by RedLantern
Here's an article that I find interesting, two guys get written assurance from the chief of security for the Miami Metro system saying that no permission or permit is needed to legally shoot non-commercial footage on the Metro System. This article shows how the security guards still stopped them, called the cops, and banned them from the Metro system for life for taking footage.
Now it's not quite as simple as that they were just there for the trains, it seems like they were trying to test the patience of the security staff, which is not usually advisable despite the constitution.
Either way, I found this article interesting. The text of the article is short and quoted in it's entirety below, but if you follow the link, you will find a 6 minute video of the whole ordeal as well as links to the accounts of both men on their blogs.
Photography is not a crime, but many members of law enforcement don't seem to understand that.
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Carlos Miller, who runs the Photography Is Not a Crime blog, and veteran photojournalist Stretch Leford decided to test the photography rules in Miami-Dade's metrorail system. Before embarking on their test, they obtained written assurance from Metro Safety and Security Chief Eric Muntan that there's no law against non-commercial photography on the system.
The two didn't make it past the first station before they were stopped. Employees of 50 State Security, the private firm contracted to provide the metro's security, stopped the pair first. They then called in local police. The private firm and the police then threatened the two with arrest, demanded their identification (to check them against a terrorist watch list), demanded multiple times that they stop filming, and eventually "banned" Miller and Ledford from the metro system "for life" (though it's doubtful they had the authority to do so).
http://reason.com/blog/2010/07/02/ignor ... -is-no-exc
Now it's not quite as simple as that they were just there for the trains, it seems like they were trying to test the patience of the security staff, which is not usually advisable despite the constitution.
Either way, I found this article interesting. The text of the article is short and quoted in it's entirety below, but if you follow the link, you will find a 6 minute video of the whole ordeal as well as links to the accounts of both men on their blogs.
Photography is not a crime, but many members of law enforcement don't seem to understand that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Carlos Miller, who runs the Photography Is Not a Crime blog, and veteran photojournalist Stretch Leford decided to test the photography rules in Miami-Dade's metrorail system. Before embarking on their test, they obtained written assurance from Metro Safety and Security Chief Eric Muntan that there's no law against non-commercial photography on the system.
The two didn't make it past the first station before they were stopped. Employees of 50 State Security, the private firm contracted to provide the metro's security, stopped the pair first. They then called in local police. The private firm and the police then threatened the two with arrest, demanded their identification (to check them against a terrorist watch list), demanded multiple times that they stop filming, and eventually "banned" Miller and Ledford from the metro system "for life" (though it's doubtful they had the authority to do so).
http://reason.com/blog/2010/07/02/ignor ... -is-no-exc
Trains aren't dangerous, it's lack of common sense that's dangerous.