Not much better in the UK,I was removed from my local station under threat of arrest for trespass whe trying to photo a steam charter. A very nasty letter was sent to the operating company,no reply as yet.
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Had the same thing happen to me at Burns Harbor Indiana a few years back,scares the heck out of you,but Its better to just move on like you did and enjoy the day somewhere else. The cops are wrong,but its not worth the fight.
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The simplest and most effective thing to do in this situation is to NOT say something as short as "I'm watching trains," but say something along the lines of, "One of my hobbies is photographing trains and this is a neat photo location. Would you like to see the photos I've taken today?" Show a little personality and people will understand. Just be nice. If that doesn't work, then go on the defensive.
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It's a shame that the terrorists are winning when we get our basic freedoms trampled on like this. Can't take pictures near and airport either. Photographing big buildings could get you harassed too. Just keep taking cool pictures like this one and be courteous when necessary.
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It probably didn't help when you told them you were on a public sidewalk and had the right to take pictures. Those kind of comments tend to make the situation worse.
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In a response to Jeff Jordan's comments, I don't really see how it could have been made worse short of him tasering me...
If the cop right off the bat assumes that camera + scanner = guy who's going to shoot a cop in broad daylight, then its unlikely he is willing to listen to me. I have my rights and im going to make it known that I know them.
In response to Christopher Anderson's comment, yes that's what I have done in the past but this guy as I have explained was very hostile and not in the slightest willing to listen to explanations. Another LEO I had a run in with earlier this year was willing to let me explain the whole hobby, and I gladly did so down to why I wanted a picture of the Conrail locomotive, he was perplexed still but understood I wasn't doing anything wrong. If the LEO is nice about it, ill act the same, if you treat law abiding citizens like criminals don't expect any respect.
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Hey Nikos, it appears you took that photo from a bridge. For some strange reason, a lot of cops get weirded out about photographers on bridges. Kind of silly if you ask me. Nice shot. :-)
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| Posted by on May 19, 2010 | |
It troubles me that out of the five people who have responded above me, one thinks it's not 'worth the fight' to stand up for your rights and another seems to believe that the photographer here made the situation worse by pointing out that he was within his rights to be doing what he was doing. Personally, I may have stayed on that bridge longer than I had planned had the same thing happened to me. Nikos, there should be a police report somewhere on that, esp. if he called for back up. I'd say there has to be paperwork somewhere and I would call the nearest station and ask. Someone somewhere knows the officers involved. If nothing else, contact the police chief or your city council man and get them on it.
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I guess you all know where I stand on this issue. I have a wonderful image in the database of the last LEO that hassled me while "watch"in trains" and instead of complaining, I made him famous. Rest on your rights folks and you loose them. Cops giving you trouble while on a public sidewalk? Shoot images of the cops then go and file a formal complaint with their department and be sure to use your real name. There is no surer way to make this happen to you again, than to do nothing.
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