lumukanda
13-08-2007, 09:56 AM
after dondaz's experience the other day i thought i'd post a similar experience someone in south africa had.
(the idea behind this site is quite cool, you can register and then basically write your own news stories for the site, it's owned by johnnic, who pretty much dominates south african publishing, so i'm not quite sure if it's censored, but the idea behind it is quite a nice one.)
’I spent a day of hell being held by police’
A Reporter.co.za contributor who tried to film how police were dealing with a group of suspected illegal aliens says he got detained for more than seven hours - and his camera was confiscated
This week I was detained by police officers and had my camera confiscated at De Deur Police Station "for not asking permission" to take pictures.
The first thing that came to mind (bearing in mind that I am a media graduate) was: since when do reporters have to ask permission to cover a story?
I was filming how police dealt with a group of suspected illegal aliens.
As they led me to their car I had every cop asking me why I did that. When I tried to respond no one was willing to listen. Instead they took me to the police station.
At that time no policeman could clarify to me as to whether I was arrested or being charged. They left me in their holding cell under the pretext that they are going to a raid elsewhere.
That was about 8am.
As it is everyone’s right, I requested that I be afforded an opportunity to let my next-of-kin know about my situation. This was forbidden and I was told to use my cellphone ’as journalists are given R500 worth of airtime’.
Three hours later a cop on duty called the ones responsible for my being detained to process my case (apparently they had forgotten about me).
On their arrival they informed me that they were letting me go as there was no tape in my camera (they had not checked the camera in my presence).
However, because the footage was not meant to be an exposé I told them that I had used a memory stick instead. They therefore decided to arrest me and refer to my camera as evidence.
At around 3pm I asked them why I was not let free and a Sgt Moseme (who had arrested me) said he was not sure why I was still being held and he would consult with the other as to what charges would be brought against me.
Later on he opened a case of "interfering with police while on duty". The document was processed and my fingerprints were taken, making me feel like a criminal.
Several attempts by me to see the Station Commander were quashed. I was told: "Who the hell do you think you are?" They also told me that the station commander was white and would simply lock me up.
I had to pull out all the stops to ensure that I did not spend the night in jail.
I finally got to speak to a senior policeman, who instructed me that I would have to appear in court. However, he assured me that there was no crime committed and he did not think there was a case against me.
As a result, he let me go home.
It was a day of hell.
My conclusion is that I was held by the police because they believed I had captured footage of them mishandling illegal aliens.
I have still not got my camera back, so I will be taking the matter forward.
ED’S NOTE: Reporter.co.za will attempt to get advice for this contributor on how he can proceed, and ask an experienced journalist to provide some useful advice for all of you on how to handle it should a situation like this arise again
http://www.reporter.co.za/newszone/article.aspx?ID=RP21A536448
(the idea behind this site is quite cool, you can register and then basically write your own news stories for the site, it's owned by johnnic, who pretty much dominates south african publishing, so i'm not quite sure if it's censored, but the idea behind it is quite a nice one.)
’I spent a day of hell being held by police’
A Reporter.co.za contributor who tried to film how police were dealing with a group of suspected illegal aliens says he got detained for more than seven hours - and his camera was confiscated
This week I was detained by police officers and had my camera confiscated at De Deur Police Station "for not asking permission" to take pictures.
The first thing that came to mind (bearing in mind that I am a media graduate) was: since when do reporters have to ask permission to cover a story?
I was filming how police dealt with a group of suspected illegal aliens.
As they led me to their car I had every cop asking me why I did that. When I tried to respond no one was willing to listen. Instead they took me to the police station.
At that time no policeman could clarify to me as to whether I was arrested or being charged. They left me in their holding cell under the pretext that they are going to a raid elsewhere.
That was about 8am.
As it is everyone’s right, I requested that I be afforded an opportunity to let my next-of-kin know about my situation. This was forbidden and I was told to use my cellphone ’as journalists are given R500 worth of airtime’.
Three hours later a cop on duty called the ones responsible for my being detained to process my case (apparently they had forgotten about me).
On their arrival they informed me that they were letting me go as there was no tape in my camera (they had not checked the camera in my presence).
However, because the footage was not meant to be an exposé I told them that I had used a memory stick instead. They therefore decided to arrest me and refer to my camera as evidence.
At around 3pm I asked them why I was not let free and a Sgt Moseme (who had arrested me) said he was not sure why I was still being held and he would consult with the other as to what charges would be brought against me.
Later on he opened a case of "interfering with police while on duty". The document was processed and my fingerprints were taken, making me feel like a criminal.
Several attempts by me to see the Station Commander were quashed. I was told: "Who the hell do you think you are?" They also told me that the station commander was white and would simply lock me up.
I had to pull out all the stops to ensure that I did not spend the night in jail.
I finally got to speak to a senior policeman, who instructed me that I would have to appear in court. However, he assured me that there was no crime committed and he did not think there was a case against me.
As a result, he let me go home.
It was a day of hell.
My conclusion is that I was held by the police because they believed I had captured footage of them mishandling illegal aliens.
I have still not got my camera back, so I will be taking the matter forward.
ED’S NOTE: Reporter.co.za will attempt to get advice for this contributor on how he can proceed, and ask an experienced journalist to provide some useful advice for all of you on how to handle it should a situation like this arise again
http://www.reporter.co.za/newszone/article.aspx?ID=RP21A536448