Meridian Township Police regret that an officer seized cameras from two Central Michigan Life photographers after they refused to delete images of a protest.

Merissa Ferguson, Jill Woodbeck and reporter Phil Wagner covered a protest Thursday by three CMU students outside the Victoria’s Secret store in Meridian Mall in suburban Lansing.

The store’s manager called mall security. Police officers, acting on a store manager’s request, demanded the CM Life photographers delete their images, Wagner said.

It was determined officers should not have confiscated the cameras, Meridian Township Police Chief David Hall told the Associated Press Friday.

“It was not our best police work,” said Hall, adding that an internal investigation will be done to determine what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.

A corporate representative for Victoria’s Secret apologized for the incident, saying the company does not condone the type of behavior displayed by the store manager.

“We don’t ever instruct them to take your work,” said Anthony Hebron, vice president of external communications for Limited Brands, Inc., owners of the chain of lingerie stores. “I don’t want that to happen again.”

Police told the photographers they could either delete the pictures themselves or the cameras would be taken back to the station. The photographers refused to delete the pictures.

“I’m glad that it happened now that I’m in college,” said Woodbeck, Indian River junior. “I was kind of scared but I knew that I had every right to have the pictures.”

The student journalists followed the officers to the police station, where officers discussed with supervisors whether to delete images of the small gathering by three CMU students against the lingerie store’s use of non-recycled paper for its popular magazines.

Dawn Phillips Hertz, general counsel for the Michigan Press Association, intervened in the matter on CM Life’s behalf late Thursday, successfully urging police not to delete the photos.

“Taking a photograph on private property is not a crime,” Hertz said. “That’s a civil matter.”

Hertz said the officers action violated the journalists’ First Amendment rights.

CM Life has accepted apologies from the police and Victoria’s Secret and hopes both entities can learn from the unfortunate incident, said Editor in Chief Chad Livengood.

Meridian Mall’s Behavioral Code of Conduct, located at main entrances, does not include any rules governing the use of cameras in the mall.

“This ‘Behavioral Code of Conduct’ is not intended to deprive any person of their applicable civil rights or liberties under the law,” the signs state.

One of the protesters, Cedar Springs senior Beth Groner, said the demonstration was part of an assignment in her Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services 216: Introduction to Outdoor Recreation class, where students are required to take action on an environmental issue.

“I guess I can see both sides of it,” Groner said. “They were just ready to put an end to it right away. But at the same time, I think they were rude to us.”