for and won, how the fbi and the police harassed real legal protests and how america has changed to a climate that believes freedom of speech and the right to protest is just a sentence on a piece of paper that has no real standing in our police state paranoia world of fearmongering.

UPDATE: The mayor was only checking for salt content and calories in the snacks given out at the protest.

hotstepper

at the behest of Mayor Mike, the NY Times will be printing pictures of these pesky protesters skewed to make them appear fatter than they really are.

KaosDG

1984, here we come.

Wza

What do you expect from this city nowadays?

grandzu

They better watch out 'cause Bloomberg can be a vindictive SOB.

But always assume if you are in any sort of protest, the forces in power will document who if fighting back.

GalBklyn

Agree. I am somewhat hopeful however, as it seems this group of protesters are well equipped to fight back. Thanks Gothamist for keeping this story up front.

To the Mayor and NYPD, other then because you can, I'm not sure why you are making such a big deal over this other then you just like being a bully. Mayor Mike - regardless of what you think, you work for us. Keep it up and you won't have any friends. (aka Lloyd Blankfeld and Hank Paulson).