This week there will be more pedestrian interference talk (which I don't need to elaborate on I hope), a somewhat strange staff report on police photography and the end of the budget cycle (which I won't write about, but you should know its here).

As always (except last week when I thought the council was being covered well enough on its own) this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

1. If you haven't let your voice be heard on the pedestrian interference ordinance, where the heck were you? This week (at least on the agenda), the council will make their vote.

As a sort of background, there are also two other ordinances the council is considering, in addition to the much talked about "sidewalk sitting" ordinance.

The first is the "boot and tow" rule that increases the penalties for parking infractions. From what I can see, this is a rule change to decrease the number of junkers around town.

The other is focussed on property owners downtown who don't keep up their properties. The city can declare a "public nuisance" to these buildings and take actions against their owners.

You can find pdf files of both ordinances here. So, with all of the talk about the one ordinance, what is anyone's opinion on these two?

2. Here is the strangest staff report I've ever read. Its about the police department's photography work during public events around town. Read, if you dare:

BACKGROUND: Over the past several years members of the Olympia Police Department have either video recorded or digitally photographed community events and protests occurring in areas open to the public. On some of those occasions, members of the public have questioned why the Department followed this practice; if the practice was consistent with First Amendment rights; and what became of the results of the photography done at such events. The General Government Committee requested that the Department provide it with information addressing those questions.

ANALYSIS AND OPTIONS: What is the Department’s current practice?

The Olympia Police Department supports the right of citizens to freely associate without government interference and respects the protections afforded by the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In fact, one of the values listed in the Department’s Statement is “Treating people equitably and with respect for individual rights.”

As a capital city, we have a number of public demonstrations every year. Making sure that these events occur in a manner that both assures the First Amendment rights of the participants and protects the rights of others to move about safely and to have no damage occur to their property is a task the OPD takes seriously. These events range in size from a few participants standing silently on street corners to hundreds of demonstrators taking to the streets. The majority of demonstrations are well planned with leaders cooperating with law enforcement and the City Of Olympia. Others are conducted without any cooperative planning efforts at all and are designed to intentionally disrupt the community as a means of drawing attention to a cause. While it does not always occur, it is also not uncommon for participants in demonstrations (usually just a few) to engage in criminal acts. Our policy has always been to facilitate lawful demonstration, but to act decisively to assure that threats to persons or property are dealt with as quickly and positively as possible. We believe our overall reputation in dealing with demonstrations and protests is excellent, although there certainly have been a few experiences over the years that we would – in hindsight – have done differently.

When the Department elects to use photography, it is always either at the scene of a crime or in an instance where we can articulate that there is a clear possibility that a criminal act may occur, and where having a photographic record could produce important evidence. Public demonstrations and protests fall into that latter category. We can articulate, based on past experience, that demonstrations and protests – particularly unplanned ones – can result in criminal acts being committed. We can also articulate how video and still photography will produce important evidence in those situations. So, currently, the Department uses photography at public events for two purposes: 1) to document any crimes that may be committed against persons or property; and 2) to document the interactions between the police officers and members of the public if arrests need to be made or if confrontations occur. The Department has never hidden the fact that it does this kind of photography. The video taping or photography is conducted overtly by plainclothes employees using hand held equipment.

What happens to the video or photographs taken during a public demonstration?

If the Department records illegal activity or officers making arrests, the video recordings or photographs are kept as evidence. They are booked into our evidence system and retained, as is required by law. All public disclosure laws that apply to release of the police reports also apply to photographs or videos in such instances.

If no criminal activity occurs, the videos and photographs are destroyed, because we have no valid reason to retain them – not to mention that we don’t have the capacity to store video and still photos that have no value. The photos are destroyed as soon as it is determined that they have no value as evidence. For events where no crimes occurred, destruction often takes place the same day the photos were taken.

Our current practice is in line with those of a number of other law enforcement agencies in the Northwest. We’ve reviewed policies from the San Francisco Police Department in California, the Washington State Patrol and the King County Police Department here in Washington. All require either an “articulable and reasonable” suspicion that criminal activity may occur or that a “criminal predicate” exists, based on factual information, before any filming of public events occurs. If criminal activity does not occur during an event, they also destroy photographs or videos as we do.

Some departments do retain video images or photographs taken at demonstrations and protests for the purpose of training. Olympia has not made it a practice to use photography from events that involved no criminal activity for training purposes, and we have no interest in changing that practice.

Summary

The Department uses photography only for legitimate public safety purposes. When we can reasonably say – as we can in the case of demonstrations and protests – that crimes may occur at an event and that photography would provide valuable evidence should they occur, we take pictures. We don’t take pictures just to identify people who participate in protests; to put pictures of our work in scrap books or to do anything other than address potential crime issues. If crimes do occur and arrests are made, we process our photos as evidence. If no crimes occur, we consider that a success, and we destroy our photos as soon as we know they have no evidentiary value.