Amtrak's Newly Published Photo Guidelines Developed With NPPA's Input

By Donald R. Winslow, News Photographer magazine

Durham, N.C. (March 10, 2009)—Back in January the National Press Photographers Association, through its general counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher, asked Amtrak in a letter to stop harassing photographers and to take immediate steps to remedy circumstances where law-abiding photographers working in public places were being confronted by the railroad's police and personnel.

In response, the general counsel for the Amtrak police invited NPPA to participate in a review and updating of their existing policies and suggested that NPPA might want to contribute potential guideline language and input on both the railroad's photography guidelines (for their employees and the public to follow) and on new photography policies for Amtrak police...

READ ON at nppa.org

Mike
(Thanks to Oren)

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Featured Comment by Bruce Appelbaum: "Funny, I was thinking the other day about the story of the photographer seeking to enter an Amtrak photo contest who was arrested in Penn Station in NYC.

"Last Sunday I was on one of my NYC perambulations and found myself in Greenpoint (Brooklyn) near the Newtown Creek sewage treatment plant. It was a gray, cold day, and nothing really had caught my eye until I looked into the open gate and saw an almost fluorescent yellow pipe stand supporting a huge gray pipe.

"So I took a couple of pictures, standing outside the gate. After a few minutes, a rent-a-cop appeared yelling at me to stop taking pictures. I told him that the gate was open, I was standing in a public area, and that there were no signs saying that photography was not allowed. I asked him if he was a police officer, and all he would say is 'I'm on duty.'

"I told him again that there was nothing keeping me from photographing the pipe stand, and he kept yelling about my lack of ability to understand English. Finally he decided to call the police on me using his cell phone. I took a few more shots while he was dialing, and then started walking away. Then he started yelling at me for walking away. I told him 'I'm on duty' and kept going. I think he photographed me with his phone camera.

"It was early Sunday morning, I had a copy of that short piece on photographers' rights, but you never know which cop is going to pissed about having to deal with something like this. So I didn't hang around. On the other hand, I walked slowly and never saw a cop car come around.

"There are lots of photos of that plant on the internet (google Newtown Creek wastewater treatment plant and look at the pictures), so I didn't do anything that lots of others haven't already done. The guy did ruin my mood, though."

Featured Comment by Jon Bloom: "It's not enough to have a policy. That policy also has to be communicated to the staff and they need to be held accountable for following it. Frequently, the problem turns out to be not the policy but rather the ignorance of it by the security people.

"Also, there is this from the policy: '...where actions are deemed suspicious or inconsistent with this policy by observing/reporting persons, photographers and videographers may be approached and questioned to determine if further investigation or action is necessary.'

"That leaves the interpretation of 'suspicious' entirely up to the 'observing/reporting persons,' which naturally include many who are utterly untrained.

"Whether this represents a change in practice remains to be seen."

Comments

[Martin Doonan]

Looks very reasonable. A challenge now is to get other policy makers (including legislature) to adopt a similar approach.

[Bryan C]

It does look reasonable. I suspect the Amtrak police will be as happy as the photographers. Cops have better things to do than chase down random railfans and shutterbugs.

[Charlie H.]

The fact that they actually have a policy (written), and are salient enough to know that their officers need some guidance is a step in the right direction. The fact that they have made their policy public is probably the most commendable aspect of it all. That way, if there is a dispute, both sides have something to work off of. I am still waiting to see an actual terrorist profile study, that has evidence that "target marking" (homeland speak) "includes photography and video recording activities." Do they approach people with sketch books?

[John A. Stovall]

I would carry a copy of the Amtrak guidelines with me. Because I have no faith their police getting the word much less following it.

[Peter Adamski]

from the other side of big lake:

On the 16th of February, the UK Government passed a law (in the Counter Terrorism Act) making it illegal to take a photograph of a police office, military personnel or member of the intelligence services - or a photograph which “may be of use for terrorism”. This definition is vague at best, and open to interpretation by the police - who under Home Secretary guidelines can “restrict photography in public places”.

[Roger]

I was once "spoken to" by a security guard for IBM. This is mid 90's. I was standing on the sidewalk, photographing the outside of one of their office buildings. He asked me what I was doing, I replied politely.
He was concerned about industrial espionage.
I replied, the bigger threats to IBM were on Wall Street! he understood.
BTW, I was under contract for the government at the time. I didn't bother to use that fact.

[Keith Loh]

Mike, we've had a similar issue in Vancouver with Translink, the corporation that runs our buses, rapid rail and subway system. Just this week they unveiled a passenger vigilance ad campaign in which they compare a photographer taking a picture of a security camera with criminals breaking into doors and suspicious packages being left behind (bombs!). We are currently going back and forth with their spokesperson on a Flickr thread here.

[Bruce Appelbaum]

When photographers are outlawed only outlaws will be photographers.

[Bryce Lee]

Sadly the nanny state has taken our freedoms.

Then too so many "police" types of enforcers are out there and often are very very stupid. One of the big reasons I stay away from the USA, sadly.
Small town cops now feel; post 9/11 that they can do anything as long as it's the law.

If you're driving a foreign registered vehicle
many police feel it is even more likely there will
be somebody in the vehicle, dangerous. After all
isn't my Canada the place where we let foreigners
run amuck?
Rail fan friends in the US say it is often no longer advisable to have a professional looking
(would guess SLR size) camera nor photograph anything other than family.

We are scared of their own shadow. Here in Canada
the same attitude prevails. What used to be enjoyable is no longer. I have my memories on film and will review them and enjoy them on my own.
Hopefully federal and local security is not snooping by looking through my windows.

And sadly although Amtrak has stated their policy, there will still be many places with Amtrak service
where the police will still be called to remove
the photographer from the platform.

Publishing the notice means nothing, stupidity is normal.

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