Amateur Terror-Fighters to Report Photographers

And they'll fink on those dastardly note-takers, too.

From the Denver Post:

Hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and even utility workers have been trained and recently dispatched as "Terrorism Liaison Officers" in Colorado and a handful of other states to hunt for "suspicious activity" — and are reporting their findings into secret government databases. ...

"Suspicious activity" is broadly defined in TLO training as behavior that could lead to terrorism: taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value, making measurements or notes, espousing extremist beliefs or conversing in code, according to a draft Department of Justice/Major Cities Chiefs Association document.

Chew on that for a second: Taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value. That would have to include the gigabytes of test shots and rejected pictures sitting on every photographer's hard drive. I take photos of no aesthetic value all the time. I don't plan 'em like that; they just come out that way.

It was bad enough when photographers had to contend with art critics who had unusual ideas about what constitutes higher aesthetics. Now we'll have to get used to getting judged by the local cable guy, too.

"We're simply providing information on crime-related issues or suspicious circumstances," said Denver police Lt. Tony Lopez, commander of Denver's intelligence unit and one of 181 individual TLOs deployed across Colorado. "We don't snoop into private citizens' lives. We aren't living in a communist state."

If you say so, Tony. If you say so.

Comments

[gb]

"I take photos of no aesthetic value all the time. I don't plan 'em like that; they just come out that way."

hee hee hee!

[benpal]

My photos are all of aesthetic value ... to me. Who wants to challenge me?

[David]

I think cars with cameras mounted on them taking pictures of everything as they drive along would be very suspicious and "no aesthetic value". http://is.gd/Juy

That's because it is Google Street View and it is of commercial value.

[Phelps]

Talking in code? You mean, like slang and jargon?

[Dom DeBellis]

I say cameras mounted at every intersection here in Chicago are snapping pictures "of no aesthetic value." Whatever happened to privacy?