Yesterday, Federal Judge Charles Haight decided that the NYPD has the power to videotape political demonstrations, reversing a decision he made in February. His February ruling was held that the NYPD could not routinely videotape demonstrations, finding that the NYPD was overstepping its authority (Haight essentially said that just because it's a demonstration doesn't mean there's illegal activity going on to warrant surveillance). In another flashback, in 2003, Haight was asked to ease surveillance guidelines, it being post-September 11 and everything.
This time around, after a city lawyer suggested he "overstepped his judicial boundaries," Haight said that the city had provided evidence that, per the Times, "suggested that unlawful activity might indeed have been occurring, with protesters becoming unruly." From the NY Sun:
Asked by the city to reconsider that opinion, Judge Haight, decided yesterday that he lacked the authority to take action against the department for "isolated and aberrant photographing or videotaping " that did not comply with court-imposed guidelines.
Those guidelines, which are set out in a consent decree called Handschu, require that a crowd must grow unruly or a crime be about to occur before officers can videotape political demonstrations. Alternatively, police officers can get approval from the department's intelligence division to videotape political groups as part of criminal investigations.
But this is far from over: The plaintiffs will argue before Haight again, claiming that the NYPD has been violating consent decree.
