Man Arrested Over Photo of Oil Refinery

If the police did not allow him to leave when he wanted to go, he was arrested.

"No aesthetic value??"

Oooh, I am so busted!

@dev I don't know about US law, but in English law (upon which US law is based) detained is effectively a polite way of saying arrested. The only way the police can detain you is to arrest you. Or to put it another way if you're not arrested you can leave whenever you like, so you are not detained.

it's completely ridiculous to be arrested or detained for taking a photo like that. there are plenty of great industrial buildings that make great photo subjects, and just because one person doesn't see artistic value in it doesn't mean other people don't. i've had two friends hassled for this exact same thing (one was taking photos of an oil refinery, one was taking photos of old smokestacks at a power plant). neither was arrested or even ticketed, but they were given a strong talking-to by the police and forced to leave (despite the fact that neither had been trespassing on private property).

i suppose i understand the need for security around certain places, but like another poster said, it only takes about a minute to find photos of these places on Google Earth. not only that, but i would imagine someone that REALLY wanted to take photos for a nefarious purpose wouldn't be out doing it in broad daylight with a tripod and a bag full of various camera equipment and lenses. somehow i doubt a terrorist would bother using a light meter....or a $5000 camera.

I know that refinery well, as my corp. offices used to be right next to it, and my hotel was across the highway from it. I've been tempted many times to take photos of it, and will do so at my next earliest opportunity.