Video by constitutional activist featuring Franklin Lakes police at library goes viral

The Franklin Lakes Police Department and the Franklin Lakes Public Library are facing some backlash on their social media accounts after a video by self-proclaimed constitutional activist and journalist SeanPaul Reyes, known online as Long Island Audit.

The 26-minute video, which takes place at the Franklin Lakes Public Library, was posted to YouTube on Feb. 18. The video is titled "Five law enforcement officers attempt to remove 'suspicious' journalist from public! Huge fail!"

Reyes says in the video introduction that he was there to "peacefully exercise our First Amendment right to film in public and publicly accessible areas to promote transparency and accountability within our government to ensure that public servants recognize our rights and treat us with respect."

Shortly after the video starts, Reyes is greeted by two Franklin Lakes police officers. They inform Reyes that the library has a policy about filming, and they retrieve a copy of the policy from the administrative office.

The policy says, "Recording within the building without expressed permission from the library director, written permission from all those being videotaped, photographed, and otherwise is prohibited."

The officers tell Reyes that they were called there because of a suspicious person filming and that unauthorized filming is against the library policy.

"No one is impeding your ability to film in here right now. We're not taking the camera," says one of the officers, who then asks Reyes how they can help him get to his intended purpose of being at the library.

Reyes and the officers then go into a long-winded conversation about why they were called to the library, why Reyes is there and whether he is allowed to film on the premises.

Reyes maintains throughout the video that he was there "exercising his constitutional rights" and "using the library for its intended purpose," and that they cannot tell him he can't film.

At one point in the video, a total of five police officers are on the scene.

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At around 19 minutes, several lengthy exchanges later, the officers can be seen talking to a member of the library staff that Reyes indicates is the director, but she does not speak with Reyes.

At around 21 minutes, two of the officers leave and Reyes walks away saying, "So apparently that is the library director and they're going to have an officer follow me around the library. Absolutely ridiculous."

The video then cuts to an undetermined amount of time later and Reyes informs viewers that the officers had all left and he was also leaving the library.

"It started off pretty chill. Nothing happened. No public employee came up to us complaining or trying to exert authority over us. That's until five law enforcement officers arrived," Reyes said. "Most of the officers were pretty chill. They didn't really escalate the situation, they tried to enforce the policy, but I reminded them that they are law enforcement not policy enforcement and that they swore an oath to uphold the United States Constitution and our rights."

He then went on to accuse one of the Franklin Lakes sergeants of being very passive aggressive and very disingenuous in his arguments as to why Reyes could not film in the library.

He also declared shame on the apparent library director for refusing to speak with him and not acknowledging that she was the library director.

"Recently, the Franklin Lakes Library was visited by a 'First Amendment Rights Audit' group. These groups look to reinforce their First Amendment right to video record inside public buildings, including libraries," said Franklin Lakes Mayor Charles Kahwaty. "To safeguard our children and the privacy of all of the library's patrons and staff, the Franklin Lakes Library has a long-standing policy that requires any patron wishing to video record inside the library to obtain approval in advance from the library director. The library believes that its police complied with applicable law."

Since it was posted, this video has gathered over 354,000 views, 27,000 likes and 8,400 comments. Reyes has 642,000 subscribers on YouTube.

In the days since the video's publication, viewers have taken to the Franklin Lakes Public Library and Police Department's social media accounts to express their disapproval of how the situation was handled by the officers and library staff.

"As these individuals were recording inside the library without such prior approval and in keeping with the library's responsibility to provide for the privacy and safety of its patrons and staff, the police assisted in explaining the library's policy to these visitors," Kahwaty said. "The police followed appropriate protocols in response to the library's request for assistance."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Franklin Lakes NJ featured in video from 'constitutional activist'