TIL that if you take a photo of a police station you'll get some fast attention from the cops inside.
What's happened to the world!?
I spotted a funny photo opportunity while out looking for entries for this weeks steemitPhotoChallenge when I saw a couple of police cars parked the wrong way out the front of a police station.
There's a parking bay for their cars, and a large sign that reads "Parking Rear To Wall", so of course when I see a couple of marked police cars parked front to wall I giggle a little and snap a couple of photos.
Here's the shot:
Nah, they politely pressured me to delete it!
Well, what happened was a cop pulled up on his way to work and kinda freaked out at me, flashed his badge (he wasn't in uniform), asked to see ID, and swiftly went into the station.
I was so stunned. He was quite aggressive, not in uniform and really short with me, quite hostile. He was young I guess... and I had a camera, and was wearing thongs. He would have gone inside and said something like "...man of middle eastern appearance surveilling the station...". Maybe that was part of the issue? Slightly olive skin...
So I stood there for a minute thinking WTF, then crossed the road to where I'd parked my car. As I went to get in two uniformed officers came quickly over to me and began "questioning" me.
Ok, I get it. Terrorism is about. But wouldn't a bad guy be a bit more stealthy than standing on the street with a largish camera, in full daylight, in full view of their security cameras and anyone else passing by?
Anyway, the photo was good. Cop cars, police station sign, parking sign, cop cars parked the wrong way right under the parking sign, flags waving on the roof of the building above, nice evening light....
The cops thought they were great photos. They even liked my other shots, some of which I've entered in this weeks challenge, and others of my family that were on there too. Yeah, they went through the whole memory card...
Maybe I could have argued the point a little harder... I was in a public place, no trespassing going on, nothing suss in the photos... but when standing there with two armed cops in body armour, it's kinda intimidating, the way one engages you and the other stands in your blind spot... I looked back at that one a few times... very off-putting having someone standing behind you like that. Creepy. Intimidating... and honestly, is a slightly amusing photo worth getting arrested over? I hear they can hold you indefinitely without charge here, thanks to new laws past in this country.
@azurejasper, I believe it my friend. I ger harrassed for riding my bicycle at night. You have to be a creepy individual to be on a bicycle after dark now days. Sweet photographs my friend. Following you now.
sad state of things - sorry :(
I once got detained near the center for disease control in Atlanta a year or two after 2001 by a rent-a-cop who demanded to see my id and asked me what I was photographing (I think it was a tree or something).