Can Police Confiscate Cameras?
Act. Kelly was part of a panel consisting of media members and local government officials hosted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at the university. Though Kelly related his question mostly to an incident at SIUC a year earlier, he cited five instances in the last five years when citizens or photojournalists had their camera equipment seized by police officials after taking pictures of arrests. In September, 2005, SIUC student Matt Bowie was crossing campus when he observed a uniformed campus police officer arresting someone. He stopped and began taking pictures. Then, an undercover officer who was in the crowd stepped forward and instructed him to hand over his camera or risk expulsion and arrest. Bowie complied and then headed to the School of Mass Communications to look for allies and to get the equipment returned. The camera was returned a day later, thought he film in the camera had been exposed to additional light, making the pictures difficult, but not impossible, to pr
