A self-described train enthusiast took it upon himself to test the people who work for New Jersey Transit on if they know their own photo policy. Pretty uneventful, except for a PATH police officer who gets a little handsy and invokes the Patriot Act.
PATH Police: You’re in a train station here, OK?
Guy: OK.
PATH Police: It is part of the Patriot Act if you want to look it up you can, OK?
I can’t find where it says you can’t film train stations in the Patriot Act. The PATH does have its own policy barring photography, which is outrageous considering it is a public entity. (I know firsthand because I was ordered to stop taking photos of my nephew in a PATH station.) It’d just be nice if these people knew the laws regarding their jobs, though.
As part of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit against the federal government stemming from the Antonio Musumeci incident, they were given the above directive. It states that photographers are allowed to photograph federal buildings nationwide, and the NYCLU is encouraging photographers to carry it with them in the event they come across a problem.
The three-page bulletin reminds officers, agents and employees that, “absent reasonable suspicion or probable cause,” they “must allow individuals to photograph the exterior of federally owned or leased facilities from publicly accessible spaces” like streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas. Even when there seems to be reason to intercede and conduct a “field interview,” the directive says:
Officers should not seize the camera or its contents, and must be cautious not to give such ‘orders’ to a photographer to erase the contents of a camera, as this constitutes a seizure or detention.
UPDATE: There have been comments on the web stating you have to provide personal information or log into Facebook in order to download the federal directive. We haven’t had time to look into the matter, but if the claims are true, that is unacceptable. Which, is why we’re providing the directive here for you to download as much as you want free of Big Brother’s prying eyes.
People in Illinois are looking at fifteen years if they audio-record police activity. Or should I say “still looking”? Because the Illinois Eavesdropping Act makes recording someone in public without their consent a felony. Last year the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the law, but a few weeks ago Federal Judge Suzanne Conlon dismissed it, saying there is no First Amendment protections there.
Although law-enforcement officials can legally record civilians in private or public, audio-recording a law-enforcement officer, state’s attorney, assistant state’s attorney, attorney general, assistant attorney general or judge in the performance of his or her duties is a Class 1 felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
As Reason magazine’s Radley Balko writes, unfortunately, “the law is used almost exclusively against people who attempt to record on-duty police officers.”
While absurd, this makes some sort of sense because allowing citizens to record police activity would likely cause all kinds of grief for that very jackbooted state that is known to be very corrupt.
“I think there are those that help and those who…who take pictures.”
This video, made by Australian photographer Stephen Dupont, is a few years old, but still as relevant as ever considering people are losing their lives every day in the ongoing war in Afghanistan.
This week, a photographer named Brian W. Green got accosted in the Boston subway for taking photos. Here’s the conversation, from his blog seeyouinsleep.com:
Driver – “it is very rude to take my photo and i dont like that”
I felt it was better to just ignore her since it was 12:30 at night and i was a few stops away from home. Well at the next stop a security officer for the MBTA got on board and this is kinda how that went.
Him – “are you taking photos of the driver”
Me – “no -holds out camera- you can gladly look at what i have been taking photos of”
Him – “could u step off the train and talk to me”
Me – “no i told you im not taking photos of her and i have offered to show you if thats not enough then so be it”
at that point he picks up his walkie talkie and tells his dispatcher that he might need boston police.
Me – “just look, -Holds out camera-“
Him – “no thats ok i do not need to see your camera but are you sure you were not taking photos of her”
Me – ” yes im pretty fucking sure i know what im taking photos of”
at that point i got off the train and went to the second car.
So, what’s up, Boston? Don’t tell me you’re joining the ranks of other ignorant cities (New York, Washington, LA) that needlessly harass photographers on public transit.
Woody Marshall, a photographer for the Macon Telegraph, was covering Georgia State Sen. Robert Brown’s press conference in late December in Macon City, GA, when a large goon unexpectedly attacked him, slamming him into a wall and knocking him down. (See the video here.) All the while, the attacker is yelling, “Better calm down!”
