The relationship between MTA and photographers officially came to an outrageous head this weekend when two television reporters from WFSB were arrested for being in an ‘employees-only’ area of the New Haven Train station by MTA police.

According to Dan Brucker, MTA spokesman, MTA police asked him how to proceed when they noticed the crew shooting in the station. Brucker told them to let them get what they needed. Later the two were not only removed - but arrested for being in an area which was labeled ‘employees only’.

Let me make no qualms about my personal opinion on this - it is outrageous.

First off, you DO NOT arrest journalists doing their job in the United States for being ‘off-limits’, unless they broke into a nuclear weapons locker or something (and even then, if they uncovered something we should know…). No, journalists are not exempt from the law, but as much of their job relates to the reporting of official wrongdoing, and requires getting ‘behind the scenes’ to appropriately report stories, in practice YOU GIVE THEM MASSIVE LATITUDE - and YOU DO NOT ARREST THEM. Remove them from a restricted area - sure - but never arrest.

The MTA police better have some very specific and illuminating special reason beyond the two simply being ‘off-limits’ in order to even begin to qualify two journalists getting arrested. This isn’t the ex-Soviet Union - we do not arrest journalists - and no, 9/11 didn’t change that - AT ALL.

But most importantly, the legal rights of photographers and the MTA need to start falling into line at the ground level, because for too long, while the MTA has ‘officially’ allowed photography in public areas (as they know they cannot legally prohibit it - they tried once), in practice they prohibit it more stringently than any single organization I have ever encountered anywhere in the US.

The problem is this - you ask 10 different MTA employees in the same station what the rules are on public photography - and you WILL GET 10 DIFFERENT ANSWERS. One thing is for sure - no MTA security guard or police officer will EVER tell you that ‘public photography is allowed in all public MTA areas as long as your being safe’ - which generally is the case. They will tell you that you need permission, thats its not allowed due to security reasons, etc. Basically, they lie their asses off and are completely ambiguous about it as it suits them.

If you start taking photographs longer than 5 minutes in any given MTA area, you will start getting asked by MTA security what you are doing, and who you got permission from, even if permission was not required. Sometimes they will even ask you why you are taking a picture of this or that. Its prohibition through constant and unyielding harassment and intimidation.

Whats sadly comical is how easily half of them can be dismissed. The other day I was shooting some footage in a station and was asked simply ‘do you have permission to do that’? I simply answered ‘yes’ and the security guard walked away.

Am I the only one who sees the ridiculous ambiguity in this?

My advice for photographers is this - always adopt a ’shoot and go’ approach. Keep moving, plan your shot as you approach, stop and shoot, and keep moving. I am dead serious whan I say that the people MTA security harasses the most are the ones that stay in one area for more than a couple minutes - these are the ones they can ‘mosey on over to’. Just dont be ‘mosey-able’ and your usually fine. Its very similar to evading zombies or Frankenstein.

Its great that subcompact cameras take such great pictures now also - because the size of the camera also seems to draw attention. SLRs will draw MTA security in an instant, because everyone knows terrorists couldnt possibly achieve their goals with a pocket camera.

The opposite of this is to set up a tripod - NEVER set up a tripod. Tripods and lights, in fact, are legitimately prohibited without prior permission. Cause yeah, people do trip over them and stuff - so I do understand this rule as practical - they arent saying you cant do it - just that you need permission.