Where talking to artists will get you a police record, especially if you're a journalist or writer, St. Augustine, Florida

[Dwight Hines]

Dwight Hines, Ph.D.

IndyMedia

P.O. Box 562

St. Augustine, Florida 32085

August 10, 2009

Mayor and City Commission,
St. Augustine,
St. Augustine, Florida

Dear Mayor and City Commissioners:

Yesterday about 3:30 p.m., I was speaking with Greg Travous, an artist set up on the west edge of the downtown plaza of St. Augustine.  Mr. Travous and I had been speaking a few minutes when he told me there was a policeman behind me taking our photographs.  I turned around and there was the policeman, in uniform, on a bicycle, with his camera pointed towards the area where Mr. Travous and I were talking.  I yelled at the officer to quit taking my photograph and tried to take his photograph.  He yelled back (we were across the street from each other so we had to yell to be heard), that I was taking photographs.  Officer Carroll does not understand that the constitution places limits on what people in law enforcement, or their designees are allowed to do.  Moreover, Florida State Statutes, like the Florida Anti-SLAPP Act, place additional limits on government agents and elected officials, or others acting on their behalf, when they are in litigation with private citizens.

Mr. Travous told me that the police had taken numerous photographs of him and others and he had reviewed some of the photos.  I told him that I had already filed one Anti-SLAPP complaint against the City as a court motion that was not resolved in a public records request case, and that the taking of photographs of people who were in litigation with the city by the police was unacceptable. 

As I hope the Mayor and the City Commission have been advised, the case between the City and the artists, with Greg Travous being one of the artists, is still not finished.  Taking of photos of Mr. Travous and the people who talk with him is not only a violation of his right to be left alone, but appears to me to be an intimidation tactic used to “chill” his ability to deal with people, and potential customers, and a retaliatory act for the artists winning the injunction against the city for violations of the first amendment rights of all of the artists, as well as violations of other rights.

As I hope you remember, I have spoken to the commission, on the record, in the past about my litigation against City Attorney Brown.  That litigation is still not resolved and my belief is that the City is attempting to inhibit me from pursuing the litigation by using the police for blatant surveillance photography of me and anyone that I talk with in the City.

Please advise the Chief of Police to immediately cease and desist all surveillance, including photography of me and anyone whom I speak with, inside the City or outside the City.   Please note that I am gathering material to write additional articles about the City’s illegal dumping and other illegal activities.  My gathering of information is protected by the First Amendment.

I think it is important for the Honorable Marcia Morales Howard, United States District Judge, having responsibility for the case of the artists versus the City, to know of the Anti-SLAPP actions by the city, as well as the other violations.  

Dwight Hines

P.S.   Because the plaza had many tourists browsing the tables of goods that were being sold, the taking of multiple photographs of me and Mr. Travous, and Mr. Guinta (who was also talking with Mr. Travous), must have included people, tourists, in the background.  I am notifying other writers in different countries to be aware of the surveillance practices of St. Augustine police.  The fact that their ‘tourist’ photographs may now be on record with the local police and, because of the establishment of the new law enforcement ‘fusion’ centers, their ‘tourist’ photographs may well be forwarded to state, federal and international law enforcement agencies to become part of multiple government files.  It will be of value to know if people from Latin American countries who visit St. Augustine have concerns about these practices.

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The Honorable Marcia Morales Howard, United States District Judge, 11th Federal Circuit
Attorneys Cushman, Gray, and Shephard
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