A Polish television crew that travelled to the United States to report on the Presidential election got a taste of life in Kamala’s California when their camera equipment was stolen while they were working.
A reporter and cameraman from Poland’s state broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) travelled to California—rendered “Kalifornii w USA” in the Polish transliteration—this week and interviewed a childhood neighbour from the street where Kamala Harris grew up on Bancroft Way, Berkeley. However, as a report by the network reveals, while the discussion was held, a case containing camera equipment from the international team was stolen from the street.
The case was fitted with a tracker device, allowing the Poles to summon a police officer and travel to a nearby address while filming progress on their cell phones. Per Polish politics outlet wPolityce, the camera crew found the officer reluctant to intervene, not believing their case was inside the home, and only relenting after persuasion. The footage released by TVP shows the officer explaining to the journalist that under U.S. law, the presence of the tracking device inside the property would not be reason enough to enter.
He told the pair, ” You guys live in America, right? You understand search and seizure? America doesn’t want police officers stepping out of line, right? I can’t just go into someone’s yard or someone’s house without their permission or a warrant.”
The case was recovered at the home, with the woman who had it inside her house claiming she had found it on the freeway and decided to take it indoors to keep it safe.
The woman claimed she and her daughter had found it on the next street along, an account the Polish camera crew challenged, stating it had gone missing a mile away.
The investigating police officer said that while the Poles would be happy to have recovered their equipment, nevertheless, for all he knew, the woman may well have been telling the truth about her noble motives for having the stolen cameras. So, the officer reflected, “There likely won’t be an arrest made.”
TVP itself stated in California, thefts of television crew equipment have recently become commonplace, asserting in their report broadcast on Polish television: “Colleagues from local television inform us that in San Francisco and the surrounding areas, organised groups steal television equipment, take it out of cars, sometimes take it by threatening [camera crews] with weapons and sell it on the black market, which is why some television crews only go into the field with security.”
Polish television crews are not the only group who know something about crime in California. As reported this week, Kamala Harris’ refusal to engage with an anti-crime referendum in the state meant to amend the damaging Proposition 2014 has been seen as a damning reflection on the state of law and the complicity of Democrat lawmakers in California.