LENS CAPTURE

Vol. 1 No. 41

After several months, the U.S. Department of Transportation responded to the American Civil Liberties Union inquiry regarding the alleged "no photography" outside DOT (Federal) buildings. In the response, the DOT apologized for their security staff routinely informing people that they cannot photograph the outside of the agency's building from nearby public places. The response goes on to state, "we are not aware of any law that imposes such a rule, and we do not believe DOT has the authority to impose such a rule."

Noteworthy is the Federal agency's inclusion of a Special Security Bulletin of the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service dated November 10, 2004. While this specific document covers properties in the National Capital Region, I would tend to believe the Federal policy towards photography of Federal properties from public places would be consistent with this document, regardless of the region. I am actively searching for policies that are geographically-specific. I'll post whatever I come across.

This bulletin, titled Photography of Federally Owned and Leased Facilities, goes on to direct security staff to conduct a field interview to confirm the individual (photographer) is not engaged in criminal activities. The bulletin directs staff to conduct all contact with the public, to include photographers, in a professional but polite manner. If the field interview does not yield any criminal/terrorist activity, the photography should be permitted to proceed unimpeded.

A pdf of this document, which I have already placed a hard copy in my camera bag, is available here.


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