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Title: Flock Worker Calls Police On Reporter - For Filming Them in Public

Link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/13/06502...

"This is what happened when we tried to record Flock installing a new camera
on public roads," says Emmy award-winning reporter Brendan Keefe in a new
video for InvestigateTV. In an accompanying article, InvestigateTV says their
reporter "parked on the public street at a distance, donned a yellow safety
vest and a hat emblazoned with the logo of InvestigateTV's Atlanta affiliate
where he also works, displayed a press placard on his dashboard and then
pulled out a camera to record the installation.... The installer saw him and
immediately packed up his equipment and drove away, so Keefe also returned to
his car and followed several cars behind, hoping to document the next stop."
And then Flock's technician called 911. When asked "What's the address of
your emergency" Flock's technician answered "I'm getting followed - harassed,
pretty much. Taking videos and pictures!" Flock's worker said they'd been
harassed multiple times that day, then stated incorrectly that "I know for a
fact" that that was what the reporter wanted to do too. InvestigateTV reports
that as a result of the Flock technician's call, "Three police cars ended up
in the national investigative reporter's rearview mirror that Wednesday
afternoon." Keefe told one of the three police officers who pulled him over,
"There is an irony here that they're setting up these cameras that track all
of our movements, that follow everywhere we go. But when I try to get video
in public of him in public setting up a camera, he's afraid I'm following
him?" InvestigateTV also reports that "About 17 minutes after the stop began,
the responding officers returned to their vehicles and Keefe was allowed to
drive away." But the call that brought three police cars to their reporter
"was not the first time this summer someone working for Flock Safety summoned
police over a camera. " About 17 minutes after the stop began, the responding
officers returned to their vehicles and Keefe was allowed to drive away...
[But the stop] was not the first time this summer someone working for Flock
Safety summoned police over a camera. On June 5, police in Smyrna, Georgia,
responded to a 911 call from a Flock employee after a group of YouTube
creators began filming outside the company's distribution center located in
the Atlanta suburb... The caller claimed the group filming had "been driving
around the perimeter, basically harassing everyone" working at the facility.
"Three young white males, probably mid-twenties, I'm not sure if they're
armed. And they're carrying filming equipment as well," the caller said.
Three times during the call he raised the possibility the people filming
might be armed, though, when asked, he told the dispatcher he had not seen
any weapons... [One of the protesters later told the caller "I think it's
interesting, when you guys have this happen, you call the police and make us
get stopped. But then you do it and it's okay?"] No one was charged in the
YouTuber group, though the individuals were ordered to leave the premises
under an official trespass warning. Keefe's video report ends with one final
irony. "Every day on my way to work, I'm captured again by those same new
shiny Flock cameras. We tried watching the watchers. Turns outs, it's a lot
easier for them to watch us." Flock responded to the report by claiming "We
do not object to members of the public or press photographing Flock cameras
or personnel in public." But they added that employees working "in the field"
must "prioritize their safety" and "may contact law enforcement when they
believe they are being threatened, harassed, followed, or otherwise face a
safety concern."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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