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CLEARWATER – A pirate ship ran aground in shallow waters in Clearwater New Year’s Eve.

The ship “Captain Nemo”  had left the Clearwater marina, when it became stuck in shallow waters just before the causeway.

A rescue boat also was stuck. Passengers were brought to shore in groups via boats from Clearwater Fire Rescue, Police, and the US Coast Guard.

No injuries were reported. Clearwater Fire Rescue reported at least 88 people were taken to shore. Foggy weather may have also played a factor in the incident.

PLANT CITY – Hillsborough County firefighters made a gruesome discovery while fighting a house fire in Plant City.

The fire broke out on Horton Road, just north of State Road 60. Crews arrived to a heavily involved house fire.

After the flames were extinguished, crews located a body inside.

No further information has been released.

SEMINOLE – An off duty Pinellas firefighter was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident Sunday night in Seminole.

It happened in the 9600 block of Bay Pines Boulevard around 10pm. Deputies say firefighter James Fehl pulled out of a parking lot shortly work, and was struck by a red sedan.

Bystanders conducted CPR on Fehl and he was transported to Bayfront Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Westbound Bay Pines Boulevard was closed for several hours. The investigation into the crash continues.

I received a rather interesting E-Mail a few days ago from someone regarding my incidents with the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa Police Department, and I thought I’d share it with everyone.

“How dare you disobey the police!? They are sworn to protect you and your family and you are out there to make them look bad. I read where it said you worked for a police department, you should know how it is yet you continue to harrass them like many of the cop hater thugs who kill cops every day in America. Having a camera is completely different than not having one in public these days and you need to catch up to current times. I’m sure the police are happy you stopped your wanna be reporter self, now they don’t have to look over their shoulder any more.”

First off, I am willing to follow any lawful order made by a police officer. People need to understand what is lawful and what is not. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of research to get this information, and it takes a lawyer to read through the legalese. I’m not a lawyer, but I have spoke to some and I can save you the trouble this much…

• Anything in a public place is subject to recording, including people, crime scenes, buildings, and the police.
• A citizen is not required to follow an unlawful order from the police, including an order to turn a camera off.
• A citizen with a camera, media or not, is no different than a citizen without a camera, and cannot be singled out to leave an area solely based on possession of a camera.

I am not out to make the police look bad and I don’t harass them. My job consisted of shooting news related stories and a few bad apples decided to make themselves look bad by screwing with me. Best advice I can give is let me do my job and you won’t become apart of the story and video of you violating civil rights won’t be forever available on the internet.

I am a former employee of a local police and I loved the  job. I am a huge supporter of the police, but… I don’t stick up for a screw up just because I worked in the same industry as them. I have cop friends, and I have cop enemies just like I have civilian friends and civilian enemies. It’s all about the person.

I hardly consider myself similar to a cop killer. I hate cop killers. And a cop who does their job and lets me do mine will have no reason to be afraid of me. All I want to do is shoot news, not cops.

As I already stated, having a camera does not mean the person has limited rights. Any officer who singles out a person solely on the basis of having a camera is abusing the authority they don’t have on the matter. This is my most common problem, and I always ask “what about those people over there?”

I’m not sure what “these days” are. I do know almost everything is referenced to the “Patriot Act” or “Homeland Security” or any other blanket directive that has nothing to do with photography. Things have not changed, although because of over paranoia of terrorism, the explosion of the amount of people with cameras recording spot news, and the “it’s all about what I want” attitude has contributed to resentment of cameras by police and civilians.

In fact, I also blame the media, the ones who should be upholding photography rights. Local 10 aired a live shot about a report of a “suspicious” person taking photographs of children at a soccer game. It make make one feel uncomfortable, but photographing children is not illegal. I found it funny they did their live shot from the same park and it had b-roll of children playing, someone should have called on them.

A station in another part of the county aired a similar story, in which they didn’t get all the facts first. A lady said she confronted a man taking pictures at a park and he ran off. Turns out it was a man taking photos of his grandson and he said she was being aggressive. Surely their mistake didn’t get as much attention. So now thanks to these stories, more people are going to call in on photographers.

Don’t get me started on the fools at TSA that put up posters with a photographer, taking photos of planes, urging to call authorities so “our planes don’t fall into the wrong hands.” Like the terrorists don”t know what an aircraft looks like and don’t know how to use images.google.com. After an outcry from photography activists, it was removed.

