SIUC School of Journalism faculty will meet Friday with the SIUC police chief to discuss an incident last week in which police confiscated film from a student.

Matthew Bowie, a junior studying photojournalism from Kildeer near Chicago, said police officers demanded that he surrender the film he used to take photographs of an arrest Wednesday afternoon outside Quigley Hall.

Bowie said he complied after officers threatened to arrest and suspend him from school. SIUC Police Chief Todd Sigler said the incident report has yet to be released as it is under current investigation.

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The only time that police can confiscate film is in a military crisis or the presence of a war zone, Sigler said.

“I have to respect the process,” Sigler said of being unable to reveal specific details. “It’s just not fair to the entire process, for the people involved.”

SIUC professor James Kelly, photojournalist-in-residence Phil Greer and School of Journalism Director Walter Jaehnig will meet with Sigler to discuss ways campus police can work better with student reporters and photographers.

Sigler, who has worked at the University for more than 20 years, said there has been a long history of cooperation.

“As a whole, we have no problem with journalism students and the folks at the Daily Egyptian,” Sigler said before reminiscing about a time the paper invited him to its training week and a post-school year reception.

“We have a very well respected journalism program,” Sigler said. “We have a very well respected campus police department. It makes sense to embrace that relationship.”

This is the first time both Kelly and Sigler have heard of a campus police officer confiscating a photographer’s film.

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Bowie retrieved the film from campus police the following day. However, the strip was foggy and looked like it had been exposed to light, Greer said. Sigler stressed that the officers involved were only human, and as protectors, officers need to act quickly.

“The bottom line of all this is people are involved,” Sigler said. “People make decisions. Some decisions are better than other decisions.”

Reporter Zack Quaintance can be reached at [email protected]