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Miss Heather has a sigh-inducing story of police harassment on her site this week indicating that police still do not understand that taking pictures in public is not against the law. Or maybe they do know it's not against the law, but it'll still earn one detainment and a grilling. Was Miss Heather taking pictures of chemical facilities, rail junctions, bridges, or tunnels? No, she was taking shots of neighborhood Christmas decorations in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
P.O.: If you live in north Greenpoint, what are you doing here?Allegedly, someone called the police to report a suspicious character taking pictures on his or her block. We suppose a young woman in a Sanrio character hat taking pictures in broad daylight could be considered a possible cat burglar (a Miss Kitty burglar?) or something, casing the neighborhood.
Me: Taking pictures, is that against the law?
P.O.: No.
Me: Hausman Street always goes all-out with their Christmas decorations, I just got done taking pictures of them. Pretty days like today are going to become few and far between soon and I wanted to enjoy them while I can.Barney Fife looked at me like I had eight heads.
For the record, public photography is very legal and even survived a proposed licensing scheme earlier this year that stemmed from a lawsuit a Columbia University grad student filed against the city after he was handcuffed and detained for taking pictures of the city.
(Photo of 94 Precinct police car by Miss Heather, at Newyorkshitty.com)
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calm down, they only asked some questions, jeez.
Cops can ask me whatever they want as long as they f*** off soon after.
You will change your tune once you:
1. are detained for 10-15 minutes for doing NOTHING
2. queried by snotty, condescending police officer who seems to think he's the neighborhood hall monitor
3. have your identification shown to a bunch of undercover cops who pulled up in an unmarked police car
4. only to have them all drive (or as you like to put it "fuck") off before you can get their badge numbers.
If you think for one minute they won't do the same thing to you (or WORSE) you are fooling yourself. I hope you don't have to learn this the hard way.
You do know about the Civilian Complaint Review Board?
So, do these cops' boss know that they are so bored, that there's either no crime in the area or that these supercops have solved all the crimes, locked up all the bad guys, even tied up all the rabid dogs, so they have nothing better to do than harass people?
I think I'd call thier precinct, talk to their boss, and tell him or her, that there's these two very bored cops here...I'm sure you can think of something for them to do.
These idiots ever hear of that pesky thing called a Bill of Rights?
"calm down, they only asked some questions, jeez."
Hey, I'd fully expect to be stopped and questioned and asked for my papers, and to have to explain what my purpose was in having walked several blocks from my home... if not for the fact that I live in the USA.
Sue their ass, you cunt.
Flip them a couple of bucks and tell them to buy some coffee and doughnuts, keep the change and stop bothering you.
Needless to say, I won't be delivering a basket of x-mas cookies to the 94th Precinct this year.
Hey Toby von Meistersinger, your link is broken
a big thanks to anyone who can tell me who Hausman street is named after...seriously I've always been curious
There was a Charles Hausmann, who was a 1920s real estate developer who established Rego Park as a neighborhood. (Rego Park is an adaptation of the Real Good Construction Company that Hausmann owned with Henry Schloh). I can't find any connection between that development project in Queens, however, and the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn.
There was an urban planner named Haussmann, who worked for Napoleon Bonaparte and reorganized Paris into the City of Light by creating broad avenues and more open streets. Haussmann was a pioneer of urban planning, so it's possible that street namers bastardized his name in tribute, but in a more Americanized spelling. On short order, that's the best I could come up with. You've piqued my curiosity though.
This should work:
Civilian Complaint Review Board
A quick jab to the Adam's Apple followed by an eye gouge usually seems to put the pigs in their place.
does anyone have a link to a comprehensive list of rules of conduct for personal photography in NYC. I found the MTA website list here, but that won't help me on the street. i should probably start carrying something around in my camera bag. thank you. :)
i have dealings with some green point po po, bunch of nasty assholes.
Pik -
I carry a copy of this around:
The Photographer's Bill of Rights
Drawn up by an attorney and carried by almost everyone else I know who takes public photos on a regular basis.
Hope that helps!
I felt more like I was in the D.P.R.K. than the good ol’ U.S. of A.
In North Korea they would have taken you off the street, tortured you, sent you to a re-education camp, and possibly killed your family. Stop it.
I am not lover of the NYPD at all but this is blown way out of proportion.
This is most likely how it really went down...
An old Polish lady was startled when she saw someone out her window pointing a camera her way (right before she flies out for the holidays) she is concerned so she calls the police.
The police respond, and ask her what she is doing. Which is their job. She wasn't detained, detained means handcuffed and put in a squad car. She was asked some questions, and then instead of shutting up (which you should always do around cops) she asked the cop's questions that they didn't have to answer.
Why be so alarmist, there is genuine NYPD corruption to report on, not this.
87porshce. Thank you!
(sorry i forgot to close my link folks.)
don't let the man get you down.
"She wasn't detained, detained means handcuffed and put in a squad car."
No, detained means detained. Stopped from continuing unabated on your way, so that police can talk to you. In this case, it was what is known as a "limited investigation," allowable legally under the guidelines established in Terry v. Ohio. In a "Terry Stop" anyone can be detained briefly if there's a "reasonable suspiction" that they could be involved in commission of a crime. That is, it's a lower barrier than an arrest, which involves not "reasonable suspicion" but "probable cause."
She was detained and questioned, then released.
Not to back up the police on all matters, but if someone called in a "suspicious-person" call, the folks who caught the call are obligated to respond & give a disposition. They come by, someone taking pictures, OK, have a nice day, call unfounded, closed call.
Alternate scenario, susp-pers call, blown off, order of protection violated, kid kidnapped or spouse killed. They get a call, they gotta go. You can't have it both ways.
Dadoc
Dave - Thanks for the info on Hausman -perhaps its named for Charles Hausmann from Rego Park -
Some more info, apparently it was originally Wasington or George washington street but was renamed somepoint in the century cause that name was used for a number of different streets.
i'm willing to bet this woman gave attitude first, then the cops got in her face. i have seen this method a lot... be cordial and you will usually get the same.