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Comment by XLFD on March 16, 2023 at 6:44pm

As an obscure hobby, these two guys over the last few years visit public spaces, primarily in Michigan, and assert their right to film public officials and effectively audit how these officials react to them. They then post it on the Youtubes for entertainment value. You will notice their restraint at the 'detective class', they didn't disrupt the proceeding, and they would not have had they been ignored. From watching their other videos, they generally don't push the envelope more than to make the point that they should be allowed to record anywhere they are freely allowed to go to at a public venue. This is more obvious at their visit to the local courthouse. The class was being held in the community room without nothing to deter people from looking in. The video shows there is no sign or warning keeping the general public out of the community room.

You may notice that they were quiet and ignored for over a minute until they had a caricature sketch of a black face on the projector screen (2:58 in) and they became incredibly nervous at that point; since there wasn't any black or brown faces in the audience/class who knows where the conversation would have gone at that point. We sure don't because the captain laid his hands on the cameraman and rushed him out.

Comment by Willy on March 16, 2023 at 6:19pm

I didn't watch the entire video so I'm not sure what these guys were trying to prove. Were they making the point that they are allowed to video record inside City Hall? Did they think they had a right to interfere with the detective seminar that was taking place? Do you know what the point was that they were trying to make? They seemed a bit pushy and rude.

Comment by XLFD on March 16, 2023 at 4:18pm

So this Fricn Media video, with over 26,000 views on, was made by a team of two Michigan citizen "Auditors" in February 2022 and caught Captain (later Interim Chief) Steve Wietrzykowski commit a simple assault against the videographer unobtrusively filming a detective training session, shortly after the three-minute mark. The Ludington Torch is in the process of FOIA-ing the complaint made that day, and its resolution.