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don't take a picture of the nypd mobile tower.... — Brooklynian

don't take a picture of the nypd mobile tower....

pitu
pitu
edited November -1 in Crown Heights/Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Subject: don't take a picture of the nypd mobile tower....

image
Blogger yelled out by cops for taking this picture...I just don't get it.
http://razorapple.com/2008/02/15/no-love-for-sky-watch/
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Comments

  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    I guess people are slowly forgetting that our great City was attacked not too long ago. The NYPD is, and has been on heightened alert ever since that day. NYC is still one of the largest Terrorists sites in the World. 9/11 was planned for many years, and surveillance is a key component to Terrorism. There have been many real incidents in NYC that have not been leaked to the public regarding terror plots, but still remain a threat. So rather than be offended that Police are actually doing their jobs keeping you and I safe, Why not be supportive of them? If it's so important to take a picture of the Sky watch, why not ask the Cops first? When your done, try standing by the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and take some pictures there too, see what a response you get.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    terrorists are targeting the skywatch towers?

    tell me another one.
  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    Yeah sounds pretty silly right? That little piece of equiptment costs over 1 million dollars and has many different functions. Terrorists don't just do surveillance of sites they intend on attacking, they also survey the People that Protect the City. If you're a Terrorist, you're not only going to watch the site you're going to attack, but also do surveillance on the people that are going to provide resistance.
  • justplainzach
    justplainzach
    "Gah! I hate Americans and their Key Foods!"
  • pitu
    pitu
    King without a crown wrote: Yeah sounds pretty silly right? That little piece of equiptment costs over 1 million dollars and has many different functions. Terrorists don't just do surveillance of sites they intend on attacking, they also survey the People that Protect the City. If you're a Terrorist, you're not only going to watch the site you're going to attack, but also do surveillance on the people that are going to provide resistance.
    kwac . . .
    does the department tell officers to crack down on people with cameras because they are doing dangerous surveillance? of things in the open and already well publicized?
  • apollonia666
    apollonia666
    If you're standing on a public street or sidewalk taking a photo of something else that's on a public street or sidewalk, you're perfectly within your Constitutional rights. Period.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    pitu wrote: [quote=King without a crown]Yeah sounds pretty silly right? That little piece of equiptment costs over 1 million dollars and has many different functions. Terrorists don't just do surveillance of sites they intend on attacking, they also survey the People that Protect the City. If you're a Terrorist, you're not only going to watch the site you're going to attack, but also do surveillance on the people that are going to provide resistance.
    kwac . . .
    does the department tell officers to crack down on people with cameras because they are doing dangerous surveillance? of things in the open and already well publicized?
    Yeah, it's not like they're scoping out some new tech that they couldn't find elsewhere (say, by Google Image searching "NYPD Skywatch").
    The tunnels and bridges are one thing, but no one wants to live in a Police State. People should be able to take pictures in public places.

    It seems like most of the time, when police try to cite 9/11 as a reason they shouldn't be filmed or photographed, it has nothing to do with terrorism, and everything to do with inappropriate behavior by those officers (although I'm not saying that was occurring in this case).
    Benjamin Franklin wrote: Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
  • justplainzach
    justplainzach
    Does anybody know where it is now? I walked by this morning and it was gone.
  • mr. met
    mr. met
    oh my god the terrorists stole it!!!
  • neene
    neene
    mr. met wrote: oh my god the terrorists stole it!!!
    lol

    this is something that has been under discussion for some time on the nycphotobloggers board: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nycphoto/
  • buffalo
    buffalo
    Don't know if it is the same one but a tower is stationed at St. Johns and Utica currently...maybe it wanted to be closer to the station.
  • wirenut
    wirenut
    If a "REAL" terrorist really thought certain photographs of strategic things and people were of significant value for terror operations then I would expect that a "REAL" terrorist would spend some money on a good camera lense and take the photos he needs from a greater distance and/or camouflaged by something

    like the way the FBI does it
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    "If it's so important to take a picture of the Sky watch, why not ask the Cops first?"

    Oh yeah, I can just imagine how this would go over. You'd be lucky to get out of there without a cop threatening to arrest you. Plus, as a poster pointed out, you don't have to ask for permission. It's on a public street, so it's perfectly legal to take a picture of it and not say anything to the cops.
  • anonymous
    anonymous

    Subject: location of watchtower

    they moved it to the corner of sterling pl. and schnectady ave. because of a fatal shooting inside 1338 sterling yesterday, the police yelling over pictures has nothing to do with terrorism, some cops can be assholes and they generally dont like to be watched out of the fear that they get caught out there doing something they r not supposed to
  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    Yeah Jamel, you hit the nail right on the head, you sound like a pretty intelligent guy!
  • pitu
    pitu

    Subject: Re: location of watchtower

    jamel wrote: the police yelling over pictures has nothing to do with terrorism, some cops can be assholes and they generally dont like to be watched out of the fear that they get caught out there doing something they r not supposed to
    It's a pretty reasonable explanation . . .
    :D
    or maybe it's just an ego/power/territory thing, if that particular officer is not doing anything they are not supposed to be doing.

