Grand Central Encounter

So I was out and about with some Flickr friends yesterday when I was harassed by a New York City cop stationed in a little air conditioned booth in Grand Central Station. There was a yellow pipe covered in some sort of corroded substance that also obscured a "DANGER" sign against a deep brown wall - - could be a great shot.

I got down on one knee and start to get my breathing just right so I can hold the camera steady enough for long exposure when I feel some one's finger tips forcibly push my left shoulder - - my first reaction was that some was pushing me so that I would fall down. I was ready to scream and hit someone being that I was fairly close to the platform's edge.

"Hey!", I said before realizing it was a cop. "I'm sorry you scarred the crap out of me."

He says, "You can't take pictures here."

"I'm sorry."

We had an exchange along with my friends and the more questions and responses we had the more the cop's reasoning for me not being allowed to take pictures changed.

First he says I can't take pictures of the subway infrastructure. Then he back peddles and says I can't "take pictures of tracks". Then he falls back some more and says the "the Transit Authority policy allows you take pictures, but the Police Department policy doesn't allow pictures of tracks and tunnels."

So I have to ask the cop, "Well how about if I take the picture I want to take, show it to you and you decide if it's okay?". I think that was a bit too much decision making for one cop to handle.

He then dreams up some other stuff about "Homeland Security... blah, blah, blah, blah... Al Qaeda... blah, blah, blah, blah... The size of my camera, blah, blah, blah...". He has no idea what the f- he's talking about now.

Frustrated the cop asks me for my identification at which I soundly say, "No. You may not have my identification. I have not done anything wrong yet."

Surprised the cop responds, "Most people would show their identification." "Well I don't want to." I say.

Naturally I fire off a couple of shots as I pretend to be listening.