What to do if you’re a Photographer…and you run into Security

By now, most people have noticed that there seems to be some kind of animosity between security personnel and photographers. By “photographer”, we mean anyone taking pictures or recording film, just to be clear about that.

YouTube and Flickr are filled with videos of photographers being “accosted” and confronted by security or law enforcement officers (LEOs) who apparently think that banning photography or filming is an important part of keeping property or areas or people safe. It’s a common thing, apparently.

This attitude has been growing for years, and has been spurred on by both terror attacks and the legislation that has followed in the wake of such horrible events, and which has only lately been eased up to near-sensible levels. That doesn’t mean that the problems cease to exist, however. Nearly every day, there are new reports of photographers being hassled by those who should be upholding both law and/or security, be it public servants like police, customs or transit authorities, or private security officers, working to keep private property or persons safe.

It’s important to remember in all this, that most LEOs and security officers try to do a good job, and the vast majority of them succeed in this. As usual, the public gets to see the bad side of people and professions, while the good sides go unheeded, or blend into an undistinguishable mash of memories that are set aside. Still, we’d like to emphasize the key points in the photographer vs security debate again.

Security’s point of view

In any issue, it’s important to see both sides (even Phil Collins knows that), and we’ll try to see it from security’s (misguided) side first.

The assumption is this; Terrorists will spend time “staking out” a place of interest over time, mapping security measures and physical obstacles, as well as gather intelligence about human targets and/or security personnel at the site they’re interested in. They will do this using a variety of techniques, including cameras, and so anyone who is (seemingly) taking pictures of those things is a threat, and it needs to be stopped.

In itself, this isn’t all bad. Yes, terrorists or other “bad guys” will gather information on their targets, unless they’re just loony-tunes suicide bombers who’ll run into any old crowd. There are many ways to collect information about targets, one of which is to take pictures. But if this is so, then how is this thinking misguided? Well, we’ll look at a few things.

The ratio of terrorist to plain old photographer must be staggering. There’s no way around that. There’s no way to come up with a real figure here, but it must be several million “normal” photographers to every one that has even the slightest bit of mischief planned as a reason for him/her taking pictures.
There are already pictures out there of whatever it is you’re trying to protect. Have you heard of Flickr? Or YouTube? Or 500px? More are not only unavoidable, they’re also harmless.
Targeting individual, random photographers will not only take up time and efforts better used elsewhere, it will also possibly present a situation where civil rights are stepped on, and will have consequences for the individual officer and the organization.
Targeting individual, random photographers may divulge more of your security efforts than they will help conceal.
In the (extremely) unlikely event that the photographer is gather intel for a terrorist attack (or a heist), what will stopping one day’s picture-taking do to stop the plans? Nothing at all.

Anyway – the only way to deal with this problem, and this misguided prioritization, is through education and training, something not all private security firms are very good at, but one would at least expect official Law Enforcement agencies to be on top of this. That’s not always the case, but we think it’s not too much to ask of agencies charged with securing the public.

What you should do if you’re a photographer. And incidentally, what not to do.

First of all, find out what your rights are where you live, or where you plan on doing your photographing. This is the most important point in a sea of important points. In almost all normal, civilized countries and states, you have the right to take pictures of anything and anyone, as long as you’re in a public place or on property that you own, or where you’ve got the owner’s permission to be.

Once a security guard or a LEO has approached you, there’s only a couple of things you should always, always remember.

– Stay calm. At all costs. Don’t raise your voice, don’t be agitated, don’t be a threat in any way, shape or form. This is what gets most people in trouble, and it’s hard to defend yourself if a LEO or a guard claims you’ve been threatening or causing a general disturbance.

– Record the encounter. Try to get audio, at least. Use your phone or your camera. This might help you in the future, if this problem grows any more out of proportion, but keep in mind that this will only help you if you’ve followed the first bullet on this little list. If you break that “commandment”, then you’re even more screwed if there’s a recording of the whole thing.

– Stand your ground. Again, remember the first bullet. Be firm, know your rights and don’t let anyone sway you, even if it means waiting for the police to arrive. In most cases, the police will be on your side, as long as you’ve been calm and as long as you’ve got a firm grasp of your rights.

– Educate. This goes both for yourself and the people you’ve encountered. Know your stuff, and you can use it to your benefit. Education is the only way to deal with this problem, but again… remember the first bullet. Being aggravated, shouting or belittleing others is not a very pedagogical way to go.

The final advice is simply – Don’t stop taking pictures! Photographers aren’t terrorists, and the only way to get that point across is to keep doing it, and keep convincing both private companies and public servants of the same.