Ban Uniforms! It's for the children

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Ban Uniforms! It's for the children

Posted: 8/22/2005 3:41:51 PM EDT

Union Tells Actors, Leave Cop Gear Home

Aug 22, 2005 5:11 pm US/Eastern

(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) Actors lucky enough to land bit roles playing New York police officers on television may have to start being more careful about how they get to work.

With security tighter in the Big Apple since Sept. 11, 2001, the union that represents TV and film actors has begun advising its New York-area members to stop buying police costumes or carrying them to gigs, even if their performances require them.

The Screen Actors Guild said in a statement posted on its Web site on Friday that ``an apparent shift in city policy'' may put actors at risk of arrest if they are stopped while carrying anything that looks too much like a real police uniform.

The odds that an actor might be stopped and questioned on his or her way to work went up this month when police began conducting random searches of passengers' bags in New York's subway system. The guild said two of its members had been detained by security personnel at an airport and a courthouse in recent months for possessing police costumes.

City code has long prohibited anyone other than a police officer from possessing a replica uniform or badge. But guild spokesman Seth Oster said on Monday that actors have traditionally been able to obtain letters from the police commissioner giving them permission to carry such items to work on the sets of movies or shows like NBC's ``Law & Order.''

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said that practice was abolished after the 2001 terrorist attack and has not been revived.

The guild said that over the past four months it has unsuccessfully sought to have the city clarify whether any new procedure was in place to allow actors to possess police costumes. Oster said it was better for actors to be extra careful until the rules are clarified.

``We recognize that these are complicated and dangerous times and that existing policies may need to be amended, and for good reason,'' he said. ``What professional actors in New York need is clarity. They need to understand what is lawful and what is not so they can continue to earn their living.''

Browne said the NYPD's film and television unit would continue to work with studios on production issues.

He confirmed, though, that police are deeply concerned about the wrong sorts of people obtaining access to police uniforms or equipment.

Under police department rules, real officers must be on hand any time an actor dons a police costume during a TV or film production.

Terrorism isn't the only concern, Browne said. Police regularly arrest crooks accused of posing as officers to confuse victims or to access restricted areas.

The Screen Actors Guild has 30,000 members in New York. About 200 work in jobs that require them to dress as police officers, Oster said.

Posted: 8/22/2005 3:44:23 PM EDT

[#1]

I always assumed the studio provided the uniforms on the set.

Posted: 8/22/2005 3:45:29 PM EDT

[#2]

Newsflash: New York cracks down on everyone but criminals and terrorists.

Posted: 8/22/2005 3:47:13 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Newsflash: New York cracks down on everyone but criminals and terrorists.

This is news?

Posted: 8/22/2005 3:53:57 PM EDT

[#4]

Odd, in junior high they made us wear uniforms, they said it was for the children!

Damn nazis, those uniforms clost more than regular clothes.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Ban Uniforms! It's for the children

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