    Srsly, KWAC, what are the department's instructions to you guys?
  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    I'm not going to divulge Dept guidlines in regards to surveillance of Anti- Terrorist Equiptment, nor possible Terrorist sites. However, theres been numerous incidents, and possible attacks thwarted by cognizant Officers and members of the Community. The attacks of 9/11 were planned for over 7 years, and we are now entering the 7 year anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in US history. So why not cooperate with the people who are protecting you and I? It's pretty sad that Police Officers who risk their life day in and day out, get challenged and criticized by the very people that they protect. Many of you hadn't had the pleasure of sifting through toxic debris, looking for body parts to provide closure to mourning families. So lets not forget, and please realize that theres information thats not released to the Public, so as not to cause alarm. But there are very real threats out there, just today some sicko set off an explosive at Times Square. The description of the peretrator was not a Dark skinned man with a beard wearing a turban either.
  • daver
    daver
    Sorry, doesn't hold water. I can't condone these "rules" being made up and handed out without any oversite. If taking a picture of the sky thingy is going to be verbotten, then that needs to be a law on the books that anyone can look up. We can't just have cops wandering around telling people that things are against the law, but then not being able to provide the law being broken for "security" reasons. Ridiculous. In the first place, how are people supposed to even follow these rules if they are not allowed to even know what they are?
  • pitu
    pitu
    well said, daver.
    a law against taking photos on a public street would be unconstitional, however.

    kwac, I have to tell you that I find your dragging 9/11 into this grotesque.
    quite a few of us have very personal connections to that terrible event
    what we're talking about here is a well-publicized piece of equipment sitting in front of the Key Food for chrissakes
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    The way it has been explained to me, this thing is deployed to focus attention on blocks where street crime has been a problem. It is also intended, obviously, to loom as an intimidating presence to criminals. It had nothing to do with terrorists or terrorism or 9/11 (again, this is as we in the community understand it).

    Hopefully it has lead to a reduction in incidents and the capture of some bad people because it creates a real light and noise issue for law-abiding residents. That being said, I definitely appreciate the job cops do to keep people safe, and if this is what it takes at times, so be it. But to bring 9/11 into a conversation about photographing a police tower on a public street in Brooklyn is a lame and irrelevant tactic. The way I look at it, they needed one of these things in Times Square last night. There's a lot more chance of a terrorist incident happening there than on Nostrand Avenue.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    "Srsly, KWAC, what are the department's instructions to you guys?"

    I have to agree with KWAC on this...why on earth would he talk about Police Dept. instructions to officers on a BLOG???? That doesn't make sense.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    hey, didn't that bus in The Interpreter explode on Nostrand?
  • pitu
    pitu
    Anonymous wrote: "Srsly, KWAC, what are the department's instructions to you guys?"

    I have to agree with KWAC on this...why on earth would he talk about Police Dept. instructions to officers on a BLOG???? That doesn't make sense.
    I didn't think that would be Classified Information in a free and open society. The NYPD is not the Stasi, afterall.

    I already know KWAC is not going to tell us anything Secret on this neighborhood message board, but he often talks about police stuff, which I consider to be a public service to this neighborhood.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    "I didn't think that would be Classified Information in a free and open society. The NYPD is not the Stasi, afterall."

    Please eplain how specific information about police deployment and/or monitoring strategies is not "classified information." I think it's the very DEFINITION of classified information. NYPD doesn't have to be the Stasi to want to keep such things confidential. It's common sense.
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    Anonymous wrote: Please eplain how specific information about police deployment and/or monitoring strategies is not "classified information." I think it's the very DEFINITION of classified information. NYPD doesn't have to be the Stasi to want to keep such things confidential. It's common sense.
    The question isn't about "specific information about police deployment and/or monitoring strategies". Its a very basic question...

    What does the brass tell police to say about taking pictures of skywatch. If the answer is "they tell us not to let people do it" then we can let this particular subject drop. If the answer is "they didn't tell us anything" then we at least know that the answer may be arbitrary depending on what cop you run into...
  • obamanut
    obamanut

    Subject: NYPD Surveillance Tower

    Jesus... that thing is like a gentrification guard tower. What the hell is going on with this city?
  • mr. met
    mr. met
    Jesus... that thing is like a gentrification guard tower. What the hell is going on with this city?
    what the hell are you talking about?
  • hamilton
    hamilton

    Subject: Re: don't take a picture of the nypd mobile tower....

    pitu wrote: image
    Blogger yelled out by cops for taking this picture...I just don't get it.
    http://razorapple.com/2008/02/15/no-love-for-sky-watch/
    ****************************

    Could it be possible they didn't want you to know they shop at Key Food?
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    mr. met wrote:
    Jesus... that thing is like a gentrification guard tower. What the hell is going on with this city?
    what the hell are you talking about?
    srsly. most of the victims of violent crime in this area aren't exactly gentry.
  • obamanut
    obamanut
    There wasn't much of a rush to put up guard towers or any other sort of surveillance in Crown Heights ten years ago, when the crime was the same or worse than it is now.

    I would be interested in knowing if these POW camp fixtures are really going up in those areas with the most crime, or if it is more a case of 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease.'
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