[MilCom] Fwd: [MilRadioComms] If you photograph airplanes atairports, re...

[Ken]

It's ALWAYS best to be polite without raised voice when talking with ANY law 
enforcement officer.  IF they feel threatened they have every right to 
handcuff & detain you (note I did not say arrest which is different).  Don't 
escalate a situation.  With security he should have asked for the flight 
supervisor to respond before he allowed them to touch anything.

The individual involved at the Patrick AFB incidents should consider at 
least writing a letter to the installation commander or at least the Public 
Affairs Office, complaining about his treatment.   I think if you look in 
the AF regulation (public affairs & emergency response) you will find that 
unless you are on government property, security nor anyone else has NO right 
to touch your camera and erase pictures.

What's ironic is if you look at the current AF websitehttp://www.af.mil/ 
there a video entitled "MC-12 Flies First Combat Sortie", which is about 
AF's new intelligence gathering small aircraft operating in Iraq.   Now if 
they post this information on a sensitive operation, it's insane for someone 
in security police to come off base & do what they did.  The example above 
should be given when he writes the letter.

BTW I've found that the "good" guys (who aren't doing anything wrong, just 
enjoying the hobby) tend to stay around and get hassled by security forces. 
What seems to be NEVER addressed is the ones that get away prior to security 
forces arrival  -- they will never know the true intentions of those, will 
they?

Also there's a big different between taking  pictures of planes landing & 
taking off, versus pictures of the security perimeter fencing, entry gates, 
& even military personnel off base.  IF they find those types of pictures, 
perhaps this should be a great concern.

Ken



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom M." <courir26 at yahoo.com>
To: "MilCom (Group)" <milcom at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 7:16 AM
Subject: Re: [MilCom] Fwd: [MilRadioComms] If you photograph airplanes 
atairports, re...


>
> Although I have respect for the military (my son is in the US Army) I 
> would have told those MPs to go get screwed.  Tell them to bring the civie 
> police out and cite the statute that was violated by talking pictures from 
> the beach. I would have taken their pictures too.
>
> The UK and USA are two distinctly different places.
>
> Tom
> USA