Posted on 04/04/2009 2:49:03 PM PDT by Daffynition
When they’re not raiding the homes of bloggers who are critical of them, Phoenix police are harassing photographers, telling them that it is illegal to take pictures of federal buildings, public transportation, stadiums, street lights and banks.
William J. Nash-McAdam told the Downtown Phoenix Journal that he and a friend were detained by a Phoenix cop last weekend who took their identifications and informed them that they had violated some Homeland Security statute.
When they asked him to cite the specific statute, the cop told them to “Google it,” according to the article.
Somebody should tell that cop that anybody can go on Google Street View and find a three-dimensional view of almost any building in Phoenix, including the cherished Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse, which I found in a matter of seconds and uploaded to this post (click to enlarge and analyze the building for terrorist purposes).
And speaking of Google Street View, check out how residents in England surrounded one of its car with cameras on the roof, forbidding it from entering their village.
In the Phoenix incident, the article states that other photographers have been harassed in the city’s downtown.
Nash-McAdam spoke to two other people with cameras in the Copper Square area. According to him, one photographer stated that he had been confronted by police about taking a photograph of Civic Square with the Bank of America building in the background, and the other stated that he was confronted by officers for taking photos of Chase Field.
The article also mentions the story behind my comrade in arms in New York, War on Photography.
Jim Poulos, a train affecionado, has been told by officers in New York City that he was not allowed to take photographs in the Subway, when photography is explicitly permitted by an affirmative statute. Poulos has been collecting stories of photographers who have been wrongfully harassed by police at the War on Photography website.
The Phoenix cop eventually let them go with a “warning”.
While Nash-McAdam doesn’t think that this incident will keep him from visiting Downtown Phoenix in the future, he says that it has cemented his view that Phoenix is a “police state to me when held in comparison to my hometown of Orange County and the numerous other cities I’ve traveled to.”
Ya think?
Good thing I live in the sticks. I photograph everything.
ping
I’ve run into trouble photographing things when I’m out in public, before. I just turn “sneaky” then... LOL...
One time I was photographing Air Force One at Portland International Airport (PDX), from an adjacent open and public golf course, standing right along the fence line (on my side, the public side of it), from the Air National Guard base there.
I was shooting pictures of Air Force One and I spotted a vehicle with armed guards in it and one of them had binoculars on me... :-)
Then they drove over to me (on their side of the fence) and an armed military person got out, had his rifle strapped over his shoulder, one hand on it and said I had to stop photographing. I said I was on my side of the fence and it was public. He said I had to stop anyway. With his hand on the rifle, I just decided to put my camera down to my waist (had it strapped on my neck) and I swiveled the swing-out LCD screen so I could see it when looking down at the camera. So, I just kept taking pictures from my waist... LOL...
Some links for photographers in situations like that...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343369/posts
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/taking-pictures-on-l.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-08-11-photography-rights_x.htm
http://www.kantor.com/blog/2005/12/legal-rights-of-photographers/
http://digital-photography-school.com/photographers-rights-and-photography-privacy-advice
Download this and keep it in your wallet, camera bag, etc.
http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
Always be courteous but always be firm.
If we do not defend our rights we will loose them.
Thanks. Done.
I carry a gun b/c I can’t carry a cop. I carry a copy of the Constitution and photographer’s rights b/c I can’t carry a lawyer.
You said — “There will be many examples of our loss of freedom and the goon squad tactics that we will be subject to.”
—
Actually, this has been going on, in regards to photography in public, since the Bush Administration and the attack of 9/11... I know since I’ve been subject to it, numerous times, during the time of the Bush Administration...
I just point this out, to say that it’s not something that is isolated to the Obama Administration, although they are probably carrying it forward, from what they inherited from the Bush Administration.
You said — I carry a gun b/c I can’t carry a cop. I carry a copy of the Constitution and photographer’s rights b/c I can’t carry a lawyer.
—
And..., neither will keep those authorities from shooing you off from photographing things in public that you may want to do. You may have some recourse — after the fact — but, in the meantime, you will be prevented from doing the photography...
In the Soviet Union there are certain things you should not photograph. They are (long list), and bridges. Especially bridges. Never photograph a bridge under any circumstances. Don't even take along a photograph of your favorite bridge back home
We're already living in a police state and behaving as such.
You said — We’re already living in a police state and behaving as such.
—
Yeah, we’ve been going that way for quite a while, having nothing particularly to do with Democrat or Republican — as they both seem to be going the same direction...
“the cop told them to “Google it,””
how do you google anything while cuffed in the back of a police cruiser?
You might make it to the station house or you might not.
NWA said it first and said it best.... F the police!
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