A Picture Is Not Always Perfect : Some Asian-American activists protest police practice of extensive photographing

Asian-American activists in Orange County understandably are upset about the police practice of photographing youths standing around or in vehicles stopped by officers. About 15 people who have been photographed have filed complaints against the Fountain Valley Police Department.

The police say that nobody’s picture is taken without consent, and that the mug shots, filed in an effort to track gangs, are not misused. That’s not a very convincing argument.

Some police departments’ sense of being overmatched has pushed them to allocate more resources to anti-gang efforts and to cooperate with other agencies regionally. That makes sense. But although assembling mug books may be legal, it’s not always right or even good police work. The possibility of abuse is considerable any time officers create photo files that inevitably will include law-abiding people. Such a procedure must be placed under very strict, public and clear rules.

Police officers, after all, have great discretion in stopping vehicles. Whose word determines whether consent to be photographed indeed was given voluntarily? Only the most streetwise person might think to refuse. The issue of on-the-spot assent is essentially the same as in the instance of the Florida bus passenger whose case went to the U.S. Supreme Court after he gave deputies “permission” to search his baggage.

Once a picture is on file, the potential for misuse is established. The full play of racial stereotyping in any future review is possible. The danger that presumptive innocence will be suspended in police encounters with minorities is especially dangerous. Indeed, a San Jose Vietnamese-American was wrongly accused of a robbery after his picture appeared in just such a photo album (he won acquittal in a jury trial).

It is important to recognize also that the overall effect on relations between the police and the community is likely to be bad. Effective anti-gang strategies must begin with intimate knowledge of communities. What is a law-abiding Asian-American youngster to think after such an experience with police--perhaps his first encounter with law enforcement? He may be turned against a system that he believes is rigged against him.

So police must have specific criteria for snapping the shutter. That might include a subject’s acknowledgment of gang membership, information from reliable informants or obtaining written permission. Police must not overstep the boundaries of good judgment. And the community must know the rules.