Harassed for taking photos: when cops can't tell a photographer from a terrorist.

• Author: Detrick, Paul
• Position: TV

In October 2009 Shawn Nee, an award-winning photographer, was stopped by officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) while taking pictures of turnstiles in the L.A. subway. According to the officers, Nee was engaged in "suspicious terrorist activity."

"I want to know if you are in cahoots with Al Qaeda to sell these pictures to them for a terrorist purpose," LASD Deputy Richard Gylfie told Nee, according to footage shot by a body camera Nee wears while working. Gylfie and his partner, Deputy Roberto Bayes, held Nee's hands behind his back, searched his pockets, and conducted a check to see if there were any outstanding warrants for his arrest. At one point the footage shows Gylfie telling Nee he would put him on "the FBI's hit list" if he didn't answer his questions.

"On one level you're thinking, is this really happening?" says Nee. "On another level you're thinking, this shouldn't be happening."

This sort of encounter, in which local cops harass ordinary citizens engaged in constitutionally protected behavior, has become disturbingly frequent in cities nationwide, largely because federal anti-terrorism funding has made local law enforcement agencies major participants in the War on Terror. The idea is that cops are particularly well situated to be the eyes and ears that will halt the next attack before it happens. But local police departments often lack the oversight and safeguards that could protect citizens from abuse.

Nee was not arrested or charged back in 2009, and the incident would not have had any legal ramifications if he had not filed a complaint with the LASD arguing that the officers violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights. An internal affairs investigation absolved Gylfie and Bayes of any wrongdoing; indeed, it applauded their actions. The LASD's official report on the incident calls the officers' actions "laudable" and praises their "vigilance," adding that they, "are encouraging others to be as pro-active."

Civil libertarians disagree. "Photography is not a crime; it's artistic expression," says Peter Bibring, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, who is representing Nee in his lawsuit against the LASD, along with two other photographers who experienced similar encounters. "There was no reason to believe that just because he was taking photographs he was engaged in any kind of criminal or terrorist activity."

That's not how Deputy Gylfie...