Navy Admits Detaining of Weekly Photographer Was Illegal

U.S. Department of Defense Police overstepped the bounds of their authority in detaining and threatening to arrest a Monterey County Weekly photographer who was taking pictures of the Naval Postgraduate School's exterior.

Photographer Nic Coury, a five-year veteran of the paper, was detained by DoD police first on April 2 and then again on April 4 near the intersection of Ninth and Sloat in Monterey. He was shooting from a public sidewalk when stopped, questioned and ordered to delete his pictures.

Coury asked if he was being detained and the officers told him "no," but when asked if he was free to leave, they also said, "no." During the second incident, when Coury asked under what specific law or authority the DoD officers were operating, DoD Deputy Chief of Police Shayne Gardner told him: "We can arrest you and you can find out the interpretation in court if you want to go that route."

NPS spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Bill Clinton says as a result of the incident, the base reviewed the training its officers received and determined "it was not adequate.

"While the security personnel thought they were performing their duties appropriately, they acted beyond their actual authority," Clinton writes in an email. "We have no authority to detain personnel outside the base on public property. The training issue is being addressed and we will provide lessons learned to other bases."

(Photos by Nic Coury)

The main entrance of the Naval Postgraduate School at Ninth and Sloat Avenues. by Nic Coury