Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Reminds of a history piece on cable sometime back. It was about the Gestapo records from a German city, it might of been Dresden, I'm not sure at the moment. Apparently the Gestapo didn't have time to destroy their records. >From it, it seemed that they spent a great deal of time following up on neighbors complaining about one another. Of course the citizens were doing their best, in the name of national security, to turn in as many of their neighbors as possible. From the retelling of some of the cases, it seemed that the Gestapo was more often than not putting out brush fires than actually working on genuine cases. S.Dimitrov > From: Scott McLoughlin <scott@adrenaline.com> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> > Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 20:35:46 -0400 > To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> > Subject: Re: [Leica] re: NYPD republicans? > > I agree. Most LE in my experience are normal folks. > > Related tale from just this afternoon. Dropped off a test roll > of color film. Ritz 1 hour, right in my neighborhood. So while > waiting, I was testing out new 28/2 - alignment, VF coverage, > exposure with contrasty shots and what not. > > Well, I'm taking some picture of newspaper boxes. Real close > and angular trite kind of thing :-) A woman from the Metro (subway) > approaches me. Says I can't take pictures in the Metro. Says > something about "people are afraid of terrorists." > > In public, I'm a very polite, well mannered and somewhat jovial > kind of guy (years of management, I guess). So I explain I'm not > taking pics in the metro, that I'm just on a public street, that I live > right here in the neighborhood, that I'm a hobbyist using "old > fashioned" (hee hee) equipment, taking B&W pics and developing > my own film, and that I'm clearly not a terrorist in any case. > > So she warms up and tells me she's taking a night class in > photography at a local community college! I say I'd like to take > a printing class at the Smithsonian. Then I tell her I have no > intentions of breaking the law, and since I'm not in the Metro, > I ask if there are some sort of distance rules or something, since > I'm just shooting on a normal street on public property. > > She tells me she has no idea and just kind of just wanders off. > That's it. Weird. No resolution, good or bad. A definite connection. > A bit of embarrassment on her part? Not sure. I'm not really sure > what to do or make of this encounter. > > BTW, this is near one of the two metro stops where folks get > off to go to the National Zoo, so tourists and cameras are > everywhere. > > In any case, there's definitely some big *failure of public > management* going on. This woman was real nice, and a > shutterbug as well! So what is she doing talking to me? > In the end, even she doesn't know exactly. > > How did she know I was outside on the street taking photos? > Did some citizen "notify her." Ok, we'll always have paranoid > people. No problem there. But there was clearly no official way > to set anything straight between us, of if there were, she clearly > was not informed of it. She had no pamphlet to give me explaining > the rules. She wasn't sure there were any. She didn't even ask me > for my identification. The whole thing is a mess. > > I can only imagine how many picture snapping tourists (here in > DC that = $$$) must go through similar awkward situations here > in Wash, DC every day. Having spent a few years on DC's > technology business council, I would imagine that the DC tourism > lobby (much bigger) would have some concerns here. > > I can only imagine the weird political ins-and-outs at and above the > NYPD that led to the recent super-unfortunate and unwarranted LE > actions. > > But elsewhere, when it comes to taking simple snap shots on a city > street in a tourist-thick neighborhood, we also have a good old- > fashioned failure of public policy and everyday public adminstration. > Nothing partisan about it. The rules aren't clearly stated, and public > employees don't even seem to know them or if their are any in many > cases. But harrassment continues. > > It's just a "good government" issue. I haven't visited any city council > members in a few years, but maybe I'll suit up and pay some a visit. > In the past, at least, several would at least give a good listen. Since > this is an issue which affects tourists ($$$), maybe a few will perk up > their ears and pick up their pencils. > > Scott > > Kyle Cassidy wrote: > >>> From: "Jon" <jon.stanton@comcast.net> >>> >>> Any one that thinks the NYPD is an extension of the Republican party >has >>> >>> >> been inhaling something besides Rodinal. >> >> I agree. >> >> Laura Catherine, who was arrested in the same group, wrote of the >> experience: >> >> " ... an officer grouped me with 4 other women and took all of our >> information and started filling out foms. He was my arresting officer (AO) >> and turned out to be really nice. He told us that he's retiring in 3 >> months >> and thinks the way police are handling the protesters to be very >> unnecessary, and as long as we cooperated, he would give us the lightest >> charge possible. While that was all very nice it still sucked because he >> was >> still arresting me and just following his orders." >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information