NYC mayor sparks backlash after telling public to only film police at a ‘safe distance’

‘You need to upgrade your iPhone’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his administration is going to “teach the public how to properly document” police encounters, sharply criticising citizens who record police and accusing the public of creating a “dangerous” environment while filming officers.

“If your iPhone can’t capture that picture with you being at a safe distance, then you need to upgrade your iPhone,” he said during a press conference on 16 March. “Stop being on top of my police officers while they’re carrying out their jobs. That is not acceptable and it won’t be tolerated.”

He said that “if an officer is on the ground with wrestling with someone that has a gun, they should not have to worry about someone standing over them with a camera,” adding that “they should not have someone standing over their shoulders with a camera in their face yelling and screaming without even realizing what the encounter is all about.”

“Now he has to worry about who’s behind him,” he said. “That has gotten out of control.”

Civil rights groups immediately criticised his comments and suggested that his remarks sought to chill First Amendment protections while insulating the department and its history of violent interactions from oversight.

The New York state affiliate of the ACLU reminded police that “people have a right to film police work in public, you can’t order them to stop filming” and “you can thank them for doing their part to ensure transparency.”

Civil rights attorney Scott Hechinger said the mayor’s comments amounted to “threatening his constituents for recording police misconduct. He’s out of control.”

Public defender Eliza Orlins said that Mayor Adams “seems to have forgotten about our First Amendment right to record police and seems to care more about protecting cops than protecting New Yorkers. “

The mayor’s comments followed a briefing on the launch of “neighborhood safety teams” of police officers to combat gun violence and illegal guns, a previously disbanded unit of plainclothes officers once responsible for a disproportionate share of fatal police shootings. The department disbanded the “anti-crime” iteration of the unit in 2020.

A 2017 watchdog report collected 346 citizen complaints alleging NYPD officers interfered with their ability to record police activity. The report from the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board exonerated the actions of the officers in 11 cases.

Police interference with public recording of their actions “violates core constitutional rights” and “diminishes an important tool to ensure police accountability,” according to the report.