Nice stop....

Unregistered · 09-24-2015, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Read usc title 18 sec 795 before you voice opinions.

Apparently you need to read it as well...

"Whenever, in the interests of national defense, the President defines certain vital military and naval installations or equipment as requiring protection against the general dissemination of information relative thereto, it shall be unlawful to make any photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map, or graphical representation of such vital military and naval installations or equipment without first obtaining permission of the commanding officer of the military or naval post, camp, or station, or naval vessels, military and naval aircraft, and any separate military or naval command concerned, or higher authority, and promptly submitting the product obtained to such commanding officer or higher authority for censorship or such other action as he may deem necessary."

You're clearly not a lawyer (neither am I) but I there's a lot more to a law than the text itself.

The key phrase is the law is "president defines." You will have difficulty on finding any material stating the any president has specifically defined MacDill AFB as a vital installation that requires protection from outside photography. If you do, I'd like to see it.

You will also have difficulty finding any American citizen that has been successfully PROSECUTED for taking photos outside of a military installation on public property. In fact, those that have been arrested for such "acts" have had charges dropped and settlements.

MacDill AFB would have a hard time justifying they are a vital installation when they allow thousands of visitors on base property for Air Fest. MacDill AFB also has not resisted the publishing of exterior and aerial photos of the base on Google Maps.

Ultimately, this is a base matter that Tampa PD should not have been involved in. Radio should have told MacDill that it's their problem and they can send their own people. They did, and the investigator clearly knew who was dealing with and did not escalate the matter.

It helps to exercise some common sense when doing police work. Otherwise, you're giving these people who bait the police exactly what they want. Along with destroying your reputation and the reputation of the department... you risk letting the asshole citizen win $1.2 Million. Like this woman...

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...ion-for-arrest

I think the arresting deputies are asking themselves... was it worth it?