this is something alot of younger officers are doing these days- they aren’t being properly trained on developing PC, and the courts have long ruled that vague phone calls of unsubstantiated acts are NOT probable cause to stop or detain…..

Please stop using “it’s post 9/11″ to allow police officers to be LAZY and not use probable cause , or at least reasonable suspicion to develop probable cause. Unless they are on private property, or in a marked and delineated “restricted gov’t zone”, the port cops went from being CA peace officers to being security guards carrying out vague suggestions made by federal agencies, who will (HYPOCRITICALLY) charge the officers for violation of civil rights if it came down to a complaint from the citizens….. I am all for Law enforcement, but officers have to DO BETTER than use vague reasons to conduct NON criminal investigations in hopes of finding a crime…

Blaming the “excuse” on “Post 9/11″ is getting old for lame civil rights violations for any Police officer to jam up citizens- what next, “your papers, please Sir?”( oh, that’s what happened isn’t it?) the citizen here had the RIGHT to say NO to allowing access to their camera, and DID NOT have to give anything other than a name if they were not operating the boat; refer to Hiibel V. 6th judicial district of Nev. and Terry V. Ohio- This coming from another police officer that’s in a similar type of Law enforcement at those “port of LA Wardens”….

“The problem is that regardless of how much people may wish things were the same, times have changed in the last 8 years.”

Yes, the current climate we live in can be traced directly back to Bush and cronies circa Sept. 12, 2001. The fear-mongering, and really if you want to be perfectly honest, propaganda, was instituted to keep Americans scared shitless and willing to give up their constitutional rights (and not care about civil rights for others) in the name of protecting themselves from terrorism – and so the government could do whatever it wanted (wage war, torture, illegal wiretap, etc.). That’s fact. And I don’t say this is as some leftist revolutionary wingnut; I am actually very moderate in my politics.

I think if you “do not personally trust most of what I hear from mainstream American media as 100% accurate” then you shouldn’t trust what the government says as 100% accurate. There’s ALWAYS more to the story.

And I believe you CAN be 2 different guys. On that day in the boat, Bryan was on a leisurely trip with friends, taking personal photos. Then he turned out 4 months later at a protest for photographers’ rights. Why are they mutually exclusive?

It is perfectly legal to take photographs in a public place. Why are you willing to give up those rights? If that’s not allowed, then what’s next? Slippery slope, yo.

As to the issue, anyone wishing to make an attack on the port doesn’t need to do recon with a massive camera, they can drive down the street, do research on the internet. Take your own information regarding fuel storage locations and pumping facilities… tisk tisk, you may have just helped some terrorists, information is dangerous.

Seriously, if someone wants to do some damage, there is little that can be done to stop them. They don’t need any recon, they don’t need a big dslr and a telephoto lens to take pictures of the port.

This illusion of security is just that, an illusion, a grab for power, and if people don’t stand up and stop it than we all lose.