Walter Miller understands the importance of maintaining security precautions regarding sensitive government buildings. The Texas man works for NASA, after all.
But he also understands the importance of maintaining common sense when it comes to photographing government buildings. It is a First Amendment right, after all.
That is why he was so bewildered last Sunday when Indianapolis police officers confronted him as he was photographing an art exhibit which happened to be outside the Indianapolis City County Building. The story comes to us from WTHR in Indianapolis.
The officers told Miller that they needed to inspect the photos he had just taken.
“I need to see it for matters of Homeland Security,” the officer told him. “You can’t be taking photos around here.”
Later in the article, Sgt. Matthew Mount of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said it was not about violating any rights, or ruining vacations.
“Our job in this post 9/11 world is to try to ensure the safety our citizens. And if we have to be a little bit more vigilant, than we were pre-9/11 that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
So when the hell did Al Qaeda start arming themselves with cameras as they infiltrate our city streets?
Somebody needs to tell Sgt. Mount and the rest of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department that if a terrorist wanted photos of any of the city’s government buildings, they could simply go on Google Maps and find a perfectly scaled satellite image of the City County Building, the police department of the entire city.189
