Pulled over while roadgeeking

[odditude]

I was on Roosevelt Blvd in Philly, car pulled up onto the grassy median between the local and express lanes

doing that on the Boulevard sounds like having a death wish.

[roadman65]

Not yet, but when railroading I get asked a lot. Considering there are more railfans out there than anything, you would figure that the cops would all know this by now, but that is another story.

I do put my camera away around stopped law enforcement or if one is next to me at a stoplight, as I do not want to explain my reasons as our hobby is not even close to being as popular as rail buffing.

[OracleUsr]

Never got pulled over, but I got held up at the Canadian border in Houlton, ME, three years ago.  I had my camera out when I crossed the border, intending to get a picture of the first southbound sign on I-95.  I think they thought I was photographing the customs station.  I showed them my camera contents and even showed them what I wanted a picture of, and they let me go; I got a really good picture on the way back to my rental car.

[Molandfreak]

The idea of driving around taking pictures of road signs isn't exactly "normal" behavior and it raises suspicion from the cops.

What the actual fuck is wrong with taking a few pictures? How is someone photographing a sign "suspicious" at all? The police should focus on actual crimes being committed, not hobbyists enjoying their day if they're not blocking traffic.

[jeffandnicole]

The idea of driving around taking pictures of road signs isn't exactly "normal" behavior and it raises suspicion from the cops.

What the actual fuck is wrong with taking a few pictures? How is someone photographing a sign "suspicious" at all? The police should focus on actual crimes being committed, not hobbyists enjoying their day and not blocking traffic.

Roadgeeking isn't exactly a household hobby.  And many roadgeeking hobbyists are pulled over in odd spots, or stopped in odd spots, taking pictures of really minor details.  A cop will have no clue that a sign used FHWA B or Clearview Modified or whatever.  He just knows that you standing there taking a picture of that sign is probably the first time anyone in his department has ever seen someone taking a picture of that sign!

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor..  You also have to look at the point of view of others:  In a store for example, you probably put your hands in your pockets numerous times without a 2nd thought.  To store security, every time you do that is a possible instance of you pickpocketing something.

[jwolfer]

I would not consent to a search.

I'm no admin, but I don't think this post meets AARoads' "useful contribution" article, which requires new posts to old threads to be, uhh, useful. At least some context would have been nice.

We'll let it pass this time because it allowed some people to post 'useful' posts after his who might have not seen this thread in the first place.

If you see something say something

The idea of driving around taking pictures of road signs isn't exactly "normal" behavior and it raises suspicion from the cops.

What the actual fuck is wrong with taking a few pictures? How is someone photographing a sign "suspicious" at all? The police should focus on actual crimes being committed, not hobbyists enjoying their day if they're not blocking traffic.

[jwolfer]

Doesn't the NJ turnpike regulation sign say taking pictures is prohibited? I remember that at the toll booth

[jwolfer]

I've gotten questioned just exploring more than photographing anything.  In April my sleep was off one night and I was wide awake at 2am and decided to go see how much snow was left in the big piles in South Boston.  Apparently this is Not Alright and a state trooper started following me out of there, at which point I did the standard defuse of asking him for directions.

That time if night they are looking for drunk drivers

[Pete from Boston]

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor.. 

This, unfortunately, is an argument used to justify a fair amount of police harassment.  I do understand the line is fine, but "Question anyone doing anything out of the ordinary, just to be safe" is the start of a slippery slope.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Doesn't the NJ turnpike regulation sign say taking pictures is prohibited? I remember that at the toll booth

According to their online regulations (which is 63! Pages! Long) it only says photos are prohibited if you slow down to take them.

[Pete from Boston]

I wonder if the policy changed due to the ubiquity of cameras.

[jeffandnicole]

No. It's how people interpreted the law, which was usually interpreted incorrectly. The rule hasn't changed since it's inception.

[cl94]

Never been pulled over, but I have tried to explain myself to Customs when spending more time then they'd like in Canada because I tried to clinch some roads instead of using the QEW

[TheHighwayMan3561]

My handheld camera is a sleek black color so sometimes I worry some idiot (either a cop or civilian) will mistake it for a handgun. But as of yet nothing has happened.

[dfwmapper]

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor.. 

This, unfortunately, is an argument used to justify a fair amount of police harassment.  I do understand the line is fine, but "Question anyone doing anything out of the ordinary, just to be safe" is the start of a slippery slope.

Questioning people doing suspicious things is good police work. The slippery slope doesn't start until they start bugging people who aren't doing suspicious things, or detaining people who have a reasonable explanation for their suspicious behavior.

