Man on Beach Detained for Concealed Video Camera

Police recently detained a man who was walking at a public beach with a “boom box” containing a hidden video camera.

A beach team trained to spot sexual predators seized the man’s equipment last Friday after following him and noticing the radio had an opening for a lens, Lt. Jon Arnold said.

“He voluntarily turned the radio over and gave permission to watch the tape for evidence of any crimes,” Arnold said.

Detectives reviewed the tape and found images of adult women, but none of children. The man was not arrested.

Surreptitious taping of adults “is not against the law at a public beach,” Arnold said. “There’s no expectation of privacy if the public can see whatever is exposed out on the sand.”

A “child annoyance” law, however, makes it illegal to zoom in on the anatomy of children under 16, Arnold said.

The team was alerted to the situation after a woman approached officers and said a man was acting strangely and following women around. Officers later located the man and noticed he was following women while pointing an end of his radio toward them, Arnold said.

“He didn’t disclose his intentions and he cooperated, allowing us to keep the device,” Arnold said. “He doesn’t want his family or friends to know what he was doing.”

Arnold said “the summer months bring out many predators who videotape young girls and boys in their bathing attire while they are laying on the beach or while engaged in beach activities.”

A 17-member beach team recently underwent training to identify suspected sexual predators, said Arnold. The special patrols start June 13, although team members were on the beach during the busy Memorial Day weekend.

“The police department is taking a zero-tolerance stance on such filming by these predators,” Arnold said. “We wanted to get the word out to parents that people could be doing this kind of thing.”