One of the reasons I was given during my Diaz incident to way I had to turn off my camera is because the residents didn’t want their homes to be recorded. They should sue Google, because a couple seconds will render a aerial photo and a photo from the street of their house. That was all lies too, because not one of them approached me directly and asked. But my response to that would have been “get lost.” I had one lady at crash ask me not to videotape her building, which was the scene of an accident. Thank God the deputy knew his stuff and he told her to go back inside and leave me alone. Makes you wonder why a Lieutenant is less knowledgeable on his job than a bottom rank deputy. I guess intelligence doesn’t go up with pay grade…

And for the record, there is a difference between a reporter and photographer. I never claimed to be a reporter, but I am a photographer and I will do what it takes to do my job and stand up for myself when necessary.

And stand by for an update regarding the Lt. Diaz situation. It’s going to get rather interesting I’m predicting.

Forgive me for any spelling or grammar errors I may have made. It’s 5:50am and I’m agitated and remember, I’m not a reporter. Even reporters have copy editors.

I came across an article today from a local television affiliate in Jacksonville that made my blood boil.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/28611736/detail.html

Here’s the gist in case you don’t want to read it…

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been using an encrypted radio system for some time. That means in order to hear them, you need the encryption key, similar to a password, to decode the sound into something we can understand. Otherwise, the transmissions will sound like static.

For an encrypted system, you need to purchase an actual police radio, which runs into a couple thousand dollars. Additionally, as I already stated, you will need the key, which is only available to whoever manages the agency’s radio shop. You can’t crack it or guess it, at least not without some serious time and money.

Now the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office wasn’t being complete secret squirrels by secluding their traffic stops and barking dog calls to 99.9% of the population. They’ve programmed a few radios with the encryption key and have been leasing them to the media. Well, not anymore.

Apparently JSO want’s them back because of the “costs.”  I’m sure those radios have long been paid off and JSO will continue to get paid for those radios as long as the media wants to listen to them, which is forever. Who in the heck crafted that argument?

So when all else fails, they played the “safety concerns” card. I understand some aspects of law enforcement need to be secure. Agencies that spend your tax dollars on encrypting radio transmissions have the option of keeping some of them unencrypted. I think an ethical law enforcement agency wouldn’t encrypt all police channels.

Many agencies keep their dispatch channels in the clear, and only encrypt channels where they conduct VICE, SWAT, Narcotics, and Undercover operations. That is completely acceptable. But keeping normal patrol operation channels encrypted, just because you can, says nothing other than “We don’t want you to know what we’re up to.”

As the typical response from a law enforcement officer when you tell them you have done nothing wrong and wish to remain silent… “if you have nothing to hide, what are you afraid of?” It goes both ways.

I remember when I heard a vehicle pursuit on the scanner last year. A rookie cop pursued a petty theft suspect, the suspect wrecked after failing to negotiate a turn, causing serious injury. When the press release came out several hours later, it stated that the cop was never engaged in a pursuit. BULL.

I heard the transmissions and I could hear the rookie scream on top of the blaring siren. It was a cover up because they had violated their own pursuit policy and did not want to be held accountable for the suspect’s injuries, even though he did deserve it.

I have come to the conclusion in my experience that MOST public information officers only willingly release what makes the department look good. Only when the media calls in about a specific event a press release is sent out. If a officer saves a baby from a car fire, the release is sent out immediately. If the officer shoots an unarmed civilian, don’t expect much. If the media has no access to scanners, how are they going to know if something happened?

I think it’s less of PIO’s being uninformed of what the agency is involved in, and more as an attempt to omit information unless someone inquires. Now in all fairness, there are a few PIO’s who are very prompt and forthcoming with newsworthy information. They’re hard to find though, and I have worked with some great PIO’s, but unfortunately most of them end up being puppets of the agency they work for.

I remember recently when I was at a rather large drug bust. When I showed up, I was told I cannot stand across from the house, even though the street was completely free for traffic and pedestrians. I was told that publicity of the bust would jeopardize future investigations. I called the PIO and was told that many of the mainstream media would be more than happy to keep silent and not report the event.