[cpzilliacus]

Doesn't the NJ turnpike regulation sign say taking pictures is prohibited? I remember that at the toll booth

According to their online regulations (which is 63! Pages! Long) it only says photos are prohibited if you slow down to take them.

Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike (by Angus Kress Gillespie and Michael Aaron Rockland)  goes in to some detail about an incident where someone was charged with violation of the New Jersey Administrative Code for taking photographs of the Turnpike.  The photographer was convicted in a trial court, but pn appeal (with assistance from the New Jersey ACLU) the conviction was vacated and at least some provisions of the administrative code were invalidated for being "too broad."

[Mergingtraffic]

Doesn't the NJ turnpike regulation sign say taking pictures is prohibited? I remember that at the toll booth

According to their online regulations (which is 63! Pages! Long) it only says photos are prohibited if you slow down to take them.

Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike (by Angus Kress Gillespie and Michael Aaron Rockland)  goes in to some detail about an incident where someone was charged with violation of the New Jersey Administrative Code for taking photographs of the Turnpike.  The photographer was convicted in a trial court, but pn appeal (with assistance from the New Jersey ACLU) the conviction was vacated and at least some provisions of the administrative code were invalidated for being "too broad."

Why would taking pictures of the turnpike be against the law?

[jakeroot]

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor.. 

This, unfortunately, is an argument used to justify a fair amount of police harassment.  I do understand the line is fine, but "Question anyone doing anything out of the ordinary, just to be safe" is the start of a slippery slope.

Questioning people doing suspicious things is good police work. The slippery slope doesn't start until they start bugging people who aren't doing suspicious things, or detaining people who have a reasonable explanation for their suspicious behavior.

Taking a fucking picture isn't "suspicious behavior." It's just taking a picture.

Welcome to Post-9/11 America.

[Pete from Boston]

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor.. 

This, unfortunately, is an argument used to justify a fair amount of police harassment.  I do understand the line is fine, but "Question anyone doing anything out of the ordinary, just to be safe" is the start of a slippery slope.

Questioning people doing suspicious things is good police work. The slippery slope doesn't start until they start bugging people who aren't doing suspicious things, or detaining people who have a reasonable explanation for their suspicious behavior.

I don't disagree with this.  I have a problem with the overly broad interpretation of "suspicious" that seems commonplace (even pre-9/11, but especially post-).

[jeffandnicole]

For what it's worth, many a criminal has been caught for a major crime while stopped for something minor.. 

This, unfortunately, is an argument used to justify a fair amount of police harassment.  I do understand the line is fine, but "Question anyone doing anything out of the ordinary, just to be safe" is the start of a slippery slope.

Questioning people doing suspicious things is good police work. The slippery slope doesn't start until they start bugging people who aren't doing suspicious things, or detaining people who have a reasonable explanation for their suspicious behavior.

Taking a fucking picture isn't "suspicious behavior." It's just taking a picture.


iPhone

That's what Big Brother has been trying to say all along.  But suddenly, people want their privacy while out in public.

[jeffandnicole]

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" "This weird guy is taking pictures of a sign." The police shouldn't be responding to calls as silly as this. If they want to know what you're doing while you're pulled over to the side (which should only be for safety reasons-or if they suspect you've broken down), "I like this sign, so I'm photographing it" should be a reasonable enough explanation.

"If you see something, say something!"

Although honestly, once the police receive a call like this, I believe they *have* to at least do a drive by.  It would be a major issue if they received a 911 call, didn't check it out, and then sometime disastrous occurred.

Besides, your issue is with the wrong person, and why being a cop is so hard in the first place. Why give the person that called 911 a free pass?  That person was the one wasting everyone's time by calling it in in the first place.  Which goes back to "If you see something, say something".  Unfortunately, people are ready to say too much sometimes. 

[DeaconG]

This is the kind of thing that drives me and a lot of photographers absolutely batshit...since 9-11 "If you see something say something" has been applied in some of the most ludicrous situations ever, especially if you happen to be packing a digital SLR.  Forget about going to the airport anymore to shoot (especially after our great DHS director created a poster with someone carrying a digital SLR and telephoto [and yes, it was a Canon-I own Canon gear] lurking around an airport)...if you do anything that could be considered sketchy you could have people in your face telling you not to shoot them or anyone around you...and they're assholes about it.

I remember reading a post on the photography forum I'm on where the poster was accosted by a woman at a playground who loudly screamed that he was a pedophile and that he needed to get away from shooting those children...except 1) he was shooting his own DAUGHTER and 2) all the parents around the playground knew him and his daughter.

