Run in with the police

[Iguanasan]

Just had my first photography related incident with the police. After coming home from work tonight my wife wanted to run a couple of errands (she doesn't drive) so I drove her down to the drug store and while I was waiting in the car I pulled out my camera (always have it on me) and took a few snaps.

My wife came out and we drove off to run a few more errands. When I pulled into my driveway a police car pulled in behind me and the officer asked to talk with me. Someone, apparently, had written down my license plate and called the police with a report that I was taking pictures of women bending over.

The officer was polite and I answered his questions - gave him one of my Moo cards. We had a little laugh about the crazy things people call them about and after he made a few notes he drove away.

I chose not to get belligerent but I do have to wonder why the police would not have simply told the woman that there is nothing illegal about taking pictures in a public place - regardless of the subject. And no, MA, before you ask, I was not taking pictures of women bending over!

[kat]

Wow. I do that too when we go places and the husband has to go in!!! Kind of shocked in a way but then again. You know what though..Dr Phil had a show about people taking photos of peoples butts this week (or late last week) wouldn't surprise me if this person watched that show!!!

[casil403]

Not too long ago a dude was arrested at The Bay for taking pictures up womens' skirts in the shoe aisle. He had a miniature camera and was perusing the shoes. A women reported him to security when she noticed his odd behavior of trying to get close to her and manoevering his shoe close to her dress.

I'm not saying you were doing anything suspicious Iggy and I'm not even remotely trying to compare you to this creep at The Bay.
However I can sort of understand why someone might in this day of perverts, wierdos, mini and cell phone cameras call the cops if they thought they saw something that looked suspicious in their opinion.

Just my 2/100 of a $1.

[Iguanasan]

And that's one of the reason's why I was co-operative rather than being an a-hole. I don't quite understand how I am compared with people like that though when I'm sitting in a car 40 feet from my nearest possible "victim" with a little point and shoot camera.

I agree with kat. This person is a Dr. Phil fan!

[casil403]

Gosh..I hope you don't think I was trying to compare you.... Honestly....I wasn't.

People are people and who knows what they're reasoning was...I know I've called the cops in my neighbourhood for all sorts of things...cars parked and running in my parkade at 2am (turns out it was prostitutes and Johns in the midst of transactions).... people openly dealing and smoking crack and meth in the park across the street...if it looks suspicious, I call....but that's me.

I find tho' with the cops, you're right..it's best just to cooperate and be cool...being an a** hole will usually turn them into the same.

[Iguanasan]

Gosh..I hope you don't think I was trying to compare you.... Honestly....I wasn't.

No. Not at all - rest assured. I'm just saying that I don't even understand why the person who called was so suspicious of me. If I was behaving a bit strange and hiding in the bushes (or sneaking my foot underneath a dress) then I would understand it. I was simply sitting in the car shooting a few pics through the windshield.

[casil403]

I have a picture in my head of the person...some eighty year old blue-haired spinster nosey parker type...probably calls the cops on a daily basis.

OMG sounds like me in about 40 years...lol!

[kat]

Ha ha.

[Mad Aussie]

Wow. I do that too when we go places and the husband has to go in!!!

If Iggy isn't allowed to shoot people bending over then neither are you!

If you too must shoot bums do what Michael and I do ... shoot birdies butts so nobody thinks you are weird!!

[mindforge]

At least the officer understood. I have been in an incident that led to a formal apology, twice. Once because of a security guard and the other time, very recently, because of a police officer. I always carry a copy of my rights as a photographer so I can hand them to people that question what I am doing and to inform them of my rights.

Let us say you were taking pictures of the woman bending over. In the United States, that would be legal. You can take a picture of the person running down the road naked. I think the one stipulation in this case would be if you were trying to portray her as something she was not.

I walk around with my camera everywhere. My wife is even worse, my wife loves taking pictures of people on the street doing stuff. I was downtown the other day taking pictures of people and I was approached by a police officer that asked that I stop because people think I am taking pictures of young girls. One, I wanted to ask "What's wrong with that?" But, I was not taking pictures of young girls, I love taking pictures of kids at play, it is difficult to capture true happiness in an image but you can with a couple of kids at play. But, there were no kids where I was, I was actually looking for someone to shadow for a couple blocks. I wanted to start a series where I followed someone for 5-10 minutes with a camera each day.

Ok. So, the police officer. He asks to see my images, I told him it was a film camera. It was. He wanted to take my film or my camera. So I set my bag down and asked him if I could go into my bag, he said yes. I got a copy of my photographers rights...

He wanted to confiscate my film or my camera, my choice. So, I rewound my film, took it out, labeled it and asked him to make sure he took care of it. I also asked for his card and a way to contact his superiors about a violation of my constitutional rights. I did not threaten a lawsuit or anything, I was just getting the information I needed. He looked a little worried. I also talked to the people nearby that witnessed it and got names and numbers of three of them.

When I got home, I contacted the newspaper. Then I started calling police phone numbers. Two days later the article ran in the smaller newspaper in town, not the main one. I was contacted by phone the next day and on the other end was the community liaison for the police. He apologized, asked how he could return the film to me. At the time, I had talked to one lawyer, he is my friend. We had talked and I was thinking of suing the police department for a violation of my constitutional rights. The community liaison asked me if I had contacted or wanted to take legal action. I said I was currently talking to a lawyer about how to go about this issue.

To shorten the story, I got a full apology from the officer and my son got to ride around in a cop car, with me in the back. No lawsuit. Didn't want to waste the energy. I have talked to that officer a couple more times, alright guy. Come to find out, he walks his patrol, is really into environmental issues and likes art a lot.

Do one thing. Carry a copy (several) of the photographers rights with your camera bag.