The man has been identified as Malik Brown, but Sen. Brown said he was not a relative or staff member and was not authorized to beat any reporters to a pulp. (I’m paraphrasing.) Interesting, though, that a man with the name Brown would arrive and leave with the senator’s group and the senator has no knowledge of who he is. Hmmm.
Malik Brown was later identified as the son of one of Sen. Brown’s loyal supporters, C.J. Brown. They are not related to the senator, but C.J. Brown considers them to be like “brothers.” So, yes, Sen. Brown does know who Malik Brown is. Malik and C.J. Brown, as well as an aide who answered the phone at Sen. Brown’s office, claimed Marshall antagonized the senator.
Malik Brown has been charged with simple assault and battery.
While legally filming a TSA enhanced screening pat-down at Nashville International Airport I was confronted by an Airport Police Officer and told to stop filming. The officer later removed my iPhone from my hands, despite my protests, saying “I don’t need a warrant.”
When TSA officials told him I was within my rights to shoot footage of the checkpoint, he gave the phone back to me. As I was leaving, TSA agents insisted that I could not show the footage without their permission, which is false.
This occurred at Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tenn., Monday November 22, 2010. at 5:30pm CT.
ALSO: Blogger/photographer Steven Frischling writes that he was harassed by the TSA at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT. While photographing TSA checkpoints, he was stopped by a Connecticut State Trooper who informed him that “photographing a TSA security checkpoint was illegal, and specifically a ‘Federal Offense.'”
Frischling knows his rights, though and informed said trooper specifically that, “the TSA publicly states that photography of checkpoints is legal, with limited restrictions.” (Uh….just how do you think all those photos of celebs going through airport security get into Us Weekly?!) The officer accused Frischling of hiding and concealing his camera, then detained him, and then another plainsclothes TSA employee in some unidentified capacity showed up — which is when Frischling speed-dialed the TSA communications office.
Less than 20 minutes after I was told I was being detained and that I was not free to leave the terminal the TSA agent approached the State Trooper, whispered something in the Trooper’s ear and I was quickly apologized to … with that both the TSA agent and the Trooper quickly leaving me alone.
The TSA has a major image problem right now, if you hadn’t heard. They’re already treading on a perilously thin line, quickly heading into invasion-of-privacy territory. So you’d think they’d train their officers, employees and the state police that work the airports of their clearly stated photography regulations. And maybe then those TSA personnel could instead focus on feeling up passengers.
Have you ever wondered who are the ones watching the watchmen?
Well, it’s people like Jacob Crawford of CopWatch in San Francisco, who learn the hard way that the watchmen do not like being watched and will do anything to blind your prying eyes.
Such as this unidentified female officer who attacked and unlawfully detained Crawford for videotaping her and asking questions that she refused to respond to but is legally obligated to answer. The officer also claimed, “You can’t film people who don’t want to be filmed,” after Crawford was handcuffed, lying face-down in the street, and surrounded by other cops.
Just so you know, former undercover officer, we can film you—and people like Jacob Crawford are going to continue watching you with their cameras. So get used to your newfound viral glory because our cameras are everywhere—actually protecting and serving the public.
More important, your actions were criminal, and if you weren’t a cop, you would be spending the night in jail with the other criminals.
Here’s Crawford’s account of what happened:
“On November 18th I was assaulted by Plain Clothes Officers. We started off our shift at 16th in Mission in Sf by seeing several strange people. I assumed them to be plain clothes officers because I could see vests under their shirts. When they refused to identify themselves I wondered whether indeed these were “on the job” cops. Many cities around the country are known for having rogue units that take the “law” into their own hands, or are involved in organized crime. As I questioned a woman on her involvement she grabbed my camera and ran at me. From all directions came men who neither identified themselves as cops or gave orders. I assumed I was getting attacked, and I was unsure of by who. As I ran into 16th street two cops cars pulled up with lights on, it was at that point that I stopped and let the arriving officers take me down. Within seconds they could see that the move was faulty, and they released me with no charge[.]”
boywithgrenade.org 