Police Officer Pulls Gun on Complainant Inside Police Station

WTAE Channel 4 obtained photos taken minutes after a Blairsville, Pennsylvania police officer pulled a gun on a man inside the police station while making a complaint against his landlord. Officer Janelle Lydic said Christopher Hall became enraged when she tried to escort him out of the police station.

Click here to see the photos obtained through the open records laws.

Request for Crime Scene Photos Spurs Move to Tighten Georgia's Open Records Act

Hustling to pass a law to further limit access to public records, the Georgia legislature is trying to head-off a request from an author hired by Hustler magazine to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. The Augusta Chronicle reports that open government advocates say the state does not need any more exemptions to its Open Records Act and that existing law already gives GBI sufficient legal authority to deny the request.

House Speaker David Ralston's maneuver comes as a result of veteran true-crimes author Fred Rosen's request for crime scene photos depicting the nude and decapitated body of University of Georgia graduate Meredith Emerson. Emerson had been beaten and killed by a man who abducted her on Blood Mountain in north Georgia two years ago. Rosen said he made the request as part of his research for an upcoming article for the magazine. Hustler magazine is reportedly considering legal action.

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Air Force One flyover photos released

In response to an FOIA request, the Department of Defense released 146 photos of the controversial Air Force One flyover on April 27.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Defense has released 146 photographs that were taken during the photo-op involving Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty on April 27. President Obama was not on the plane when the photos were taken.

The low-flying plane caused panic among New Yorkers because it was a reminder of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The controversial flight resulted in the May resignation of White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera.

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FOIA used to obtain photos of plane without wheel

FOI at Work
WIVB News 4 in Buffalo, N.Y. obtained photos of a Colgan Air plane that lost a tire when landing on May 12 via an FOIA request. The FAA report also indicated that a passenger had notified a flight attendant about smoke coming from the wheel but the cockpit crew wasn't told about the safety concern.

News 4 has obtained exclusive photographs of the Colgan Air plane that lost a tire when it landed in Buffalo on May 12. The photographs were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The photos show the extent of damage to the wheel and brake assembly. A News 4 Investigation recently uncovered new information. An FAA report obtained by News 4 indicates that the cockpit crew had no idea that there was a problem after take-off from New Jersey. A passenger, according to the FAA report, notified a flight attendant that he saw smoke coming from the “wheel” in question.

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The war on transparency

Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com describes the removal of the Graham-Lieberman photo suppression amendment from the war supplemental spending bill as "a potentially temporary though still quite significant victory." The amendment is "nothing but a pure manifestation of the Bush mentality," he wrote. Without the amendment, war crimes photos are likely to be released. Supporting the suppression of information that might increase anti-American sentiment implies that "we should conceal or even outright lie about all the bad things we do that might reflect poorly on us." The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is also urging the federal court to keep concealed all evidence relating to CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes.

Yesterday, there was a potentially temporary though still quite significant victory for those who believe in open government and transparency: as Jane Hamsher first reported, House leaders and the White House were forced to remove the Graham-Lieberman photo suppression amendment from the war supplemental spending bill, because widespread opposition to that amendment among progressive House Democrats was jeopardizing passage of the spending bill. Readers here and those of various blogs who bombarded House members with opposition calls on Friday obviously played an important role in forcing the withdrawal of this pernicious amendment. Successes of this sort are rare enough that -- even if fleeting -- they warrant some celebration.

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Judge rules media have no more rights than general public at crime, accident scenes

If the general public doesn't have access to a crime or accident scene, journalists don't have a First Amendment right to that access either, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. This ruling came from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer who dismissed the case of Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez. Chavez was arrested after officers barred him from standing in the freeway to take photos of an accident.

A federal judge has dismissed a civil-rights lawsuit filed by a newspaper photographer who accused officers of illegally barring him from taking pictures at a freeway crash scene and handcuffing him when he persisted.

Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez, 45, said police officers had interfered with his right as a member of the press to cover news, specifically a car crash and the emergency response time. He was "arrested and handcuffed without justification solely due to the exercise of First Amendment rights," said his suit, filed in U.S. District Court.

But in a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco dismissed the suit, saying the media have no First Amendment right to be at an accident or crime scene if the general public is excluded.

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Senate creates process to ban release of detainee photos

The Senate passed two FOIA-related amendments to the appropriation bill, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported. The first "creates a process for the Secretary of Defense to certify to the president that the release of photos and videos taken between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, of people captured by U.S. forces outside the United States would endanger lives." This would protect the photos from being released for at least three years. The second amendment requires new laws related to exemptions to specifically reference the FOIA.

The ACLU’s effort to get photos documenting the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan was halted by the Senate on Thursday night, in an amendment to the appropriations bill.

