IMO, it is neccessary for the press to publish and broadcast arrest and other police activity in a timely manner, to prevent abuse by authority and to make us aware of arrests or avoidance of arrest in police blotter activity, of public officials and other privieleged persons.
I agree the what is described in the following is, excessive. Police shoild keep a realtime activity log, at their own offices, available for public or press inspection, but they should not be going out of their way to distribute the information, as they seem to be doing here:
Asheville police prostitution arrests web page:
http://www.ashevillenc.gov/departmen....aspx?id=10436
Quote:
http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache...nk&cd=16&gl=us
ACLU objects to prostitution blotter
by Josh Boatwright • jboatwri@gannett.com • published March 22, 2008 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE – The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina recently sent a letter to the city of Asheville questioning the constitutionality of posting photos of prostitution suspects on the Police Department’s Web site.
ACLU Legal Director Katie Parker said the Web page could violate people’s due process rights since police said publishing the photos is meant to shame suspects, effectively punishing them before they are tried in court.
“What we think is important here is the purpose for why the Police Department is doing this, and they’ve acknowledged the reason they are doing this is to punish — to deter crime,” Parker said.
APD announced the start of the online prostitution blotter in February. The Web page contains photos of people arrested during police prostitution stings, including alleged customers.
Complaints from the Asheville community prompted the ACLU letter, sent on March 6 to Assistant City Attorney Curt Euler, Parker said. The civil rights group does not plan to file a lawsuit against the city because no one has come forward as a plaintiff, she said.
The letter urges the city to reconsider the Web page and the police practice of sending postcards to people seen driving through areas with high incidences of drug or prostitution crimes.
<h3>Though media outlets often publish names and photos of people arrested by police, Parker said it is unconstitutional for government to use this method to deter crime or otherwise punish those who have not been convicted of crimes.</h3>
Euler did not return phone messages seeking comment. City Attorney Bob Oast declined comment.
City spokeswoman Laurie Saxton said the city would not comment on the ACLU letter, but said the city sees no problem with the APD Web page.
“The city is comfortable with the constitutionality of the police publicizing their arrests, based on what we have heard from our attorneys, and obviously, a lot of other cities around the country do the same thing,” Saxton said.
Parker expects a reply from the city by early next week.
Calls to the Police Department and city attorney’s office were not immediately returned.
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