Curious comment from police officer at accident scene.

[tirediron]

Looks like there in nothing in TPC 22.11 about taking photographs, even at close range.

It appears the police officer overstepped the bounds of that statute in the situation with the teenager.

If your refering to the teenager that was photographing billross77 I would argue that the quoted statute may not apply, but, pulling off the road at a traffic stop to photograph the officer was in itself creating a dangerous situation for the officer and the jerk taking the photographs. I'm betting the teen broke several laws by doing his dumb stunt. He is lucky he wasn't cuffed and hauled in for interfering with the officer doing his duty.

How's that? I'm sorry, but while I understand that the police sometimes have a difficult job to do, when you voluntarily accept a job as a public servant, you are, quite literally that. A public servant in a uniform must accept the fact that they are going to be a target for the public and that most, if not everything they do is going to be observed. They MUST hold themselves to a higher standard and the fact that John or Jane Q. Public wants to take pictures or record them is a fact of life. Using one's own interpretation of the law to bully someone who is doing something which you may not like, but is not actually illegal is the worst form of behaviour. Having spend 26 years of my life in a uniform, in government service, I think I speak with some knowledge of the subject.

 

[orljustin]

I am a Police Officer (yes, I've been reading these forums for a while, but just signed up to post this). Although here in the Dallas/Ft Worth area we have no federal jurisdictions, I can tell you that in most cases an accident would be a crime scene until we can figure out if any criminal event has taken place. I have only had one incident to tell someone to delete a photo from their phone, and it was a teenager who was standing next to a traffic stop taking pictures of me. In Texas this is considered harassment of a public servant, and is a crime. I told him to delete it and we would forget it happened(I'd rather teach someone something than take them to jail for something stupid). I am assuming this was the logic the DC officer was using as well.

Taking what you said at face value, I'd say you were in the wrong. Someone 'standing next' to a traffic stop taking pictures isn't harassing you more than any other person standing there NOT taking pictures. The act of pressing a shutter is not harassment.

 

[manaheim]

It's nice to have another LEO (please forgive the abbreviation?) on the forum. I think gryphonslair is one as well?

To our new LEO... if we get snarky with you, just remind us that we have very few of you here and how much it would suck if you weren't around.

I'm not saying this to kiss ass... I don't kiss ass... I mean it. As photographers we grapple with issues of law periodically, and we see and hear way too many reports of LEOs muscling this or that photographer into deleting their photos, oftentimes claiming that it's this or that law (which usually proves out to be pretty much bull, or we all ASSUME it to be bull.) But very few of us are attorneys, so we're not sure if we're right. The more people we have around here who actually know how this stuff works, the better. Amazing to have people from the actual STATE IN QUESTION to be able to weigh in on it, too.

As someone else said, it's nice to have an informed perspective. Thanks for posting.

 

[sm4him]

Interesting discussion, back back to the OP's specific situation:

Regardless of the cited statutes about harrassing public officials, etc--I cannot imagine ANY circumstance under which it would NOT be okay for ME to take photos of MY car, and the car that rammed into me, in order to document the scene and the damage for any future insurance and court needs.
My son was hit, in a similar fashion, by a woman who turned out to be a three-time DUI. He was sitting still and she hit him so hard that the station wagon he was driving no longer had anything except a front seat and about half the space in the back seat. She later claimed all sorts of bizarre things; had we not had photos, it would have taken much longer to sort things out. Instead, I just sent my photos to the prosecutor and everything was quite clear.

Kudos to your friend for standing her ground.

 

[kharp]

https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/know-your-rights-photographers

 

[shootermcgavin]

I get why taking a picture of anyone could be considered harassment, if you just followed someone around taking pictures of them all day that would be pretty harassing to me. An officer can just react quicker to it. Now I know that's not what happened and it was just one photo, but he's using the law to his advantage. If I were him I'd do the same since I don't like being photographed. Imagine if your entire day was video taped at work, personally I have all the respect in the world for police I'd be stressed as hell if I had a camera watching my every move, asking someone to erase photos doesn't seem nearly as bad if you consider the source.

 

[kharp]

People are recorded all the time. When you go shopping or go to the bank, there are cameras everywhere. People have been caught in weird situations on google map photos. Nobody seems to consider that harrassment...

 

[kharp]

Imagine if your entire day was video taped at work,

Depending on where you work, it's very likely that you are.

 

[IByte]

Depending on where you work, it's very likely that you are.

Traffic cams, public cams, security cams at work, trust me even the civilians are being tracked.

 

[tirediron]

Depending on where you work, it's very likely that you are.

