From :
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/nyregion/18about.html?_r=3
"No Photo Ban in Subways, Yet an Arrest"
By JIM DWYER
Published: February 17, 2009
In the map of New Yorks most forsaken places, it would be hard to
top the Freeman Street stop on the No. 2 line in the Bronx, late on a
February afternoon. Around 4:30 last Thursday, Robert Taylor stood on
the stations elevated platform, taking a picture of a train.
A few buildings in place, he noted. Nice little cloud cover
overhead. I usually use them as wallpaper on my computer.
Finished with his camera, Mr. Taylor, 30, was about to board the
train when a police officer called to him. He stepped back from the
train.
The cop wanted my ID, and I showed it to him, Mr. Taylor said. He
told me I couldnt take the pictures. I told him thats not true,
that the rules permitted it. He said I was wrong. I said, Im
willing to bet your paycheck.
Mr. Taylor was right. The officer was enforcing a nonexistent rule.
And if recent experience is any guide, one paycheck wont come close
to covering what a wrongful arrest in this kind of case could cost
the taxpayers.
Twice in the last five years, the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority proposed a ban on photography in the subways as an
antiterrorism measure. And in 2007, the city proposed severe
restrictions on filming in the city streets, but retreated when
visual artists and activists gathered 26,000 signatures on petitions
of opposition within a few weeks.
Both times that the transportation authority tried to ban
photography, it, too, dropped the idea because of opposition. Even
so, people taking pictures in the subways are regularly stopped by
the police and asked to let the officers see their images or to
delete them.
They dont have to do that, and its completely unlawful to ask them
to delete them, said Chris Dunn, a lawyer with the New York Civil
Liberties Union. But it comes with the explicit or implicit threat
of arrest. Its a constant problem.
Mr. Taylor a college student and an employee of a transportation
agency that he did not want to identify said he had been stopped
before when taking pictures, but without problems.
Not this time.
I said, According to the rules of conduct, we are allowed to take
pictures, Mr. Taylor said. I showed him the rules theyre
bookmarked on my BlackBerry.
Rule 1050.9 (c) of the state code says, Photography, filming or
video recording in any facility or conveyance is permitted except
that ancillary equipment such as lights, reflectors or tripods may
not be used.
Then a police sergeant arrived.
He tells me that their rules and the transit rules are different,
Mr. Taylor said. I tell him, If you feel Im wrong, give me a
summons and Ill see everyone in court. The sergeant told them to
arrest me.
In handcuffs, Mr. Taylor was delivered to the Transit District 12
police station, and a warrant check was run. They were citing 9/11,
said Mr. Taylor, whose encounter was described on a blog by the
photographer Carlos Miller. Of course, 9/11 is serious. I said:
Lets be real. Were in the Bronx on the 2 train. Lets be for real
here. Come on.
Before he was uncuffed, he got a batch of summonses.
The first was for taking photos from the s/b plat of incoming
outgoing trains without authority to do so, abbreviating southbound
platform. It cited Rule 1050.9 (c).
The second was for disorderly conduct, which consisted of addressing
the officers in an unreasonable voice.
And the third was for impeding traffic on a platform that is
about 10,000 square feet. I dont know if you can impede traffic
with 15 people per hour coming on the station, Mr. Taylor said.
LAST year, the city settled a lawsuit with a medical student who was
using his vacation to photograph every subway stop. He got through
five before an officer handcuffed him and detained him for about 20
minutes. With legal fees, the cost to the city was $31,501 more
than $1,500 a minute.
In the case of Mr. Taylor, the officers misinterpreted the rules
concerning photography, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Departments
chief spokesman. The Transit Adjudication Board is being notified
that summons was issued in error, resulting in its dismissal.
However, the police will press on with charges of impeding traffic
and unreasonable noise, Mr. Browne said.
For his part, Mr. Taylor said he was late meeting his girlfriend: It
wasnt a pleasant sight. I said, Ill make it up to you. What else
could I say?
Thanks to the police, they might end up with more than a nice dinner
or two at taxpayer expense.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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