Results tagged “judgehaight”

Yesterday, Federal Judge Charles Haight decided that the NYPD has the power to videotape political demonstrations, reversing a decision he made in February. His February ruling was held that the NYPD could not routinely videotape demonstrations, finding that the NYPD was overstepping its authority (Haight essentially said that just because it's a demonstration doesn't mean there's illegal activity going on to warrant surveillance). In another flashback, in 2003, Haight was asked to ease surveillance guidelines, it being post-September 11 and everything.

Gail Donoghue, special counsel for the city’s Law Department, began the hearing by telling Judge Haight that he overstepped his judicial powers in February when he essentially made his own court the enforcer for police guidelines that govern the investigation of political activity. Ms. Donoghue said that by making the court the final arbiter of police surveillance issues, the judge had in fact begun to “oversee operations of the Intelligence Division of the Police Department.”

Continue reading "In The Eyes of The Patroller"

Federal Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. banned the police's ability to routinely videotape demonstrations yesterday. Haight found the NYPD violated Handschu v. Special Services Division, a 1971 decision that established "consent decree"; Haight wrote in his decision, "Solely politically based investigations are flatly prohibited by the guidelines. In other words, there must always be a legitimate law enforcement purpose - having a purpose of investigating political activity exclusively for its own sake is never allowed." In other words, just because it's a demonstration doesn't mean it has to be videotaped.