Traffic cams, public cams, security cams at work, trust me even the civilians are being tracked.

Remember: Just because you're NOT paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!

 

[orljustin]

I get why taking a picture of anyone could be considered harassment, if you just followed someone around taking pictures of them all day that would be pretty harassing to me. An officer can just react quicker to it. Now I know that's not what happened and it was just one photo, but he's using the law to his advantage..

One photo, or ten photos, while "standing by a traffic stop" is not harassment.

 

[billross77]

OK...one last post on here for me to clear some things up.

First off, I do have a stressful job, but I do it because I love it. Not everyone loves their job, so I am happy to be one of the few. Second, like most people with stressful jobs, we find hobbies to step away from work when we have free time. This is my hobby. I do it to forget about work. As you might be able to imagine, I see things on a regular basis that the general public never sees. Because of this we do things to get away. This post is my fault for combining my hobby with my work. I should not have done it. I will combat a few comments though. Standing by a traffic stop is not harassment. It is a safety issue from the officer perspective just becuase my attention is focused away, and they have no real business being there. This may be different in an inner city environment where people just happen to be around, but that is not where I work. If you are standing near me on a traffic stop, you are there for a reason. My initial point on this one that the teenager stopped in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, to take pictures. This is an issue in more ways than one. I had him delete the picture to save him more trouble than he intended, since he obviously want thinking straight. Pictures are part of life, thats why I take them. Im pretty sure thats why we all take them.

Next...If anyone would like to walk in my shoes send me a message. I am in the DFW area and would be glad to take you on a ride along. I'll provide your vest for the night. Some people might see the job differently if they experiance it first hand. If you are not in my area, contact a local PD and go for a ride. My job is not about harassing photographers or any other law abiding citizen. Its about preventing and combating criminal activity. If you lock your doors at night, then you freely admit that Police are needed members of the community and that there are not enough of them around.

I am not going to post on this thread anymore....however, I am about to post some pictures that I shot and could really use some help on them.

 

[jake337]

I get why taking a picture of anyone could be considered harassment, if you just followed someone around taking pictures of them all day that would be pretty harassing to me. An officer can just react quicker to it. Now I know that's not what happened and it was just one photo, but he's using the law to his advantage. If I were him I'd do the same since I don't like being photographed. Imagine if your entire day was video taped at work, personally I have all the respect in the world for police I'd be stressed as hell if I had a camera watching my every move, asking someone to erase photos doesn't seem nearly as bad if you consider the source.

So if you were in their place you would stomp on someones civil rights for your own well being?

Using the law to their advantage is also very, very wrong.


Police don't have it nearly as bad as the celebrities out there either.

 

[jake337]

OK...one last post on here for me to clear some things up.

First off, I do have a stressful job, but I do it because I love it. Not everyone loves their job, so I am happy to be one of the few. Second, like most people with stressful jobs, we find hobbies to step away from work when we have free time. This is my hobby. I do it to forget about work. As you might be able to imagine, I see things on a regular basis that the general public never sees. Because of this we do things to get away. This post is my fault for combining my hobby with my work. I should not have done it. I will combat a few comments though. Standing by a traffic stop is not harassment. It is a safety issue from the officer perspective just becuase my attention is focused away, and they have no real business being there(They do have the right to be there if it is public property, unless they are doing something completely wreck-less as in bold below ).This may be different in an inner city environment where people just happen to be around, but that is not where I work. If you are standing near me on a traffic stop, you are there for a reason. My initial point on this one that the teenager stopped in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, to take pictures. This is an issue in more ways than one. I had him delete the picture to save him more trouble than he intended, since he obviously want thinking straight. Pictures are part of life, thats why I take them. Im pretty sure thats why we all take them.

Next...If anyone would like to walk in my shoes send me a message. I am in the DFW area and would be glad to take you on a ride along. I'll provide your vest for the night. Some people might see the job differently if they experiance it first hand. If you are not in my area, contact a local PD and go for a ride. My job is not about harassing photographers or any other law abiding citizen. Its about preventing and combating criminal activity. If you lock your doors at night, then you freely admit that Police are needed members of the community and that there are not enough of them around.

I am not going to post on this thread anymore....however, I am about to post some pictures that I shot and could really use some help on them.

See red print above...

 

[raider]

i'm a cop - government affiliated. to me, there's not enough info on the crime scene. was this near a sensitive area/building? was there an NDA in the vicinity, an extra-dimensional craft report in the area, elvis, etc - the public doesn't get to know everything that's going on. it's best to let them live their lives in ignorant bliss.

i've said too much.