Local cops are under fire for their handling of encounters with citizens. At least two federal lawsuits have recently been filed. The complaints are by citizens concerned about how they’ve been treated by police officers. The incidents involve citizens recording videos of police and police negatively responding to being filmed.
Police dispute some of the videos online that allege police misconduct—they don’t show the whole story, one official said, or the complaints are exaggerated. But the Reno Police Department acknowledged one incident is under investigation. RPD recently sent a press release after an online video began circulating that shows an RPD officer arresting somebody for filming the officer in downtown Reno.
“The Reno Police Department is committed to maintaining public trust and ensuring accountability in all our interactions with the community,” RPD’s Stephen Greenlee wrote. “On August 22, 2023, officers made an arrest that has gained public attention and raised questions about our department’s adherence to established policies and procedures.”
The news release did not mention what encounter had gained attention. It was about Walter England. He runs the “Sacramento Community Watch” YouTube channel and has for months been taking videos of Reno-area police, often downtown. The videos are edited to show portions of his encounters with law enforcement.
England actively films police, engages with them and then argues if police respond negatively to him. He said a Reno Police officer arrested him in late August. The video of his arrest shows England walking by an officer in a vehicle, greeting him, then proceeding to walk down a downtown sidewalk.
He then greets a second officer, Christian Hoyt, who tells England to get away from his vehicle, allegedly because he’s on a personal phone call. England responds, and Hoyt proceeds to confront him, ultimately arresting him.
“The message is: Film police, but stay back. Stay out of the incident. Do what the press does.”–Sparks Police Chief Chris Crawforth
KOLO-TV first reported about the incident. England said the encounter has made him more afraid of police. “Abuse from the officers is always happening. So, we’re out recording to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he told KOLO.
‘Luckily, you didn’t get arrested’
In another video, England said he was assaulted by a Sparks Police officer while shooting a video of an incident in Sparks. An officer appears to bump into him with his elbow while being filmed. England immediately complained to the Sparks Police Sergeant, Brandon Sheffield, at the scene.
Sheffield blamed England, called him an “asshole” and told him he was “making a bitch complaint about somebody bumping into you.” Sheffield said there was “a big-ass fight” with guns allegedly involved, and England made the situation worse by getting in the middle of the situation.
“You coming in and being within proxemics of our investigation while being an asshole usually incorporates [unintelligible],” Sheffield said. “Luckily, you didn’t get arrested.”
Sparks Police Chief and acting Sparks City Manager Chris Crawforth said England’s videos only show a part of what happened. Crawforth said England instigated the situation in Sparks, and he denied the officer struck England. He said England was following police and residents for about 10 minutes around an apartment complex while the incident was being investigated.
“He was getting involved when we were investigating a fight, getting in the middle of it,” Crawforth said. “The message is: Film police, but stay back. Stay out of the incident. Do what the press does.”
Sheffield was “counseled” on his language, Crawforth added.
Filming and photographing police are activities protected by the First Amendment—although there are some restrictions such as not disrupting police activities.
Attorneys: Posting police images violates state law
Another self-filed lawsuit involves a man who was living in his car around Reno. Frank Liu said police repeatedly harassed him, but one encounter prompted him to sue the Reno Police Department.
Liu, who has also been documenting his encounters with law enforcement on YouTube, filed a lawsuit in federal court against RPD. As part of the litigation, Deputy City Attorney Mark Hughs claimed in court filings that Liu’s YouTube videos of Reno police violate state law.
“Plaintiff is … a ‘YouTuber,’” Hughs wrote in a document filed with the U.S. District Court of Nevada. “He has publicly posted videos on YouTube concerning the subject of this case and his case against Lyon County, in both of which he included images of the involved peace officers, despite Nevada law which makes such images confidential.”
Hughs later references a statute prohibiting law enforcement agencies from releasing the home address and a photograph of law enforcement officers. That law, the Nevada Peace Officers Bill of Rights, does not apply to citizens or journalists.
When the Reno City Council approved the purchase of body-worn cameras and their associated technologies, officials insisted the bodycams would increase police transparency and accountability. But Reno city attorneys have fought for years for the legal authority to redact officer faces from bodycam footage, citing the Peace Officers Bill of Rights, which prohibits law enforcement employers from releasing officer images without the officer’s consent. City attorneys alleged the law also applies to bodycam videos, something This Is Reno is challenging in the Nevada Court of Appeals as part of a public records lawsuit against RPD.
Reno is not alone in trying to claim police images are confidential.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last week that it was sued by the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers. The group alleges the Nevada Peace Officers Bill of Rights—the same law Hughs alleged applies to individuals—also applies to news outlets and police videos the media outlet gets from sources. The group is demanding the RJ redact officer faces from already-published videos. The group cites This Is Reno’s public records lawsuit against RPD. (Watch a court hearing about the case below.)
RJ attorneys called the complaint ridiculous.
“By its plain and unambiguous terms and the legislative intent underlying its enactment, [the peace officers bill of rights] restricts only a government agency’s disclosure of officer addresses and photos,” the RJ’s attorney fired back in court. “[The law] has never been held … to apply to prohibit the disclosure or dissemination of information in the possession of a person or entity other than ‘a law enforcement agency.’ That result would be contrary to the clear terms of the statute.”
Liu said he believes Hughs made the claim that his videos of police violate the law in an attempt to get a federal judge to order him to remove his videos from YouTube.
“The main reason why I left Reno many months ago was due to the anti-homeless treatment I encountered with law enforcement,” he told This Is Reno. He said is no longer homeless and no longer in the area.
‘Commitment to transparency’
RPD’s Greenlee said the department had a “commitment to transparency” but did not respond to several follow-up questions to the press release about other incidents where police have threatened people taking photographs or video of police activities.
In 2021, a citizen had her phone smacked out of her hand by RPD Officer Joshua Iori-Tone when, she said, she was filming police after witnessing two officers body slam somebody to the ground. “You can’t be drinking out here,” Iori-Tone yelled before hitting the woman’s phone, screaming, “Get the fuck out of my face.” The woman said she wasn’t drinking.
The confrontation was caught on camera from at least two different angles. The Reno Cop Watch Facebook page posted a video showing one officer who grabbed a person’s neck and pulled him to the ground. The officer dropped his knee on the victim’s neck and head, a use-of-force technique that drew scrutiny when Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.
The woman filming police filed a complaint against Iori-Tone. She found out weeks later that police and the Reno City Attorney issued a warrant for her arrest after the incident.
This Is Reno photographer Eric Marks, also in 2021, was threatened with arrest for taking photographs of a downtown shooting incident. This Is Reno sued the police department for bodycam footage of the incident. RPD continues to refuse to make those videos public.
Days after that incident, RPD Commander Joe Robinson announced to city officials at a public event, while being live-streamed on Facebook, his new hashtag: “fuck off This Is Reno.”
RPD’s recent news release also said the department is committed to “maintaining the public’s trust.” Greenlee said RPD would release bodycam footage of England’s arrest “after the criminal investigation.”
City officials have been saying that with a new police chief, positive changes have been made, and more will be coming, “but it won’t happen overnight,” one officer told This Is Reno.
City officials previously touted former Police Chief Jason Soto as able to enact positive changes within RPD. Soto, the former police union president, retired last year after a survey revealed low morale and poor leadership under his tenure as chief. He was also recently sued allegedly for protecting somebody promoted to the highest levels of RPD who is alleged to have sexually harassed two Washoe County Sheriff’s detectives.
Greenlee did not respond to the question of what the new police chief will do to ensure citizens feel safe taking video footage of police.
