Overzealous police and security guards

[Michael]

I was reading Carlos Miller's blog, Photography is not a Crime, and saw a post about some celebrity photogs who were assaulted and arrested by security guards on a public walkway in California. I was curious as to what the reaction of this community was to incidents like this. Have you ever been detained or questioned by security guards or police for shooting?

I personally have been questioned by police on almost every time I shoot in a city at night, but the conversations generally last only a minute. One exception was when a sherrif stopped while I was shooting portraits of a friend on an overpass at 11 pm. After I showed him my images, he was impressed, and we had an impromptu shoot of him with moving car lights behind him.
What have your experiences been like?

The blog post can be found here:
http://carlosmiller.com/2010/03/01/cele ... ty-guards/

[Chris-T-Photography]

Yes I have absolutely been stopped by police(guards) before. But then again I was Trespassing on Gov'T property......I don't think there is any photog who hasn't been atleast questioned before. I think it's just part of it.

[Taallyn]

Luckily the only time I get stopped is when people ask "who", as in newpaper/magazine, I'm working for. This usually happens when I have the battery grip on my camera and am using the telephoto lens. I haven't been stopped by officers/security guards yet. The only encounter with a security guard I've had was at my previous place of employment. The guard knew I worked in the building and offered to give me access to the roof anytime I wanted to shoot the skyline. I lost my job there latter that same week so was never able to take him up on it unfortunately.

Officers generally are just trying to protect the public. They may be misinformed about photographers at times, but I have not encountered any that didn't approach their jobs with the utmost professionalism. While our first instinct maybe to jump up and down and make a fuss about our rights, being too animated about the situation or jumping to conclusions can and will escalate the situation beyond the initial questions. It doesn't take much to get a legitimate charge of resisting an officer or similar leveled on you if you start off being aggressive about the situation. Being calm, forthright, and honest has always worked the best for me. Officers are professionals just like most other people. They are not right 100% of the time, but being a jerk toward them as they do their job is not a very professional or trust-inducing attitude.

[JohnB]

Luckily the only time I get stopped is when people ask "who", as in newpaper/magazine, I'm working for. This usually happens when I have the battery grip on my camera and am using the telephoto lens. I haven't been stopped by officers/security guards yet. The only encounter with a security guard I've had was at my previous place of employment. The guard knew I worked in the building and offered to give me access to the roof anytime I wanted to shoot the skyline. I lost my job there latter that same week so was never able to take him up on it unfortunately.

Officers generally are just trying to protect the public. They may be misinformed about photographers at times, but I have not encountered any that didn't approach their jobs with the utmost professionalism. While our first instinct maybe to jump up and down and make a fuss about our rights, being too animated about the situation or jumping to conclusions can and will escalate the situation beyond the initial questions. It doesn't take much to get a legitimate charge of resisting an officer or similar leveled on you if you start off being aggressive about the situation. Being calm, forthright, and honest has always worked the best for me. Officers are professionals just like most other people. They are not right 100% of the time, but being a jerk toward them as they do their job is not a very professional or trust-inducing attitude.

I agree with you, for the most part. Most officers are professional about their jobs. There are a small handful who are on power trips, but that's not a problem exclusive to the police profession. I'll be willing to wager that most of the times that a celebrity "photographer" encounters problems with the police are because they believe they their celebrity status puts them above the law.

I had one encounter. A friend and I were downtown one evening taking photos and we inadvertently ended up in front of a bank. An employee came out and asked us what we were doing and was concerned that we were out there waiting to get in the door left unlocked for the cleaning people. We didn't even realize we were in front of a bank! She called the police and an officer stopped and asked us what we were doing. He happened to enjoy the photography hobby as well and smugly reported that he was a Nikon guy! He was nice and it was a pleasant experience. I kind of wished he had stayed and chatted a little longer. Oh well.

[jrome]

It was somewhat entertaining reading through these. I haven't been stopped by police for anything photography related, but then again I'm mostly out of the city when I'm doing any photography.