Are the outside of the police station not allowed to be photographed?

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rayonline

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#208639 20-Feb-2017 23:26

Hobby of mine. First time doing night street photography with traditional b/w film. Saw this single person by the clean wall and thought it was a nice composition. A moment later her colleague in uniform asked for my ID when I was a short stroll away. I just said it's a hobby with my camera club and doing some street photography, a single person, clean wall, nice composition. Couldn't show them the image because it was a film camera.

I've read the website on the Police site via Google and it said if I am standing on public area is allowed, if private land permission by the landlord. What about police stations?

Cheers

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Vocus

#1723392 20-Feb-2017 23:47

The police guidelines are pretty clear. It doesn't seem you were doing anything wrong as such.

http://www.police.govt.nz/faq/what-are-the-rules-around-taking-photos-or-filming-in-a-public-place

Geektastic

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#1723405 21-Feb-2017 01:10

The outside of a Police station is perfectly photographable as are Policemen in public places.

empacher48

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#1723416 21-Feb-2017 05:56

Sounds more like a bored police person than doing anything wrong.

andrewNZ

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#1723420 21-Feb-2017 06:34

Forget, the building, you photographed a woman for no apparent reason and then walked off. If I was her, I'd want to know who the hell you were too.

Legality aside, taking someone's picture without their consent is a bit off IMO.

corksta

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#1723428 21-Feb-2017 07:18

No issue with photographing a police station, but obviously the person is waiting outside with a police officer for a reason. Maybe they were the victim of a crime, maybe they witnessed a serious crime, maybe they were recently told a family member had died. You taking a photograph of them would naturally arouse suspicion.

corksta

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#1723430 21-Feb-2017 07:22

empacher48: Sounds more like a bored police person than doing anything wrong.

If someone stopped outside your house and took photos of it or of you or your family, which they would be perfectly entitled to do, what would your response be? Somehow I don't think you'd ignore it. I'd almost bet you'd be on the phone to the police reporting it.

empacher48

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#1723451 21-Feb-2017 08:22

If someone stopped outside your house and took photos of it or of you or your family, which they would be perfectly entitled to do, what would your response be? Somehow I don't think you'd ignore it. I'd almost bet you'd be on the phone to the police reporting it.

I live in a tourist town, so this is an every day occurrence for our family. More often people sit in the front garden by my roses and take photos because the view beyond is spectacular. So no, I don't call the police as there would be a hundred times a day I would be on the phone.

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corksta

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#1723453 21-Feb-2017 08:28

empacher48:

If someone stopped outside your house and took photos of it or of you or your family, which they would be perfectly entitled to do, what would your response be? Somehow I don't think you'd ignore it. I'd almost bet you'd be on the phone to the police reporting it.

I live in a tourist town, so this is an every day occurrence for our family. More often people sit in the front garden by my roses and take photos because the view beyond is spectacular. So no, I don't call the police as there would be a hundred times a day I would be on the phone.

You get the point I'm making. A random person taking a photo of someone standing next to a police officer outside a police station, then said police officer going on to query that is not the "police person being bored".

rayonline

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#1723469 21-Feb-2017 09:07

The person was alone. No police officer was there. I didn't even photograph the main doorway or any signs or logos's. It was the side wall just this clean grey concrete wall without any parked cars across from the public library. She happened to be waiting for him. I walked away continually photographing the civic centre (Wellington) at night and the roads etc then I was asked for my ID. It's like the topic of "rat race" or "making ends meet" people photograph the daily life like people waiting at the bus stop, people rushing off the train, individuals wearing suits who have fallen asleep on the subway. Or a photograph of the long queues in night of the opening of David Jones or that new iPhone .....

Rikkitic

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#1723491 21-Feb-2017 09:21

Maybe it has something to do with the times we live in and the things that have happened overseas. We are a long way away from all that, but everyone everywhere probably has an increased sense of vigilance at the subconscious level. And even here, bad things have happened. That is why WINZ offices have posted guards who now ask for ID. People are just less trusting than they were in the good old days.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Dulouz

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#1723503 21-Feb-2017 09:41

andrewNZ: Forget, the building, you photographed a woman for no apparent reason and then walked off. If I was her, I'd want to know who the hell you were too.

Legality aside, taking someone's picture without their consent is a bit off IMO.

Google has effectively done this on a global scale. Most people don't think twice about it.

Amanon

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#1723509 21-Feb-2017 09:49

Dulouz:

andrewNZ: Forget, the building, you photographed a woman for no apparent reason and then walked off. If I was her, I'd want to know who the hell you were too.

Legality aside, taking someone's picture without their consent is a bit off IMO.

Google has effectively done this on a global scale. Most people don't think twice about it.

... except that Google blurs all faces and car registration plates.

Sideface

Dulouz

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#1723510 21-Feb-2017 09:51

Sideface:

Dulouz:

andrewNZ: Forget, the building, you photographed a woman for no apparent reason and then walked off. If I was her, I'd want to know who the hell you were too.

Legality aside, taking someone's picture without their consent is a bit off IMO.

Google has effectively done this on a global scale. Most people don't think twice about it.

... except that Google blurs all faces and car registration plates.

Yes - for public viewing on the web. But do you think that an unblurred copy of the image doesn't exist?

Amanon

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#1723514 21-Feb-2017 09:58

It's perfectly legal to take photographs of people in public places without their consent, however, provided said images are not indecent.

It would not be legal to use those images for anything other than editorial use unless you obtained Model Consent.

It would not be legal (generally) to take images of a person in a place where they had a reasonable expectation of privacy (e.g. in their own back yard) but someone standing on a street in public? They may not like it but that isn't relevant to the legality of doing it.

MikeAqua

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#1723530 21-Feb-2017 10:12

AFAIK the police do not have the right to ask you for ID.

You do have to provide identifying information (name, address, DOB, occupation) if asked. But they can't ask you to produce identification - an exception to this is asking you to produce your drivers licence when driving.

You can ask anyone claiming to be a police officer to produce their ID - more applicable in plain clothes than uniform.

That said, it's generally sensible to co-operate. Winding them up rarely helps anyone ...

Mike

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