Photography and securityPhotographers and security personnel fight over access to buildings
In the years after 9/11 and the 7 July 2005 London bombings, photographers have been waging a war with security personnel of public and private buildings; photographers argue that anything that one can see from the street can be photographed, even if it is a privately owned building, but security people – both private and the police – are worried about terrorists gathering information for a possible attack
In the years after 9/11 and the 7 July 2005 London bombings, photographers have been waging a war with security of public and private buildings. This video, for example, shows first-hand some of the arguments, even scuffles, which have taken place between the two groups.
The issues is that some photographers are taking shots of public buildings and getting hassled by private security personnel — who are not enforcing the law, but rather the concerns of the building owners.
In most cases if you are on public property, anything that you view from that vantage point can be photographed, even if it is a privately owned building. The video, however, shows otherwise.
WBEZ reports that one self-described amateur photographer said security personnel from the Boeing HQ, 100 N. Riverside Plaza, tried to stop him from photographing the building even though he was standing on a public sidewalk across the street from the skyscraper. “That overreached a little bit,” he said. “I let them know.”
Many private security firms as well as police in many metropolitan areas are doing this to prevent terrorists from effectively scouting a target they could potentially attack. The issues photographers and security have do not seem to have affected tourists or families taking photographs, as there has been very little mainstream complaints about the actions and potential violations of citizen’s rights.
As is often the case with the issue of security and civil rights, there is both good and bad. A photographer from Chicago who gave his name as David S. told WBEZ that an Indiana sheriff spotted him photographing a theater and ended up giving him and his girlfriend a tour of the place, “including a visit to the projection room and swatch of the original screen.”
The same photographer also talked of a bad experience he had while trying to take pictures of building in Detroit.
“I was [recently] photographing houses [in Detroit] that may be demolished to make way for a new bridge when I was surrounded by private security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Detroit Police officers,” David S. said. “All of the officers started at a high tension level, challenging my proximity to major industrial sites and arguing I was threatening national security. After numerous threats of lengthy detention and then jail — not to mention demands to see my camera — they abruptly left, apparently satisfied that I was on the up and up.”
