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gonzalu
2011-05-25, 09:56 PM
Just got this from one of my New England Aviation buddies... seems strange to me as I believe Boston to be a fairly spotter-friendly airport.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/366097/

Zee71
2011-05-25, 10:14 PM
Wow............that's a heck of a story! The "wrong answer" thing takes the cake as well.

Cary
2011-05-25, 10:21 PM
Yeah, "wrong answer" rivals my "you're not taking pictures of airplanes in my town" Elizabeth PD quote.

Gerard
2011-05-25, 10:43 PM
Just got this from one of my New England Aviation buddies... seems strange to me as I believe Boston to be a fairly spotter-friendly airport.
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/366097/

Sadly not so surprising. We've seen that around here. 9 out 10 officers are cool and professional and respectful but there is always one jerk who has an atitude and on a
power trip and thinks he protecting society!! These two came off as real a**h***s!! I was actually getting mad reading this. :mad:

steve1840
2011-05-26, 07:44 AM
Yeah, "wrong answer" rivals my "you're not taking pictures of airplanes in my town" Elizabeth PD quote.

Sounds almost as if that Massport officer was a former Elizabeth PD officer at one point.

That whole encounter is just ridiculous, but I'm glad he kept his cool through the whole thing. Personally though, once the trespassing charges comment was made I would have asked if the fishermen were going to be hit with the same charges since afterall they were on the property and PAST the boundry where it said "no public access beyond this point".

gonzalu
2011-05-26, 09:33 AM
Steve,

You will find that throughout history, Fishermen have tons of rights and laws grandfathered from days past when Fisherman had all sorts of allowances, one because fishing was a way to feed yourself and two because it was gaming and in the US, historically, gaming has had many liberties (and I appreciate that)

So, yes, Fishermen may have rights you don;t have if you were not licensed to fish and had a pole in your hand. A fisherman is clearly fishing :tongue:

But seriously, I would never use someone else's rights to defend mine... sort of concentrate on your situation and not use the access someone else has. That has usually yielded negative results in most situations. You have no idea if that fisherman is a LEO undercover and actually made the call... or the owner of the Boston Red Sox who has a special pass from the Mayor etc. etc.

steve1840
2011-05-26, 09:56 AM
I see your point Manny. And it DOES make sense to me. Just gets frustrating that just cause we have a camera in our hand and we are pointing it at the sky we have a tendency to be singled out as "suspicious". I'm not saying that I have anything against people fishing, and like you I too appreciate that the fishing/hunting etc have many liberties. Just hearing law enforcement officers single once person out on a piece of property that is doing nothing wrong because they are misguided and misinformed just rubs me the wrong way.

But all in all, after reading this from your point of view, I would agree that I would just handle my own situation and not worry about what someone else in teh vicinity is doing unless it was actually something that the officer should be focusing on instead of me. Like if one of the fisherman pulled out a rocket launcher or something :tongue:

Delta777LR
2011-05-26, 10:09 AM
One thing, they have no right to tell you to delete the pictures, take your memory cards and take your property unless they have a warrent or comitting a crime.. if you think about that, thats like ripping a 35mm film, the cops have no right what so ever to do such thing, trust me i had that problem at EWR over a year ago.. If i was that guy, i would have made a major lawsuit against the Police.. Its not illegal taking pictures of the planes as long as you are in a public area.. Private property I can understand.. but as long as you are not shooting from any private propery, the cops have no right to take any of your property or even false you to delete pictures unless you are comitting a crime.. Yes they can question you, of what you are taking pictures of, some people might be detained, but as long as you keep your cool and explain what you are doing, things will be fine.. If you show them your pictures, thats your choise but they cant make you delete them... Sorry not me! Ive never been through a situation being asked to delete my pictures, not even at EWR except Ive gotten my SD card taken by PAPD for them to see that I was taking pictures of only the planes and not structure.. but none of my pictures got deleted after checking when I got my card back.. Keep your cool, keep your smile, always have ID...

megatop412
2011-05-26, 01:03 PM
I stand by what I said in that thread.

What is this world coming to

NIKV69
2011-05-26, 01:46 PM
The more we let these officers just slide by not contacting their superiors and lodging complaints the more it will happen. Law enforcement is just like anything else. Out of 100 officers there will be 1 or 2 who should not be employed in what they are doing. This was someone who wasn't professionmal and just didn't want to deal properly with someone.

Spunker
2011-05-26, 04:38 PM
Fortunately I have not meet any of these clowns. All the folks that have stopped and asked me what I was doing have always been very nice and friendly. I've never been questioned at any off airport spot and myself and a few others go to the Black Falcon Terminal and the police just drive by and wave to us. If I want to film on Logan proper I always get prior permission to do so. The only jerk I ever ran into was an TSA employee in Ft. lauderdale and when I told him I had permission from the Broward Sheriff's office he was totally pissed off. Give some folks a uniform and let the ego trip begin.

megatop412
2011-05-26, 07:32 PM
If you were to summarize all the LEO encounters people on this forum have had(if that were even possible), it would have to be the case that the vast majority did not go like this one did. Out of the several I have had only one could be termed as "negative". Then again, as a psychologist I have a clue about how to talk to people, which is a huge part of how to get anything in life.

When I was in college, two months shy of my 21st birthday, I was at a party that got raided. The only dude who got arrested that night was the one who acted like an a-hole and mouthed off to the cops who were only interested in writing up the beer tickets as fast as they could so they could get out of there and we could keep drinking. Did I make a stink because of how close I was to being legal? I knew the score and didn't push it. I poured out the beer I was drinking when asked then picked up another one when they left. Sometimes it's about minimizing the damage just so you can get on with the rest of your life.

That being said, there are definitely some cops out there that need to be retrained in the art of negotiation.

jerslice
2011-05-26, 08:22 PM
seems strange to me as I believe Boston to be a fairly spotter-friendly airport.
Massport is treated as private property. They can ask you to leave, but I don't think they can force to delete your stuff.

Additionally, this is also generally consistent with my experiences with Massport when I lived in the area. I was for awhile able to get permission from them first, and never had any problems when I had gotten it, but if they hadn't signed you off then forget about it. I have long said to folks shooting Boston, feel free to shoot from the terminals or other massport property, but be prepared for a likely shakedown. That's just how they roll. I'm not at all surprised by this.

The public parks around Boston are generally pretty friendly, but Massport? No way.