In October 2009, Shawn Nee, an award-winning photographer, was stopped by officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department while taking pictures of turnstiles in the L.A. subway. According to the officers, Nee was engaged in "suspicious terrorist activity".
The ACLU discovered that Gylfie had submitted a suspicious activity report on Nee with the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center, a "fusion center" that collects and shares data between the LASD, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Because Nee's information was submitted to the fusion center, it was available for the FBI to review and possibly add to its eGuardian database, which compiles terrorism-related information from more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies.
The ACLU obtained Nee's suspicious activity report, along with reports on more than 100 incidents related to public photography that have been filed by the LASD with the L.A. Joint Regional Intelligence Center.
Nee is waiting for his day in court.
The lawsuit also seeks to prevent LASD officers from arbitrarily prohibiting photography in public places.
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