LOS ANGELES — The paparazzi are famous for doing most anything to obtain exclusive pictures of those on Hollywood's A List, but now the celebrity hunters have become prey themselves, targets of a criminal investigation that comes amid complaints about their aggressive tactics.

In the wake of a traffic accident involving actress Lindsay Lohan and a photographer the teen star was trying to get away from, police and prosecutors continue to investigate allegations ranging from misdemeanors such as trespassing to more serious crimes like false imprisonment and even potential conspiracy.

"It is my sense that the activities of the paparazzi have grown more and more aggressive over the last couple years," said William Hodgman, chief of the target crimes division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Boris Nizon, owner of the agency Fame Pictures Inc., said he was unconcerned by the probe.

"We obey the law and we work really professionally," he said.

Hodgman said it would be premature to say whether the inquiry would lead to charges. However, prosecutors wouldn't have to overcome the kind of First Amendment defenses photojournalists have when they are sued for taking photos in public because crimes like trespassing aren't protected by the Constitution.

The investigation was launched in part because of concerns that paparazzi run-ins with celebrities are getting more dangerous.

"There is great concern that someone is going to get hurt," Hodgman said. "It's not just the celebrities themselves, but it's third parties and often children, who could be within the number of those who are likely to get hurt."

Last November, "Charlie's Angels" star Cameron Diaz and her pop-star boyfriend Justin Timberlake snatched away a photographer's camera when the photographer and a partner surprised them outside a ritzy hotel.

And last month, Lohan narrowly escaped serious injury when her car collided with one driven by a member of the paparazzi who was allegedly following her. Photographer Galo Ramirez, 24, was booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, his car, and released on $35,000 bond.

"Watch out for the paparazzi," the actress warned at this year's MTV Movie Awards.

Celebrity outrage over paparazzi antics is nothing new.

After Princess Diana was killed in 1997 in a Paris car crash following a high-speed flight from paparazzi, a chorus of fury came from some of biggest names in show business at that time — Madonna, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Taylor. They called for everything from consumer boycotts of supermarket tabloids to new laws on libel and privacy.

California even passed a law in 1998 that forbids "constructive trespass," the use of technologically advanced devices to watch or eavesdrop on someone in a situation where they have "a reasonable expectation of privacy."