by LIRailfan79
be carefull out there, don't get caught filming twice or else your name may end up in some secret MTA database.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 3661c.html
MTA has a secret film file:
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
MTA investigators are keeping a secret database of people stopped and questioned for filming or photographing bridges and tunnels as part of the agency's efforts to thwart terror, the Daily News has learned.
The information is used to try to determine whether shutterbugs are simply putting together vacation slide shows - or gathering intelligence to plot mayhem, law enforcement sources said.
In one instance, a man was questioned for filming on the Verrazano Bridge. He was questioned and released.
A few days later, authorities in another state stopped someone filming on a bridge and asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Interagency Counter Terrorism Task Force if it had information about the person, the sources said.
It turned out the other state's shutterbug was using the same vehicle as the man who was stopped for filming on the Verrazano, sources said.
The sources declined to elaborate on the investigation.
But one source noted that in general, if someone pops up twice filming a crossing, "You start to develop a case.
"Some may not go to a full-blown case that involves an arrest, but it develops into intelligence where you can establish a trail where you can tie individuals together that otherwise would have gone unknown," the source said.
In at least some cases, the film is kept, sources said, and in all cases the images are reviewed.
"By reviewing the film you can tell if they are tourists or if they are cluing in, and you can see on certain films they are cluing in on beams, they are cluing in on security checkpoints," one source said. "Those are the ones that appear to be more than just casual filming."
Another source said those who were stopped let investigators review their film voluntarily. The source was not aware of anyone refusing.
"Most of the time they show us the images right there because they are tourists," the source said.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels oversees seven bridges - the Verrazano, Triborough, Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial - and two tunnels, the Midtown and the Battery.
The crossings are used by 800,000 vehicles a day.
Originally published on July 27, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 3661c.html
MTA has a secret film file:
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
MTA investigators are keeping a secret database of people stopped and questioned for filming or photographing bridges and tunnels as part of the agency's efforts to thwart terror, the Daily News has learned.
The information is used to try to determine whether shutterbugs are simply putting together vacation slide shows - or gathering intelligence to plot mayhem, law enforcement sources said.
In one instance, a man was questioned for filming on the Verrazano Bridge. He was questioned and released.
A few days later, authorities in another state stopped someone filming on a bridge and asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Interagency Counter Terrorism Task Force if it had information about the person, the sources said.
It turned out the other state's shutterbug was using the same vehicle as the man who was stopped for filming on the Verrazano, sources said.
The sources declined to elaborate on the investigation.
But one source noted that in general, if someone pops up twice filming a crossing, "You start to develop a case.
"Some may not go to a full-blown case that involves an arrest, but it develops into intelligence where you can establish a trail where you can tie individuals together that otherwise would have gone unknown," the source said.
In at least some cases, the film is kept, sources said, and in all cases the images are reviewed.
"By reviewing the film you can tell if they are tourists or if they are cluing in, and you can see on certain films they are cluing in on beams, they are cluing in on security checkpoints," one source said. "Those are the ones that appear to be more than just casual filming."
Another source said those who were stopped let investigators review their film voluntarily. The source was not aware of anyone refusing.
"Most of the time they show us the images right there because they are tourists," the source said.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels oversees seven bridges - the Verrazano, Triborough, Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial - and two tunnels, the Midtown and the Battery.
The crossings are used by 800,000 vehicles a day.
Originally published on July 27, 2005
