HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.3.22 First Amendment Audit emails
From:Pickett, Andy
To:BOS
Subject:First Amendment Audit emails
Date:Sunday, April 3, 2022 9:12:12 PM
Board Members,
You may be receiving emails from upset public regarding a video that was posted on youtube of a
visit that the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office received. The individual who owns the youtube channel
does these visits to public offices, where he hangs around the lobby and takes pictures and takes
video. These pictures and videos are taken of the back areas of the offices, with high zoom lenses,
where he can see documents on desks, reference documents pinned on cubicle walls, etc.
He calls the visits “First Amendment Audits”, and the purpose is to get a reaction from staff and
create a confrontation, which he films. He later edits and editorializes the videos and posts them,
and some of the people who watch them respond by sending emails. Several of us have been
receiving emails today.
Subsequent to this surprise visit to the TTC Office, the DA provided training to all Department Heads
on what he is legally able to do and not do. We also talked about how to arrange the areas visible
from the counter to ensure no private information can be seen, even with a high zoom lens. Lastly,
we talked about how to handle future visits.
I’m happy to say that he has returned to the County since this video was recorded, and visited
several offices (including mine), and he got no confidential information, and no confrontation.
As unfortunate as the incident with the TTC was, it did provide some useful information for us going
forward on how to prepare and deal with this kind of situation in the future.
Andy