Originally Posted by
poprad
One addendum; most states declare that photography is legal as long as the pic is being taken from publicly accessible property. This varies a bit state to state, but even standing on the sidewalk with a 500mm zoom taking shots through your open window is legal. Note the difficulty dealing with the whole paparazzi issue.
I ran into this issue several times as a police officer, and in each case had to explain to the aggrieved party that the law says it's ok, and that there's nothing I could do in the law to rectify the situation. This is, in fact, used by pedophiles on occassion, but there's harrassment statutes cops can use in such cases.
I completely concur with knowing one's rights. As a amateur photo hound on occassion I've been taken to task by over-eager security guards and had to explain that I was within my rights (there' s gorgeous abandoned old railway building in Portland that had a known over anxious Paul Blart type who would shout at you through the fence to show him your camera or he'd call the cops). I always delete a pic if asked; I'd rather defuse than be "right." Still, that guy who called the cops to deal with such a stupid issue? Nope. I'd have told him to pound sand and asked the cop (politely) for the statute. You'll always know if a cop is hedging by his response. If he gets bent about being questioned on the existence of a law in a non-violent suituation there's bigger problems afoot.
Being a citizen is sometimes standing your ground when you're right and it makes sense.
Originally Posted by
Lascauxcaveman
Depends a lot on the cop and the beat. If it's an area that is experiencing a lot of bike thefts, and the police are taking a lot of flack about "not doing anything about it" (as if they really could), then the cop probably wanted to go through the motions of checking out the photog's driver's license to appear to be responsive to the plaintiff. It's dumb, but it gets guys like that off their backs if they can make it look like they're trying. Kills the time 'til the end of their shift.
I think these are both great posts. There are fights that have to be fought - but a lot of the time it's more sensible to let it go. If you do fight that fight, I think it's typically done AFTER the incident. The police have so much power in an on scene stop/incident, and the potential consequences for them of making a non-truly egregious error are so slight, that I think standing up for your rights during the incident is generally a mistake. There are police in Philly who have beaten people over cameras who were never disciplined. You smile, do what they say and talk to their supervisor/escalate as needed the next day.
I'm glad there are groups like the ACLU who sued the Philly Police over their offensive behavior regarding cameras and videos. I might not agree with everything they do, but I'm glad they are around. The ACLU is directly responsible for retraining regarding cameras/videos and directives to the department that actually comply with common sense and civil rights.