Boston PD & Northeastern Univ. Police Harass Peaceful Photographers

Greg Kerr (kerrgi@gmail.com)- an activist I’ve known since 2008 when at the then-principled Bureaucrash – recently informed me about a scene he witnessed at Northeastern University on Nov. 16th – police harassment of those peacefully taking pictures of their actions.

In not too far away New Haven, CT those wearing badges aren’t just harassing peaceful photographers but arresting them.

But, back to Northeastern. In Greg’s words:

Today at Northeastern University there was an incident on campus which involved a robbery suspect being detained.

Needless to say the scene caused by all the police officers and crime scene tape brought out quite a gathering of students. The students began to take pictures of the scene. Its unclear if students were videotaping as well.

Officers began to harass students, demanding that they stop taking pictures, and even threatening to detain one student if they did not delete a photo that was taken. Numerous students reported being harassed.

It was hard to distinguish the Boston Police from the Northeastern University Police, so we are not sure which police department the offending officers were from. A captain with the Northeastern University Police Department agreed to sit down and speak to a student about the matter.

The Boston police can be reached at 617-343-4250 and the commanding officer is Captain Paul M. Ivens.

Photos of the incident are from early on in the incident [note they were taken by one of Greg’s friends]. Many more cops arrived on scene as it progressed.

Feel free to call Ivens to question the tactics of his officers. If you do, leave a comment here to let everyone know how he responded. Thanks!