I had a situation a few years ago when I went to a marina with my DSLR and a supertelephoto zoom to shoot the boats there; when I found a place to park I saw a disreputable-looking van with a scruffy-looking guy in overalls parked nearby that made me nervous, so I took a wide berth around it to get to the vantage point in the park I was in to get my shots.  About five minutes into my shooting I suddenly hear behind me "Sir?"

I turned, and there's Mr. Scruffy standing behind me.  "Why are you taking pictures of the boats?"

Fighting down an eyeroll and a sarcastic remark, I said "Um...because they're there?  It's what I like to do."

Apparently that satisfied him, but I was so disgusted at the time that after another ten minutes I went back to my car, packed up my gear and went home.

And don't get me started on the way too many times folks with DSLR's are told they can't take pictures of scenes/persons while the folks with smartphones are busy shooting away.

Welcome to Amerika.  Your papers please!

[vdeane]

These days "suspicious" means "anything that isn't normal".  And being a roadgeek is NOT considered normal.  Most people think that if you've seen one sign, you've seen them all.  We live in a "guilty until proven innocent" society.

[formulanone]

This is the kind of thing that drives me and a lot of photographers absolutely batshit...since 9-11 "If you see something say something" has been applied in some of the most ludicrous situations ever, especially if you happen to be packing a digital SLR.

I take photos at airports of planes, from inside planes, parking garages, of buildings, and various roadgeekery on/off the road, but I've never really been bothered by anyone. A few times, folks have pulled over to ask "is everything okay?", but never harassed* by cops or anyone else. I avoid photographing strangers or most people in the line of work directly; while some folks are pretty good at the whole "street photography" thing, I tend to avoid it...it would annoy me because I own my own image and its modelling rights. I could see where people go nuts over the "if you see something weird because you're ignorant and can't be bothered to even casually investigate, rat them out and allow them to be hassled"; I've heard that some airport authorities drive away as many aviation enthusiasts as possible from the perimeters, but others are more welcoming so as long as you aren't disrupting anyone.

This is going to come to a head at some point, but it seems privacy is soon to be a thing of the past...because the camera-phone generation videos everything, regardless of privacy or principles, and post it without permission.

* Ignoring speeding tickets, that is. Although once I was pulled over by a sheriff's van; I received a warning, and he saw my camera bag in the back seat. Turns out the officer had a ton of photographic equipment in his vehicle, and he was proud to show me some of lenses, bodies, tripods, et al. Unfortunately, his job was mostly to photograph crime scenes ranging from the mundane to the grizzly and horrific.

[DeaconG]

This is the kind of thing that drives me and a lot of photographers absolutely batshit...since 9-11 "If you see something say something" has been applied in some of the most ludicrous situations ever, especially if you happen to be packing a digital SLR.

I take photos at airports of planes, from inside planes, parking garages, of buildings, and various roadgeekery on/off the road, but I've never really been bothered by anyone. A few times, folks have pulled over to ask "is everything okay?", but never harassed* by cops or anyone else. I avoid photographing strangers or most people in the line of work directly; while some folks are pretty good at the whole "street photography" thing, I tend to avoid it...it would annoy me because I own my own image and its modelling rights. I could see where people go nuts over the "if you see something weird because you're ignorant and can't be bothered to even casually investigate, rat them out and allow them to be hassled"; I've heard that some airport authorities drive away as many aviation enthusiasts as possible from the perimeters, but others are more welcoming so as long as you aren't disrupting anyone.

This is going to come to a head at some point, but it seems privacy is soon to be a thing of the past...because the camera-phone generation videos everything, regardless of privacy or principles, and post it without permission.

* Ignoring speeding tickets, that is. Although once I was pulled over by a sheriff's van; I received a warning, and he saw my camera bag in the back seat. Turns out the officer had a ton of photographic equipment in his vehicle, and he was proud to show me some of lenses, bodies, tripods, et al. Unfortunately, his job was mostly to photograph crime scenes ranging from the mundane to the grizzly and horrific.

For the most part I don't get hassled when I'm out with my gear; usually when I do get a comment it's along the lines of "nice camera!" It's also nice to be able to meet up with fellow photographers, especially here when there's a launch at KSC or CCAFS; one of the more pleasant moments was meeting a young lady and her dad, she had a Canon EOS 60D w/18-135 to try to take a picture of a launch and I pulled my 70-200 2.8 IS Mark 1 out of the bag and said "Here little lady, try THIS!"  Her eyes lighting up when she started shooting like a madman made my day.

Unfortunately, I agree with you on the privacy issue; amateurs used to plane spot at Orlando International Airport at Conway Road for years...try it now and either Orange County or Orlando PD will tell you to beat feet.