Here we go again, slowly but surely.
Unauthorized photography of 2 Burlington County bridges banned
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
PALMYRA
The Burlington County Bridge Commission has prohibited taking photographs of the Burlington-Bristol and Tacony-Palmyra bridges in the wake of the London train bombings.
The ban is just one of the new steps the commission took after the bombings, said bridge commission Executive Director George Nyikita, who declined to specify others for security reasons.
"We've had a bunch of homeland security measures in place since 9/11," Nyikita said. "Whenever the alert is raised or lowered, we raise or lower the measures we take."
The reason for such a ban is clear, Nyikita said.
"A trained engineer can photograph a bridge and pick out critical spots where a bomb could cause the most damage," he said.
The media will still be allowed to photograph the bridges for legitimate reasons, Nyikita said. But "we will discourage unauthorized photography on our property," he added.
The river beneath the bridges is beyond the commission's jurisdiction, but it is covered by the Coast Guard and state police, which have "similar, if not stricter, operational procedures," Nyikita said.
State police are able to "take the appropriate action" when they see suspicious activity, said John Hagerty, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.ADVERTISEMENT - CLICK TO ENLARGE OR VISIT WEBSITE
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That would include photographing a bridge from below, Hagerty said.
The Delaware River Port Authority - which runs the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross bridges - did not provide details of its photo policy when reached Tuesday afternoon.
Curt Hudson, a freelance photographer who does work for the Courier-Post and other publications, said that in "99 percent of cases," such bans do not pose an insurmountable problem for photographers.
"Most of the time if you cooperate with police and tell them what you're after, there's no problem," Hudson said.
But it can be a problem with breaking news, such as accidents, where time is critical, he said. He also questioned the effectiveness of such bans, which have become common on trains and other public facilities as well as bridges.
"There are a lot of ways to take pictures surreptitiously," Hudson said, mentioning cell phones as an example. "Generally the guys who are obvious aren't the problem."
Nyikita said the bridge commission is not ruling out amateur photographers all together, but said "we'd have to do a background check."
He said he recognized that the policy will not be universally popular.
But, he added, "I'd rather get criticized for taking away someone's rights than be criticized for not taking precautions to protect the bridges."
"I'd rather get criticized for taking away someone's rights"? that's the mindset of our policy makers. take away rights to protect our freedom. one day when enough of our rights are taken away in order to protect us people will wake up. however it'll be too late then. one day more people will demand that we start addressing the real problems in this country and not silly symptoms. sad. very sad.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
PALMYRA
The Burlington County Bridge Commission has prohibited taking photographs of the Burlington-Bristol and Tacony-Palmyra bridges in the wake of the London train bombings.
The ban is just one of the new steps the commission took after the bombings, said bridge commission Executive Director George Nyikita, who declined to specify others for security reasons.
"We've had a bunch of homeland security measures in place since 9/11," Nyikita said. "Whenever the alert is raised or lowered, we raise or lower the measures we take."
The reason for such a ban is clear, Nyikita said.
"A trained engineer can photograph a bridge and pick out critical spots where a bomb could cause the most damage," he said.
The media will still be allowed to photograph the bridges for legitimate reasons, Nyikita said. But "we will discourage unauthorized photography on our property," he added.
The river beneath the bridges is beyond the commission's jurisdiction, but it is covered by the Coast Guard and state police, which have "similar, if not stricter, operational procedures," Nyikita said.
State police are able to "take the appropriate action" when they see suspicious activity, said John Hagerty, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.ADVERTISEMENT - CLICK TO ENLARGE OR VISIT WEBSITE
Featured Advertisers Al Valentine All Shore Advertise with us!
That would include photographing a bridge from below, Hagerty said.
The Delaware River Port Authority - which runs the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross bridges - did not provide details of its photo policy when reached Tuesday afternoon.
Curt Hudson, a freelance photographer who does work for the Courier-Post and other publications, said that in "99 percent of cases," such bans do not pose an insurmountable problem for photographers.
"Most of the time if you cooperate with police and tell them what you're after, there's no problem," Hudson said.
But it can be a problem with breaking news, such as accidents, where time is critical, he said. He also questioned the effectiveness of such bans, which have become common on trains and other public facilities as well as bridges.
"There are a lot of ways to take pictures surreptitiously," Hudson said, mentioning cell phones as an example. "Generally the guys who are obvious aren't the problem."
Nyikita said the bridge commission is not ruling out amateur photographers all together, but said "we'd have to do a background check."
He said he recognized that the policy will not be universally popular.
But, he added, "I'd rather get criticized for taking away someone's rights than be criticized for not taking precautions to protect the bridges."
"I'd rather get criticized for taking away someone's rights"? that's the mindset of our policy makers. take away rights to protect our freedom. one day when enough of our rights are taken away in order to protect us people will wake up. however it'll be too late then. one day more people will demand that we start addressing the real problems in this country and not silly symptoms. sad. very sad.