The Senate also agreed to require new laws that exempt information from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act to specifically reference the FOIA, making them easier for requesters to spot.

The two changes were part of the supplemental appropriations bill, which the House already passed. The House and Senate will now reconcile the two versions of the bill.

More here.

Obama reverses stance on torture photos

From the AP:

President Barack Obama declared Wednesday he would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners, abruptly reversing his position out of concern the pictures would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House had said last month it would not oppose the release of dozens of photos from military investigations of alleged misconduct. But American commanders in the war zones have expressed deep concern about fresh damage the photos might do, especially as the U.S. tries to wind down the Iraq war and step up operations against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Obama, realizing how high emotions run on detainee treatment during the Bush administration and now, made it a point to personally explain his change of heart, stopping to address TV cameras late in the day as he left the White House for a flight to Arizona.

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La. prison system refuses to release inmate photo

The Shreveport (La.) Times requested a photo of a 73-year-old inmate at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The inmate, who once was a towering, 220-pound man, has apparently deteriorated, been ill and requested a clemency recommendation that would make him eligible for parole and early release. The Department of Corrections said it only releases inmate photos in cases where one escapes custody. They also are not allowing a photographer to visit the prison to photograph the inmate, though they have allowed photography of inmates in the past.

The request seemed simple enough: a current photograph of a Louisiana Department of Corrections inmate.

But what would ensue would be a series of e-mails, jockeying with DOC, a Freedom of Information Act request, and ultimately, no photo.

I had been working on stories about a 73-year-old inmate named Douglas Dennis, incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. In January, Dennis had sought a clemency recommendation from the state Pardon Board, which, if signed by the governor, would mean Dennis would be eligible for parole and early release from his two life sentences.

More here.

Calif. considers limiting Internet mapping sites

Clearly, maps such as Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth aren't the only places one can find photos of schools, hospitals, churches and government buildings. But a California lawmaker is concerned that the ready availability of these images may assist terrorists and has proposed that restrictions be placed on certain images.

A California lawmaker wants to force Internet mapping services to blur detailed images of schools, hospitals, churches and all government buildings, reviving a debate over whether such images can assist terrorists.

Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a San Diego-area Republican, said he decided to introduce his bill after reading that terrorists who plotted attacks in Israel and India used popular services such as Google Earth and Microsoft 's Virtual Earth.

But even if his bill becomes law, it might be difficult to prohibit Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other mapping companies from posting such photographs. That's because those images already are public and often are posted on the institution's own Web site.

More here.

Obama reverses media ban on casket photos

The new policy on photographs of fallen troops' caskets has not been ironed it, but families will have a choice of media presence at Dover Air Force Base, the AP reported. No timetable has been set for when the new policy will go into effect.

The Obama administration is reversing an 18-year ban on news coverage of the return of war dead, allowing photographs of flag-covered caskets when families of the fallen troops agree, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

"My conclusion was we should not presume to make the decision for the families," Gates said in announcing results of a quick review of a ban that had stood through Republican and Democratic administrations.

Although details are being worked out, the new policy will give families a choice of whether to admit the press to ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the entry point to the United States for the caskets of overseas war dead.

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Abu Ghraib photos not exempt from FOIA, court rules after five years

It's been a long battle, but a federal appeal court has ruled that photos of torture at Abu Ghraib are not exempt from FOIA and dismissed arguments that the images could "lead to the endangerment of the life or safety of any individual." Although, the images were public long before now, the victory for the public's right to know is nonetheless an important one.

After nearly five years of fighting between the federal government and the American Civil Liberties Union over images of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, a federal appeals court ruled today that the photos must be made available to the public.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan (2nd Cir.) affirmed a 2006 district court order that dismissed the government's arguments that privacy rights of the soldiers and detainees in the images would be violated -- noting the redactions in the form of black bars over the subjects' faces -- and agreed that any potential damage caused by the release of the photos was "far too speculative" to justify their withholding.

The Department of Defense had initially only argued the privacy implications warranted withholding the 29 images under the Freedom of Information Act. Months after oral arguments, the defendants asserted a second rationale for non-disclosure -- essentially that the images were so incendiary that the government "reasonably believed" their release could lead to endangerment of "the life or safety of any individual."

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Court Prohibits Publication of D.C. Madam's Suicide Photos

An invasion of privacy argument raised by Deborah Palfrey's mother against the public dissemination of the photos was honored by Florida courts:

Police photographs taken after the so-called D.C. Madam committed suicide can be viewed under the state’s public-records law but are not allowed to be copied or published.

That’s after a judge ruled on the matter on Aug. 15.

In May, 52-year-old Deborah Palfrey hanged herself in a shed outside her mother’s mobile home in Florida. Her mother found the body.

More here.