Report from a citizen:

Today I went to the Law and Justice center to get some information from the States Attorney’s office.   I went on my lunch hour so time was pressed.

I entered the L&J center and stopped at the scanner and emptied my pockets and put my jacket on the belt for the scanner.   I walked through and collected my stuff and the officer on duty was rifling through my jacket without running it through the scanner.   He pulled out my small pocket camera and called me back through. ( you would have thought he found a gun!)

He said “you can’t take a camera in the building”.   Now I looked around, I did not see any signs saying “no cameras”, so I asked why not.   He rudely snapped “you can’t have cameras in the building”.   I looked into the lobby, there were 3 people fiddling with their CAMERA PHONES.

I pointed this out to the “security person” and without out looking he said “you cannot go in with this camera”.   I asked him again what was wrong with my camera that it was not allowed when there were 3 people with cameras already in the lobby. Since he did not have a name tag or uniform, I then asked his name he refused to respond and called a sheriff’s deputy over, Deputy B Patrick, according to his name tag.   He came over and the first words out of his mouth were “What’s your problem?”.   I asked why I was not allowed into the L&J center with my pocket camera when there were 3 people standing in the lobby with CAMERA PHONES.

His response was simple: “you need to leave” and he stepped closer and into my face he said “Now”.  One of the people in the lobby was moving closer at this time with his CAMERA PHONE and was recording the interaction.   I explained to Deputy B Patrick that I was there to see the States Attorney and his response was, “I told you to leave”.

I looked at him and made perfectly clear: “Are you telling me I cannot come into this public building.”  His response was, “I told you to leave with that camera”.  I pointed out that is not what he said and I left the building dropped the camera in my car and came back. The one “security guard”  invited me though the scanner without taking my coat off. You could tell he was nervous.  I looked Deputy B Patrick in the eye without saying a word as I picked up my keys and he said, “go ahead, bring it on.”

The citizen sent this to Sheriff  Emery several days ago, but has not received a response.

Do we now live in Nazi Germany?  Rules can be made up by however wants to?

If cameras are banned, shouldn’t there be a sign?  What about cell phones?  Very few aren’t cameras.

This citizen is not a nut.  He is a veteran, a professional, and not the type to start trouble, unless it is deserved.