NOT a crime

Many times in Singapore, I've been accosted and hassled by public enforcers (read between the lines - privately hired security guards) who in their zeal to maintain the peace, try to stop me from doing my job photographing in public spaces.

I CANNOT emphasize this enough, photo-taking and video-shooting in public spaces is NOT a crime.

Too many people don’t understand they have a legal right to take photographs and record video in public places.

In the US, the practice of street photography has a long tradition in New York City and its purpose varies from hobby and artistic expression to memory making and journalistic documentation. But the freedom to photograph and film has long been taken for granted and challenged in the wake of 9/11. Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.
Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid bombers, Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Yet day in, day out, you're bound to bump into law enforcement officials who are not even aware of the laws of state they've sworn to uphold.


In the UK, CCTV cameras are installed everywhere to monitor the streets and keep the public safe. But at what cost? London is almost entirely blanketed by a legion of CCTV cameras and the city is in danger of sinking into orwellian territory where Big Brother dominates. And if UK citizens can forfeit their liberty in the name of security, who's to stop an everyday joe from taking pictures in public spaces? This video below is taken in the UK where (irony upon ironies) a police officer of Asian descent (most likely a recent immigrant as he does not speak with a british accent) is harassing a British native from doing something well within legal boundaries. To top it all off, when confronted, the officer cannot provide a reason why as to why it is "illegal" to be filming in a public space. All he does is to insist that its wrong.


Here in land scarce Singapore, law enforcement officers are none the wiser. Except that it makes little difference when the mere crossing of the road means you're leaving one government / private / commercial property only to be entering into another. Even the press is guilty of flouting the law often times shooting in privately owned spaces without a permit. Over here, its more a case of pushing the envelope as much as possible without being caught.

Know your rights and what to do when approached by law enforcement.

Don't cede your right to photograph in public.