seems like in long beach, ca., if your photography doesn't pass the tourist test, you are judged a threat:
McDonnell spoke for a follow-up story on a June 30 incident in which Sander Roscoe Wolff, a Long Beach resident and regular contributor to Long Beach Post, was detained by Officer Asif Kahn for taking pictures of a North Long Beach refinery.
'If an officer sees someone taking pictures of something like a refinery,' says McDonnell, 'it is incumbent upon the officer to make contact with the individual.' McDonnell went on to say that whether said contact becomes detainment depends on the circumstances the officer encounters.
McDonnell says that while there is no police training specific to determining whether a photographer's subject has 'apparent esthetic value,' officers make such judgments 'based on their overall training and experience' and will generally approach photographers not engaging in 'regular tourist behavior.'"
since when have police officers been trained and certified to make aesthetic judgments? and while a refinery may make an attractive target for some kind of attack, it's probably only going to happen in your dreams -- which is where every so-called attack besides one has taken place.
we busy ourselves with countermeasures to a threat that honestly doesn't exist. there must be a strong, compelling argument for expecting such a threat to materialize in the future, however.
and this is the crux of the matter: we're arming ourselves to the teeth, militarizing the civilian police and subjecting ourselves to a surveillance society mentality in defense against an uprising -- an insurrection -- which has yet to manifest. it must be a future of revolution that the powers that be fear, and make ready for.
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