Update: Broward County Has Cameras, But No Video

Broward County has now confirmed for me that they own the security cameras, despite telling me that they are in possession of no video taken on the date and time in question. Then they added in this gem:

“Additionally, even if they did exist, we have been informed by the TSA that this particular information (security camera recordings) is … SSI.”

Broward County has some explaining to do. Do these cameras not actually record? Do videos exist, but they are denying their existance because of their (false) belief that they constitute SSI? (SSI is a designation internal to the TSA; a third party’s records cannot be SSI.) Have the videos now been disgarded?

…and I have some research to do: If a third party destroys evidence after being notified of the necessity to preserve evidence, what is their liability?

NYPD Lawyers: Cops Have Right to Ask for ID, Search Pedistrians at Will

I had a discovery hearing yesterday for my NYPD lawsuit (regarding last June, when I was stopped on the street and forcibly searched for being a white guy in a black neighborhood). At the hearing, the magistrate point-blank asked the city’s attorneys if the police had the right to ask for ID and search me, to which the city’s attorneys responded, “yes.”

How many times must this behavior be struck down by courts at every level? In New York, a cop cannot ask you for ID without an “articulable reason” (People v. De Bour, 40 NY2d 210). Under federal law, a cop cannot search you without warrant, probable cause, or suspicion that you are armed and dangerous (Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 [1968]); in the last instance, only the minimum search required to show that you are not armed is permissible.

New York City stops and searches something like half a million people annually. It is time that we put a stop to this nonsense, and the courts have given us the tools — we just have to use them.

TSA: What Security Cameras?

I’m sure most of you today read the big news about the TSA detaining U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Surely Rand will wish to obtain a copy of the video footage of this incident, but like most who have requested checkpoint footage, it’s likely that footage simply “won’t exist.”

The TSA is finishing preparing (redacting) its reply to my FOIA request from the day the TSA detained me at FLL airport, but it has unofficially informed me that its reply will contain no video footage. Broward County, the owner of the airport, similarly said it has no video footage. Which is funny, because I distinctly remember waiving to a video camera as I exited the terminal.

So, who, exactly, owns these cameras?

We’ll find out soon.

–Jon