In spite of the fact that taking a picture of the bridge from public property is perfectly legal, police continue to harass photographers. One example is this recent incident. According to the photographer who tells his story on Flickr:

a State Police car pulled up and an officer got out and started questioning me. I asked them if I was being detained, they said no but it wont look good. So I said what do you mean it wont look good… The State Police wanted to see what parts of the bridge I was taking pictures of, so I showed him. All was okay except the one taken at the base of the bridge were all the security equipment is. They nicely asked me to delete it. The police were very friendly and non threatening.

Even though the police in this case were “friendly and non-threatening, nevertheless they examined photographs without a search warrant and forced the photographer to delete a picture. What if he had refused both “requests”? Would they still have been as “nice”? What is the implied threat behind words like “it wont look good”?

If you try to take a picture of the George Washington Bridge prepare to be harassed.

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