Photography is Legal on Metrorail Despite What Guards Tell You

A recent visitor to Miami was riding on the Metromover shooting video when a 50 State security guard ordered him to put the camera away because he was coming across as a terrorist.

“I’m a tourist, not a terrorist,” responded Jeff Birmingham, who is a video producer from Canada.

The guard didn’t care.

“I guess me making fun little YouTube videos on the free tourist train is a threat to national security,” Birmingham complained on the forums of Cruise Critic.

“It really sucks that the terrorists won, eh?”

Birmingham, who managed to shoot the above time-lapsed video of the Metromover speeding through downtown, is hardly the first tourist to be told he was not allowed to shoot video or take photos on the Miami-Dade Transit line.

Last year, a visitor from New York said he was informed by Miami-Dade Transit Security Chief Eric Muntan that photography of trains was strictly forbidden without a permit.

Locals have also been harassed for taking photos. Or in my case, been either banned from the Metrorail entirely or assaulted by a security guard for daring to walk into a station with a handheld video camera.

The problem is, there is no law or policy forbidding photography or videography on the Metrorail if it is done for personal or newsgathering purposes. The only time a permit is needed is if it is done for commercial purposes.

A tourist documenting his adventures in the Magic City does not fall under commercial purposes.

So why have they been lying to us?

My guess is that it is a power trip. Either that or complete ignorance of the laws they’re supposed to enforce.

However, last week, a group of local photographers, including myself, staged a photo protest at the one station where I first banned, then assaulted for attempting to walk inside the station with a camera.

And although Muntan and 50 State were aware we were going to stage the protest, they made no attempt to stop us.

In fact, Muntan even confirmed that non-commercial photography and videography was allowed in a letter he wrote to Mickey Osterreicher, attorney from the National Press Photographers Association, which protested the treatment some photographers have received on the Metrorail.

The truth is, while the law states that non-commercial photography and videography is allowed on the Metrorail, it could stand to be written more clearly, as it was pointed out in Osterreicher’s response to Muntan.

Maybe the real lesson here is if you want to take photos on the Metrorail, show up with 20 other photographers because otherwise, you might be considered a terrorist.

While we consider the protest a victory for photographers, that can only be determined by how individual photographers, including tourists, are treated in the future.

Photos from the Metrorail protest by Carlos Miller

Related Links: Riding the Metrorail (Pictures and Video) Related Categories: Miami: Local News, Carlos Miller is a featured writer at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller. See more articles by Carlos Miller Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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