All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Photographing Public Buildings

Robrt on 2002-11-17T03:07:19

I was at the doggy place today photographing dogs for their website. I'd gotten in the habit of walking over to the grass across the street in front of the power plant to take pictures, because they looked so much nicer.

Today, a security guard told me that I couldn't take pictures there. "Why?", I asked. She wasn't really sure. Something having to do with the power plant being a potential terrorist target. If I moved back 2 feet so I was on the sidewalk, I was off the property and could photograph as much as I wanted. Silly, huh? The guard was nice, and apparently determined that three german shepherds, two women, and myself were not a terrorist threat.



Still, something is wrong when you can't photograph a public building. Especially the non-power parts of it. There is a picture on the web here that would be much more useful. Not to mention the hundreds of better angles and the fact that someone could be across the street with a telephoto lens hiding in a car.



I'm not sure who to complain to (if anyone) about the incident. I understand why they are concerned, and that the security guard was just doing her job, but it's a silly rule.

Railfans

ask on 2002-11-17T03:46:28

On NPR the other day I heard that railfans are being hassled by police because they are suspeciously looking when they are sitting and counting trains.

Re:Railfans

brian_d_foy on 2002-11-17T06:25:58

Well, the story on All Things Considered was about one group of railfans dealing with the Ft. Worth police and the FBI. It may have been a "hassle", but even the interviewee admits that what he was doing could seem suspicious and he understands the concern.

He says the police and federal agents were very nice and professional. He wasn't arrested, only detained until the FBI counter-terrorist agent could get there.

It's a suspicious activity. People concerned about security respond to suspicious activity. The interviewee noted that it is Union Pacific asking for the police involvement---so it's not the police driving around looking for railfans to hassles. The police have better things to do. However, when a big train company asks the police to check out some suspicious people, the police have to check it out and generate paperwork. Once it becomes official, all the right things have to happen. If the police had driven up without a complaintant, they probably would have conducted an informal interview and been on their way. Police don't want to do paperwork anymore than most programmers want to write documentation.

Characterizing this event as police harrassment is a bit overboard.

Re: Photographing public buildings

brian_d_foy on 2002-11-17T06:09:32

What would you do if you were in charge of the physical security of a power plant and the FBI told you it was a terrorist target?

Remember, any good terrorist, and apparently there are some good ones, study their targets pretty well. Bad guys good at their jobs don't hide in the bushes and do tricky things. More that likely they'll walk up to the fence with a friend, or three dogs, and start taking pictures. When the guard asks them what their doing, they'll apologize and move on.

This way, not only do they get pictures, but they also probes the installation's defenses. If you could take pictures there all day without anyone bothering you, you know they have low perimeter security, for instance.

It's not just about the pictures.

So which would you rather have? A guard nicely telling you not to take pictures of something you didn't want pictures of anyway, or them not to guard the thing that supplies you power? :)

Re: Photographing public buildings

Robrt on 2002-11-17T06:23:33

You know a little too much about the "bad guys", brian. But your comments are on target. I'm happy and frustrated at the same time.

Re: Photographing public buildings

brian_d_foy on 2002-11-17T06:28:55

As in computer security, studying the black arts helps the white ones. :)

Part of my training has been reading the cases all of sorts of different physical security violations. I'm sure anyone working in loss prevention can sympathize. :)