Guest guest Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Sal, That's a good question. I don't know of any legal definition of " crime scene. " So I suppose the de facto definition is " what the cops define as the crime scene. " There have been disputes between press and law enforcement authorities since the beginning of time. The press believes that everything is reportable, while LE sometimes wishes to limit reporting and access to crime scenes. That causes a clash. LE has a legitimate reason for protecting crime scenes during investigation, while the press has a legitimate right to report news. In almost all of the cases involving LE vs. media, media wins when the crime scene is public, and those cases generally revolve about LE arrest of media personnel, and so forth. Media never wins when the crime scene is inside a house, a building, and so forth. Media also does not have the right to disrupt an investigation even in a public area, so although LE cannot stop them from videotaping from a distance, it can definitely prohibit them from entering the crime scene. Court resolution of these is not generally possible because the legal system is slow. By the time a media outlet gets into court to argue about being denied access to a crime scene, the whole thing is over. When media wins is when it requests documents, reports, and so forth. The First Amendment is powerful, and our courts interpret freedom of the press very liberally. Now, concerning failure of a member of the press to identify himself/herself, is probably another issue. It is well settled that law enforcement can require people to present identification under almost universal situations. The courts will try to find a reason for cops to legitimately request identification whenever possible. Not knowing the facts of the situation you raise, I can't comment further. When media people are charged with offenses such as " interfering with public duties, " it's probably more of a disorderly conduct situation than true interference. Media reporting ought not interfere with public duties. If it does, then there's a mismatch between LE and media that needs to be resolved in the conference room, not the courtroom. GG > > > Gene can you define a crime scene? I'm not trying to get smart. I'm gonna > send a link to a newspaper article where a news reporter was arrested for > failure to identify on-scene. However, when formally charged it was for > interfering with public duties. Feel free to comment. > Sal Capuchino > EMT-Paramedic > > Re: pictures > > Police and newspaper people are not covered by, nor are they subject to, > either HIPAA or the Chapter 773 confidentiality provisions; therefore, they > are > free to take pictures of anything that occurs in public or in plain view. > > EMS has no power to prevent them from taking photos, nor is it required to > do > so. All HIPAA requires is that " reasonable means " be taken to preserve > patient privacy. > > Further, a law enforcement officer has every right to take a picture > relative > to his investigation. > > There is no expectation of privacy when in public. Therefore, anyone can > take a picture or otherwise record anything that happens in public or that > can > be discerned from a public place. For example, a member of the public > cannot > come inside your house and take an unauthorized picture of you without > violating your privacy; however, if you stand at the window and present > yourself in > full view to someone standing in the public street, then that person may > take > whatever pictures they wish legally. > > What about pictures taken through ambulance windows? So long as the picture > taker is outside the ambulance, there is no prohibition. You do not have > the legal power nor the duty to stop pictures from being taken. You do have > the power to put something over the windows and to drive away. Further, > unless > the picture taker is interfering with patient care or police activity, the > police do not have the right to prohibit lay people from taking pictures. > Thus, they cannot bar news photographers from taking pictures with long > range > lenses. They can prohibit them from entering a crime scene. > > Hope this helps. > > Gene Gandy. > > > > > > > > I know EMS people should follow policy on pictures of EMS incidents. > > Do we have any control or any concern over pictures taken by law > > enforcement. For instance, the patient wrecked his Vespa and broke his > petulla > > oblongotta (ask Opie ) while we are taking care of him the police > officer walks > > up with his handy dandy XQ9000 camera phone and takes picture of injury. > > I seriously doubt the picture is part of any accident investigation > process. > > Do we tackle him and crush his phone, or do we just keep doing our job and > > let him do whatever he is doing. > > What about newspaper people, I have threatened them with serious bodily > > injury before for taking pictures of my patients, but do we have any > concerns > > about non-EMS people photographing our patients? > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Gene can you define a crime scene? I'm not trying to get smart. I'm gonna send a link to a newspaper article where a news reporter was arrested for failure to identify on-scene. However, when formally charged it was for interfering with public duties. Feel free to comment. Sal Capuchino EMT-Paramedic Re: pictures Police and newspaper people are not covered by, nor are they subject to, either HIPAA or the Chapter 773 confidentiality provisions; therefore, they are free to take pictures of anything that occurs in public or in plain view. EMS has no power to prevent them from taking photos, nor is it required to do so. All HIPAA requires is that " reasonable means " be taken to preserve patient privacy. Further, a law enforcement officer has every right to take a picture relative to his investigation. There is no expectation of privacy when in public. Therefore, anyone can take a picture or otherwise record anything that happens in public or that can be discerned from a public place. For example, a member of the public cannot come inside your house and take an unauthorized picture of you without violating your privacy; however, if you stand at the window and present yourself in full view to someone standing in the public street, then that person may take whatever pictures they wish legally. What about pictures taken through ambulance windows? So long as the picture taker is outside the ambulance, there is no prohibition. You do not have the legal power nor the duty to stop pictures from being taken. You do have the power to put something over the windows and to drive away. Further, unless the picture taker is interfering with patient care or police activity, the police do not have the right to prohibit lay people from taking pictures. Thus, they cannot bar news photographers from taking pictures with long range lenses. They can prohibit them from entering a crime scene. Hope this helps. Gene Gandy. > > > I know EMS people should follow policy on pictures of EMS incidents. > Do we have any control or any concern over pictures taken by law > enforcement. For instance, the patient wrecked his Vespa and broke his petulla > oblongotta (ask Opie ) while we are taking care of him the police officer walks > up with his handy dandy XQ9000 camera phone and takes picture of injury. > I seriously doubt the picture is part of any accident investigation process. > Do we tackle him and crush his phone, or do we just keep doing our job and > let him do whatever he is doing. > What about newspaper people, I have threatened them with serious bodily > injury before for taking pictures of my patients, but do we have any concerns > about non-EMS people photographing our patients? > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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