Illegal Photo
As I was taking this photo an undercover police car pulled up next to me, lights flashing... "What are you doing?" the officer asked. I replied "Oh just taking a photo of the bridge" expecting them to say "Ah I see - carry on", but oh no...
"What the hell? You can't take photos of the bridge - its
illegal!"
"llegal? I didn't know."
"What's your address?"
"Erm, I'm staying in a hostel."
"A what?"
"A hostel."
(Taking the mickey out of my English accent) "Oh a hostel you mean a hotel?"
"Well its like a hotel."
"How many photos have you taken of the bridge?"
"Er quite a few I think."
"Give me your camera..."
I dutifully handed it over, and they started going through my photographs.
2nd cop to 1st "Jesus! Have you seen how many photos of the bridge he's got - hundreds."
"What the hell! This is highly illegal! There are signs up saying
'no photography' all over the bridge."
"What? I didn't see any - everyone was taking photos, its a
tourist attraction. I'm a tourist!"
"What you're a TERRORIST?!"
"No I said TOURIST not terrorist."
"What country are you from?"
"England"
"Ha! England that's a terrorist country!"
"What?"
...To 2nd cop "Delete the photos!"
2nd cop "I already am - this is highly suspicious, he has photos
of the subway too."
Me: "Woah! Don't delete all of them. Please don't delete my
Alaska photos!"
The officers went through my camera and deleted photos they deemed to be suspicious - most of them as it turned out - and continued their aggressive questioning. They told me I was a terrorist suspect and asked "Do you know what we do to terrorist suspects?" He laughed when I ventured "Prison?", and I thought "Oh yeah - you can't imprison somebody for being a suspect" so I tried "erm - interrogation?" "HAHA!! interrogation? Are you mad?"
"No we shoot them on the spot." he made a gun to head gesture with his hand and the 2nd cop said "Nobody's gonna come looking. Nobody knows, nobody cares, and we can cover it up anyway. Did you know we already executed 6 this month?" I wanted to say "I think quite a few people would care if you executed an English tourist for taking a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge", but thought better of it.
"Er no"
Understandably I was getting pretty worried by this point, and they went mental when they saw I had a photo of an NYPD car "Well it's iconic of New York!" Of course to them it was just plain illegal and suspicious "You're taking photos of our security forces" "I'm sorry! I'm sorry - delete it!" When they saw I had a photo of an aeroplane they asked me repeatedly if I had fantasied about blowing it up with a bazooka.
Well I thought I might be in for a trip to the station, but they returned my camera, took my address and told me they were putting me on a terrorist register and if I was caught taking photos again I'd be deported and barred from entry to America forever. I should have taken their details and reported them, but I was just so gobsmacked and relieved that they were leaving I didn't do anything.
What they didn't account for though was me being a big geek and my fancy new VAIO having a memory card reader which I used to recover the data. I got most of the images back, but not all of them.
Afterward the incident I was pretty pissed. I didn't know this was a
police state! Maybe in China or somewhere I'd have been careful, but
photographing the Brooklyn Bridge? Probably the most photographed
bridge in the world. No, I thought that was fine. I Googled around and
found some similar reports, so was glad to not be the only victim:
www.vividlight.com/Articles/3802.htm
www.nyclu.org/sharma_pr_080706.html
www.villagevoice.com/news/0309,cotts,42136,6.html
www.beckleyworks.com/2006/11/02/nypd-lies-to-prevent-lega...
It's not illegal to take photographs of the bridge or on the subway, photography is protected by the first amendment, and there aren't any 'no photography' signs on the bridge as the officers had claimed.
My mum says its probably time I shaved the beard though.
Comments and faves
Bullneck added this photo to his favorites. (67 months ago)
narciscizzors (67 months ago | reply)
If this little story of yours is true, the likes of which are becoming ever more common, then I must apologize for such absurdity, on the behalf of those Americans who sacrifice freedom for security. Cowards. But what can you expect from a country in the middle of it's downward spiral?
narciscizzors added this photo to their favorites. (67 months ago)
RobOldfield (67 months ago | reply)
Tailban Wallis....hummm I best stay away from that militant hotspot othat is the New Forest.
Benedict W (66 months ago | reply)
I know Rob: Osama Ben Laden. I've had them all...
Benedict W (66 months ago | reply)
Narciscizzors: Fortunately I met enough friendly, interesting, and [shock] liberal Americans for this incident to have not completely jaded my view of the states.
mezzography (59 months ago | reply)
AGGHHGHH! Stories like this just make my blood boil! I'm so sorry that you had to go through this. It's absolutely ridiculous and vile. Yeah, please don't let these effing bastards ruin America for you. I promise there are SOME intelligent people somewhere.
I hope you added your name to the Petition to NY against the bans on photography. Tell everyone you can!
www.pictureny.org/petition/index.php
David Russell (58 months ago | reply)
You should have never turned your camera over to them. Glad you recovered most of the photographs.
v1rotate (51 months ago | reply)
Call a lawyer. You have a cause of action against these pricks for destroying your property.
emmeaki (51 months ago | reply)
It's a shame that these fucking morons are allowed to carry guns!
Montag007, arvindgrover, and Cynthia lin added this photo to their favorites.
lipids (30 months ago | reply)
I call bullshit. As a resident of NYC this story makes me extremely suspicious. I think you story is exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Unless of course you happened to get a sound recording of your conversation I doubt you remembered what was said word for word. Your story just seems a bit to hokey to me.
I appreciate that you may have been the victim of stupid cop questioning. I even believe they deleted your photos. However, I seriously doubt they threatened to kill you.
I am just as unhappy as you about my right getting stomped on by fascist dicks, but I don't lie to support my case.
PeacockDesigns (27 months ago | reply)
sometimes ,,, cops screw with ya ;o) especially in two's ,, they like to play off each other to see how far they can make the absurd stick. LOL
hqmurphy (2 months ago | reply)
Did you see a badge? Methinks you were punk'd by some city sickers. Once while stuck in a very slow moving lane on the 59th street bridge, I found my car and another car (with a couple of guidos in it), attempted to occupy the same space. Unpleasantries were exchanged, I extended the phallic hand, and the driver made a show of flipping open his wallet and told me to "pull over, Police"!
I admit to falling for this completely, until they both started laughing. It can happen to anyone.