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"Bama Camera" Arrested After 1st Amendment Audit Call Flood

Journal by takyon

Alabama ACLU and Newspaper Criticize Police for Arresting Citizen Journalist by Bama Camera

The Alabama police department that had a man arrested on a felony charge of jamming up their emergency lines – even though he did not make a single call – is now taking heat from the local ACLU as well as the local newspaper.

But the Wetumpka Police Department is still sticking to its guns, threatening to arrest anybody else who posts their non-emergency phone number of (334) 567-5321.

They claim that by calling that number, it somehow leads turns into a 911 call, which they claim makes it difficult to respond to actual emergencies.

But all they were doing were exercising their First Amendment right to petition for redress of grievances by complaining about how officers ripped a camera out of Keith Golden’s hands for recording the police department from public property.

First Amendment Audit (Wetumpka PD) "I don't care about your 1st Amendment Rights"

Arrest Update by Bama Camera
**UPDATE**FPS-USMS-BAM CAMERA by News Now Houston

"Bama Camera" Arrested After 1st Amendment Audit Call Flood | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 7 comments | Search Discussion
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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Tuesday June 14 2016, @05:02AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday June 14 2016, @05:02AM (#359753) Journal

    Unlisted?

    http://www.cityofwetumpka.com/Default.asp?ID=22 [cityofwetumpka.com]

    It's public information, displayed prominently on the PD/city's website, and there's nothing wrong with sharing it. As for the routing issues, that's their problem if they had it set up wrong. If there was any such problem... they can't keep their story straight. From one Wetumpka Herald article [thewetumpkaherald.com]:

    Wetumpka police said on Tuesday the department had to shut down its phone lines due to an overload of calls from across the country in response to the video.

    And from a later article [thewetumpkaherald.com]:

    When it was initially learned the WPD lines were down, a WPD officer attributed it to calls coming in from all over the country.

    The talk about it being routed to 911 is in reference to, among others, somebody from California who called Wetumpka PD's non-emergency number, got a receptionist, left contact details, and was then called back by an officer who accused the caller of dialing 911... from across the country. Those two phone calls were recorded.

    Exactly the same as a DDoS? Not at all. Anybody can call the non-emergency number if they feel like it. They wouldn't have been "overloaded" with calls if a man's rights weren't violated in the first place.

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