When law enforcement stands up for peoples’ rights at airports…

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: November 29, 2012

17 comments

Gary posted a link to this pretty awesome video:

The gist of it is that a couple of people are trying to hand out flyers at Albany Airport about opting out at security, and the airport authority does everything they can to bully them, claiming they’re not allowed to film, they need a permit, they need insurance, they can’t be on the departure level, etc., all of which are bogus.

Fortunately there’s a pretty awesome sheriff, Office Lenic, who sticks up for what’s right.

As far as the airport authority guy goes, what an absolute jerk. He’s acting like a five year old. Almost makes me want to boycott Albany Airport in the future. Not that I’d ever go to Albany unless there was a great mileage run fare anyway, but… 😉

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NNW Guest

May 1, 2013, 2:58 pm

Anyone who uses that music, for that long, in a video intro, deserves to be persecuted a bit.

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David Guest

November 29, 2012, 8:16 pm

Dep Lenic is a hero! In an era of law enforcement overkill, where the public is normally the convicted criminal, just for existing, it is brilliant to see him stand up for the law! As to bald PR guy, what an idiot!

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Sam Guest

November 29, 2012, 6:33 pm

brewer is confusing his thing as well.

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Erndog Guest

November 29, 2012, 2:42 pm

@FormerAirlineEmployee I think you are confusing things . . . "Among things that would be reasonable would be for the airport to establish an area in which people can exercise their First Amendment rights." Filming people going through security isn't as much a first amendment issue as a privacy issue - there is no reason to expect privacy in a public place. The handing out flyers thing . . . well, that may be more in line with what the Krisha's do and probably is more of a First Amendment thing, but it's not (at least not now) an ongoing thing, but rather a one-off thing

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BrewerSEA Gold

November 29, 2012, 2:37 pm

@observR The short of it is airports are not considered public fora, so any restriction of speech must simply be shown to be reasonable. This issue was considered by the Supreme Court in Int. Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Lee back in 1991. New York City's airport authority banned repetitive solicitation of money within airline terminals. Solicitation was permitted outside the terminals. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness solicits funds in public places. It challenged the regulation. A federal district court granted an injunction against the airport authority. The authority appealed. "In an opinion authored by the Chief Justice, we hold that the airport terminals are not public fora. Historically, airports have not been made available as locations for speech activity, nor has the respondent in this case voluntarily opened the terminals to solicitation. To survive review, therefore, the solicitation ban need only be shown to be reasonable. The solicitation ban satisfies this test as it is a reasonable means of attacking the risks of duress, fraud, and congestion that attend personal solicitation for funds in airports. In a separate per curium opinion, dealing with the related challenge to respondent's ban on leafleting activity within the terminals, we strike down the port authority's regulation."

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