Sooooo, I just got charged with Harassment

[BigBear]

Wow... Glad it's over for you (sort of).

[Martinjmpr]

My not even two cents worth.

Your employer needs to figure out what you should do if someone is taking pictures. If you have a policy against it, you need to know what the response is. Sounds to me like there's a rule, but not a specified response. Get the response formalized. Personally, I'd suggest "Taking pictures is against policy. Please cease taking pictures [and leave the premises.]" The latter part can be added if it looks like there’s going to be trouble (this way you don't have to throw out Merle from Wichita Kansas if he just didn't know he wasn't supposed to take pictures).

I agree with this and also would add that under no circumstances should you touch anyone or any of their possessions unless doing so can be justified as protecting yourself or some other party (for example, if someone walks into a room filled with flammable fumes and whips out a cigarette lighter and moves as if to light a cigarette, you would almost certainly be justified in knocking it out of their hands.)

I understand why casinos don't like people taking video (presumably it's because video might be used to figure out a way to defeat the games or machines) but the amount of damage that can be done by a few seconds of shaky video is miniscule compared the potential problems that can come from grabbing someone's phone. Better to call the cops and have them hauled off the property and declared persona non grata.

Glad it worked out. Since you were on duty at the time did your employer cover your legal costs?

[pickenup]

I know you are glad that this if finally over.
Sounds like it worked out OK.

[GilpinGuy]

Did your employer support through all of this?

It seems like a risk such an establishment takes. If they bow to every asshole, they will lose customers.

Yes, 100%.

Your employer needs to figure out what you should do if someone is taking pictures. If you have a policy against it, you need to know what the response is. Sounds to me like there's a rule, but not a specified response. Get the response formalized. Personally, I'd suggest "Taking pictures is against policy. Please cease taking pictures [and leave the premises.]" The latter part can be added if it looks like there’s going to be trouble (this way you don't have to throw out Merle from Wichita Kansas if he just didn't know he wasn't supposed to take pictures).

As for asking people to leave the premises, I'd suggest that your employer make their policy: "If we ask you to leave and you do, that's fine. If you refuse we WILL charge you with trespass." This would have allowed her to be charged first and avoided your entire problem altogether.

But your employer needs to make it formal policy (subject to your discretion) in order to give you the tools to handle the situation.

[FONT=Arial]O2

I am working with Legal/Compliance on both of these things due to this very incident.

I agree with this and also would add that under no circumstances should you touch anyone or any of their possessions unless doing so can be justified as protecting yourself or some other party (for example, if someone walks into a room filled with flammable fumes and whips out a cigarette lighter and moves as if to light a cigarette, you would almost certainly be justified in knocking it out of their hands.)

I understand why casinos don't like people taking video (presumably it's because video might be used to figure out a way to defeat the games or machines) but the amount of damage that can be done by a few seconds of shaky video is miniscule compared the potential problems that can come from grabbing someone's phone. Better to call the cops and have them hauled off the property and declared persona non grata.

Glad it worked out. Since you were on duty at the time did your employer cover your legal costs?

All legal costs were covered and my employer was incredibly supportive.

As far as calling the cops - I did. It took forever, like 20 minutes. Having a lunatic woman scream at you for 20 minutes seems like an eternity. I just stood there and took all the verbal shit with a smile on my face.

I do agree that grabbing her phone was not the best decision. Here I was, white as can be (I call myself pink - super Irish guy on graveyards, LOL), being called every racial slur a black woman can hurl at me for 20 minutes. She threatened to put a video of me on Facebook and label me a racist. I made a millisecond decision that I couldn't allow that and it gave me some grief over the last few months. Lesson learned.

My standard procedure now, and I have used it, is to simply put my hand over my badge (name and Gaming License # on there) and say, "Is my hair OK? I want to look good" every time someone whips out a phone and tells me they're taking my picture.

[bryjcom]

I learned a valuable lesson years ago.

I was 17 and was involved in an "altercation" with a friend of mine and another kid on the street. To make a long story short I did the absolute minimum one could do in this whole thing.. My friend and the other kid had "competing" complaints and charges against each other and the kid had a complaint against me. My friend and the kid dropped the charges against each other and I was left stuck with a battery charge for "push/shoving with an aggressive nature"

I went to court, had a trial, and my attorney ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED that kid and his girlfriend in court to the point where the prosecutor was shaking his head in disbelief and the judge is yelling at them to answer the questions. Judge acquitted me saying, " After hearing the most pitiful testimony I had ever heard from [the witnesses], I find no evidence that even suggests the defendant was at the scene of the incident". Almost worth the $700 I spent, just to hear that. LOL



Moral of the story is, if a cop asks you if you want to press charges on something, YOU SAY YES.. And then let the wheel of justice sort it out. I think if you had pressed charges against her she would have pressed charges against you and then both parties would drop their cases...