What I did was called all of my clients. Everyone TV station showed up and a press release was sent, including the names of the arrestees. But they still didn’t want us to be there for some reason even though they gave us everything to make a story other than video. We were eventually allowed to shoot where we were legally allowed to be. This is after three hours of wasted time and arguing with people who don’t have a leg to stand on.

I didn’t make money on that call, but that sure as hell sent a message that I’m not going to play around anymore. We have a right to report on our stories and a law enforcement agency is not allowed to intimidate anyone from getting the very least, video of a scene from a public area. You can read more about fair access to scenes in my previous blog posts.

Many news organizations conduct “beat checks.” This usually consists of a member of the media calling a police or fire department asking if “anything is going on.” When I was dispatcher, I was told to lie to the media and say “nothing is happening” when asked that question. Why? Well because it’s not public record unless it’s specific request, like “Are you working a shooting on Maple Street?” Makes you think how much time news agencies have wasted on these beat checks.

This is where I think scanners have freed up a lot of media related inquiries to the dispatchers and PIO’s alike. In order for me to get to a scene and shoot my five minutes of video, I only need to know what it is, where it is, and some very basic information that almost always comes from the scanner. There was hardly a need for me to wake up a sleeping PIO or bother understaffed dispatch centers for information I can obtain on my own.

Since all information I obtained on scene needed to be confirmed by my stations before I sold a video to them, I hardly did any digging. I always knew no matter what information I gathered, I’d have to wait for the press release before they would make a decision. So I went by the motto “shoot now, ask questions later.”

I think even the best PIO’s are not capable of sending a release minutes after a newsworthy event occurs, nor do I expect them to. Most of them work dayside and are only aware of something newsworthy at night when a member of the media or a department employee calls them, and that’s if they follow proper notification procedures.

News media outlets now have fewer personnel and demands for more content and timeliness. That means for the most part, everything a PIO says is assumed true, accurate, and is reported. This enables the government to lie, cover up, and withhold pertinent information from the gatekeepers of the news. This is the most dangerous thing of all. Thank God for investigative journalism.

I know many people think the media is a bunch of blood sucking sensationalists. But think of a world where your only source of information comes directly from a government owned news source. Think of a world where there’s no independent organization who makes sure our government officials are doing their job and upholding federal, state, and local laws. For me, I like to know things and at the same time, I don’t just take anyone’s word for it.

What I am trying to say is even if PIO’s will forever be available, they cannot be a replacement for a scanner. On a scanner you hear everything as it happens with no slant. Sometimes the information isn’t accurate, but at least you know what questions to ask the PIO when the release comes out. “If the officer was not in pursuit, how come we heard sirens on the scanner? Can we get a copy of those transmissions to verify?’ See my point?

Now if the sheriff or chief of a department is dead set on encrypting everything, it’s going to happen no matter how many people get angry. There are some departments who have healthy, open relationships with the public. However, there are some that do not. The media, and any citizen who cares enough to stop this trend can do one of several things.

1. Make record requests daily

2. Make beat checks every hour

3. Show up to every tip you get from a viewer, even domestic calls

4. Pay tippers if they observe police activity

5. If you see a bunch of cruisers flying a certain direction, try to drive around until you find where they were going

Sometimes in order to get what you want, you have to be as persistent as possible. If you don’t stand up for what you believe in, don’t expect others to do it for you. I was never one to lay back and see things go to hell. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil…”

I have to say this every time I post things like this. I am not anti-cop. I used to work for a police department and I have many friends working for nearby law enforcement agencies. Heck, my grandfather is a Sargent for a sheriff’s office in New York. And this rant is not directed towards every agency, just those who like to keep the public and media in the dark.

Remember, our own president is in favor of a transparent government. It starts on a local level. In a way, these agencies who block their system from the public are against our Commander and Chief. How un-American is that?

I think encryption isn’t where it is going to end. Before you know it more aspects of  local government will be unavailable for review. You give an inch, they take a mile. This has to stop and frankly only the media, and pressure from groups of concerned American citizens is the only hope.

Thankfully, the only agencies that are 100% encrypted in the Tampa bay area is the Temple Terrace Police & Fire department and the Florida Highway Patrol. The funny thing is, I hear employees of those agencies complain about how crappy their radios are and how they are not able to communicate with nearby agencies. I thought these departments were concerned with safety… guess not.