| | NJ Transit should welcome photographers, Bowen said. "They're going to be the ones to see something suspicious," he said.
That's precisely how I feel. In fact, a couple of times recently, I've sent digital photos to my municipal office and police to provide them with images of illegal dumping of some fairly dangerous hazardous materials. They were more than happy to have a "visual report" (complete with GPS coordinates) which they could then go out to investigate with the appropriate removal crews. Use of such technology saves everyone a lot of time and hassle.
Krages, who authored a pamphlet on photography rights, said NJ Transit's policy is just the latest attempt to restrict photography, citing incidents at industrial plants, bridges and sea vessels across the nation since the terror attacks.
I know I mentioned this elsewhere on some S.I. thread awhile back, but late last year, I came across a warning on one of the provincial birding association discussion boards. Apparently, some of the more avid birders who have been going to the same spot along the St. Lawrence River to watch waterfowl for many years, got hassled big time when they set up their field scopes on a point to do their usual thing one Saturday morning. The spot is in direct sight of one of the border crossing guard stations -- nothing particularly "strategic" about the place, and their activities were not "out of the ordinary" as this has been going on every weekend for years. However, on this one day, a couple of cars full of border patrol guards suddenly appeared and kept the birders answering questions for a couple of hours while a patrol boat cruised back and forth just offshore. Rather a bizarre incident, but becoming all too common these days. I guess such actions make some people feel a whole lot safer... |
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