Been Hassled Lately?

Upon receiving the below email (in italics below), I provided my experience.

Something very similar just happened to me 2 weeks ago:

I was roaming the streets of Chicago with my new lens.  It was nearing dusk, and I had been walking around for hours, photographing anything that moved me.  I came upon an entrance/exit ramp in the back of a building.  The parking lot lights were crossing each other's beams, creating dueling shapes on the cement and illuminating two bright yellow arrows pointing this way and that in such an aesthetically pleasing way.  I just had to photograph it.  Not even five seconds from my lifting my camera to my face did a cop pull up and get in my face. 

"May I see some ID?" he said sternly, followed by, "may I ask why you're photographing this building?"  So I told him the truth, that I enjoy photographing urban landscapes and interesting angles and lighting.  I then proceeded to flip through all the photos I had taken that day to show him--proof that I had no ulterior motives, i.e. casing the joint for a future robbery.  He looked at me as if I had just come from the cuckoo's nest. 

After checking my name and address in his smart car, he enlightened me as to what I was photographing: the neighborhood police station.  Nice. 

I have the utmost respect for law enforcement officers.  And there's a certain level of security I feel as a result of not only this incident, but all the heightened security measures nowadays.  However, I really wanted to take that picture!

Adam

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Concerns over security can sometimes make law enforcement officers, security guards, and even private citizens get carried away. A number of government agencies have been encouraging citizens to report “suspicious behaviors,” and one of the specific activities often listed as suspicious is photography. By way of specific example, the LAPD has issued an Order listing 65 suspicious behaviors that LAPD officers are required to report, and one of them is taking pictures or video footage “with no apparent esthetic value.”

ASMP is working with the ACLU to try to combine security with some basic common sense and fairness. To do that, we need to provide as many concrete examples as possible of photographers being stopped, questioned, harassed or even detained for just taking photographs. If this has happened to you some time over the past three years or so, please send an email to me at perlman@asmp.org or just reply to this message. Please put “SAR” in the subject line (the police acronym for “Suspicious Activity Reporting”) and let me have a description of what you were doing, what happened, where it took place, the approximate date of the incident, and its outcome. I will then pass the information along to the ACLU. If you wish to have your anecdote remain anonymous, please let me know that in the email.

Many thanks for your assistance, and thank you all for your being members of ASMP,
Vic

From Victor S. Perlman General Counsel & Managing Director of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers)