To everyone in this room who has a video camera, a still camera, or a cell-phone camera: If a police officer stops you and says, “You can’t take a picture here” or “Put away the camera and move on,” please get the officer’s name and shield number, and call 311. Direct your call to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and register your complaint. You have the constitutional right to carry a camera and use it.

We are living in an interesting time, a time of innovative media and rapidly expanding channels for distribution. And we live in New York City, a city that is a leader in the world of commercial and independent video production. It’s a very exciting time, and video makers from around the world flock here to be a part of a culture overflowing with technical ingenuity, passion, and creativity, and the excitement that comes with our guaranteed rights, in the United States of America, to freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

My name is Juliana Luecking. I’m an artist and video maker, and I live in New York City. For the last year, I’ve been hitting the streets with my camcorder [show my camcorder] to interview people about their philosophies and belief systems. I edit on my home computer, and post the videos on YouTube.com and MOLI.com, in a series called People Are a Trip.

Also, I set up my tripod and camcorder [show equipment] to shoot scenes in all five boroughs for a new series, Ricochet: From Thought to Idea. I post these videos on the Internet also.

I also made three YouTube videos to raise public awareness about the issue we’re discussing today, and they have been posted by bloggers at many other sites, including Time Out Chicago, Gothamist, and Picture New York, and excerpted by Democracy Now! and The New York Times.

For the record, in November of 2006, when I was shooting a scene in Lower Manhattan, a police officer sternly told me to take down my tripod, and move along. I did so.

Today, I want talk about two things: Why the Mayor’s Office for Film, Theatre & Broadcasting (MOFTB) is proposing regulations on hand-held cameras, and how to resolve this issue once and for all. First, I will list the series of unfortunate mistakes that led to this hearing. Second, I will recommend what we must do in order to restore our commitment to the US Constitution.

First, the Mistakes.

Mistake Number One. On May 13, 2005, NYPD Detective Daniel D’Alessandro saw Indian filmmaker Rakesh Sharma standing on a sidewalk taking pictures. The detective took Mr Sharma’s passport and broke his camera. Together with other officers, the detective held Mr Sharma for three hours, and invaded his privacy by viewing his videotapes.

Mistake Number Two. When Mr Sharma sued the City of New York, part of the settlement was an agreement that hand-held camera use would be regulated by the MOFTB.

The MOFTB wrote regulations on hand-held cameras that suppress our rights to freedom of speech and expression. The MOFTB has made this mistake twice. In the first round, there were time and location prohibitions. In the second round, we are given highly confusing sidewalk space restrictions, and people with cameras are termed “obstructions.”

Those were the mistakes. This is the solution. The MOFTB must extract all regulations that restrict the rights of people with cameras in public areas. In their place, the MOFTB can add a statement affirming their rights.

It’s quite simple. However, today we are here examining details of regulations that are extremely complex. We discuss sidewalk width. We search for context when the term “obstruction” is applied to a person with a camera. We dissect complicated phrases like this one, in Section 9-01(b)(2)(1), which says I can shoot a video: “provided that such activity neither involves the obstruction of one or more lanes of a street or walkway of a bridge, nor results in less than eight feet or one half of the width of a sidewalk or other public passageway, whichever is greater, for unobstructed sidewalk use by pedestrian traffic.”

Now that’s a complicated phrase, and to tell you the truth, I’ve broken down that sentence the way I learned in junior high school grammar lessons, and still, I don’t know what it means. Do you think police officers will understand it any better? Do you think cops wearing measuring tapes on their gun belts will mark the eight feet or more of sidewalk that must be clear?

You see, like the first proposal, these regulations give law enforcement officials the power to prohibit my right to use a camera in public areas. In fact, if these regulations go on the books, I suspect the NYPD will use them to shield itself from future lawsuits. If that happens, will lawsuits begin to surface which are aimed at the MOFTB?

We need the MOFTB to be flexible and confirm that snapping pictures and shooting videos is not only lawful in New York City, but encouraged. So today, I charge the MOFTB to lead the country with a policy that is foolproof. Extract all regulations that restrict the rights of people with cameras in public areas. In their place, add a statement affirming their rights.

I conclude with a public service announcement. To everyone in this room who has a video camera, a still camera, or a cell-phone camera: If a police officer stops you and says, “You can’t take a picture here” or “Put away the camera and move on,” please get the officer’s name and shield number, and call 311. Direct your call to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and register your complaint. You have the constitutional right to carry a camera and use it.

Testimony by Juliana Luecking
MOFTB Public Hearing, NYC
December 13, 2007