By Carlos Miller
After reading the report of a tourist who got harassed at the Miami Metrorail for taking photos, Miami blogger and photojournalist Random Pixels wrote an email to some bigwig at Miami-Dade Transit asking for them to clarify their policy on people taking photos of trains.
He got a response:
MDT regrets any inconvenience or embarrassment this incident may have caused you. MDT is not aware of any federal, state, or local law which would prohibit personal photography at our facilities. The incident that you experienced appears to have been the result of the misinterpretation of local county law, specifically Miami-Dade County Code 30(B), which requires permits for commercial photography. MDT also requires permitting for photography when it involves equipment other than a hand-held camera (i.e. tripods, cables/wires, screens, etc.), which could pose a potential safety hazard to other patrons. Although not prohibited, security personnel and/or any MDT employee are encouraged to inquire as to what objects/images a patron is photographing. This is done not with the intent of harassing patrons or station occupants, but rather as a means of ensuring the security of our infrastructure and the general public and ensuring that commercial activity is not being performed.
Click here to read the rest of the response.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Bryan // May 27, 2009 at 9:57 PM
“… Although not prohibited, security personnel and/or any MDT employee are encouraged to inquire as to what objects/images a patron is photographing. This is done not with the intent of harassing patrons or station occupants, but rather as a means of ensuring the security of our infrastructure and the general public…”
So how exactly does inquiring into an act which they themselves admit is legal, help ensure security exactly? Maybe they don’t even read what they write…
2 xdamousex // May 28, 2009 at 1:58 PM
I have a vision … of showing this letter to an MDT employee, watching the employee laugh at it, and then tear it up right in front of the photog’s face.
3 Anonymous // May 30, 2009 at 8:34 PM
“The incident that you experienced appears to have been the result of the misinterpretation of local county law, specifically Miami-Dade County Code 30(B), which requires permits for commercial photography.”
Well you just can’t expect law enforcement to actually know the law. Oh wait, THE LAW is simply whatever readily available excuse a pig needs to harass people.
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