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Please try again.  Not a member?   The War on Photographers  For
too many cops and security guards, the enemy wields a camera.
Just before first light on a deserted street in Torrance, CA,
Jim McKinniss faced a menace straight from a dystopian sci-fi
story.  April 17, 2005  • 4:25 a.m. McKinniss, a 60-year-old
retired software designer on assignment for a photography class,
arrives and sets up his Canon EOS Elan with 100mm lens on a
tripod on the public sidewalk, facing an ExxonMobil oil
refinery.  • 4:40 a.m. A security car pulls up and parks behind
him.  • 4:46 a.m. A Torrance prowl car zooms up the street.  •
4:47 a.m. The car returns, lights flashing, and parks behind the
photographer. Another squad car jerks to a stop beside it. "Four
cops walk up in a SWAT-type formation," McKinniss later recalls.
"They weren't casual about it. Talk about intimidation!"  • 4:49
a.m. He is ordered to clasp his hands, thumbs down, behind his
back. A cop grabs h