Not only does the law set forth guidelines about where and what one may photograph, but it also addresses how police are expected to conducted themselves when handling incidents that involve photography.
•Police cannot confiscate your camera or memory card or demand access to your photographs without a warrant. Even if you are arrested for trespassing, as in the above example, your photographs are to remain your property.
•Under no circumstances are police lawfully permitted to delete the contents of a camera or memory card. The 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution regards this act as destruction of evidence and expressly forbids it.
•Police may command any individual to cease any activity that is legitimately interfering with sanctioned law enforcement procedures. The potential problem here relates to very loose interpretations of what “legitimate interference” is and isn’t. As public officials, police conduct is subject to scrutiny; sometimes that scrutiny takes the form of being photographed by citizens. Regardless of how much a police officer may resent being photographed, it is the right of the individual to do so as long as you do not break any other laws in the process.
The last I checked, there was little precedence in the courts for defending the rights of photographers. So these laws are not enforced necessarily.
