Harassment by law enforcement or security while out taking pictures

[hotdogPi]

NE2 is hiding in the bottom left corner...

[Scott5114]

Just say I don't answer questions.  Repeat and rinse.

This is a great way to escalate the situation if you get a cop with ego issues. A situation that could be diffused and done with in five minutes now gets more invasive because you're acting suspicious. "If you're innocent you've got nothing to hide," and all that bullshit. Yeah, it's your right to not answer the questions, but it's his right to be a douche because he's a cop and has no meaningful oversight that's forcing him to respect your rights. What are you going to do, sue him after he shoots you? You win the lawsuit but you still have a nifty hole in your body where you didn't before.

A much better strategy is to give calm answers that are technically true but omit anything that seems interesting. "Where are you going?" Next logical-sounding waypoint on your trip, since that doesn't invite questions of "then why are you here?" "Why are you taking pictures of...?" Say you're working for Wikipedia; most people don't stop and think "well anyone could answer that" and give you the legitimacy as if you just said you were taking pictures for the newspaper. It's also true, as long as you upload the photo to Wikipedia when you get home.

Basically the goal should be to comply to the extent that he runs out of questions before he seizes on a "gotcha" moment, and then leaves you alone out of a lack of any real alternative course of action.

[Avalanchez71]

Just say I don't answer questions.  Repeat and rinse.

This is a great way to escalate the situation if you get a cop with ego issues. A situation that could be diffused and done with in five minutes now gets more invasive because you're acting suspicious. "If you're innocent you've got nothing to hide," and all that bullshit. Yeah, it's your right to not answer the questions, but it's his right to be a douche because he's a cop and has no meaningful oversight that's forcing him to respect your rights. What are you going to do, sue him after he shoots you? You win the lawsuit but you still have a nifty hole in your body where you didn't before.

A much better strategy is to give calm answers that are technically true but omit anything that seems interesting. "Where are you going?" Next logical-sounding waypoint on your trip, since that doesn't invite questions of "then why are you here?" "Why are you taking pictures of...?" Say you're working for Wikipedia; most people don't stop and think "well anyone could answer that" and give you the legitimacy as if you just said you were taking pictures for the newspaper. It's also true, as long as you upload the photo to Wikipedia when you get home.

Basically the goal should be to comply to the extent that he runs out of questions before he seizes on a "gotcha" moment, and then leaves you alone out of a lack of any real alternative course of action.

Staying calm is great advice.  However, be advised unless you know the specifics of the laws in the area be very careful giving answers.  The 1st amendment does give you protections for taking photos for media purposes.  The media need not be mainstream media.