The Screen Actors Guild is urging its New York members not to carry police uniforms—used for roles in television productions such as "Law and Order"—as they go to shoots in the city, or else they risk being arrested.
"The New York Police Department has changed its policy regarding the purchase and possession of police uniforms by actors and all indications from City Hall are that actors found in possession of a police uniform will be arrested without regard to any documentation they may be carrying, including permission letters signed by previous police commissioners," said SAG in an email to its New York members this week. "At least two members have been arrested in connection with this change."
Paul Christie, president of the union's New York branch, said that SAG has been working with the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting and the Motion Picture Association of America to reach a compromise that would allow the police to implement needed security measures in the city while also letting actors continue to work in film and television roles requiring them to bring police uniforms to the set.
Christie called a meeting of concerned members for Wed., Aug. 24, at 4 p.m. at SAG's offices at 360 Madison Ave. Only members directly affected and who own police uniforms are being asked to attend.
Christie said he could only "guesstimate" that perhaps as many as 300 SAG actors are affected by the policy. But he added that he'd have a more specific idea after Wednesday's meeting.
"Everybody's in a Catch-22 situation right now," Christie said on Thursday when asked about the email. "We're getting asked to show up for work with police uniforms like always, but the police directive is that if we do what we've always done before, we're going to be arrested."
As for the two actors who were arrested as a result of the tighter security policy, Christie said on Friday that one was detained overnight and the other was released immediately.
"This has been going on for a couple of months, but it really kicked in the last couple of weeks," he said. "Part of Wednesday's meeting will be devoted to my saying, 'Give me your ideas. If you have a workable solution, we'll present it downtown.' An answer might come out of that meeting. These guys are dealing with it day to day. So their discussions might come up with something that will work."
A spokesperson for the mayor's film office referred any questions to the NYPD. The city Police Department late Friday released the following statement:
"The New York City Police Department works closely with the movie and film industry and in fact, has specific resources dedicated to covering film locations in NYC, our 'Movie-TV Unit.' There has been no change in department policy regarding police uniforms; the regulations concerning their use have been effect for many years."
"I can more than understand the police directive for tighter security," Christie said. "We all get that for the time we're living in, especially with what happened in London."
Christie was referring to the recent terrorist bombings on London subways. Those attacks have led the NYPD to begin randomly searching the bags of riders entering the subway.
SAG issued a press release Friday afternoon advising members "to no longer purchase or carry police costumes in the New York City area—even to jobs that require the use of such costumes."
Union spokesman Seth Oster said in the press release, "The Bloomberg administration has been a steadfast supporter of increased film and television production in New York City. We appreciate that the administration and NYPD are taking into consideration the needs of working actors as it creates and implements this new policy. We are prepared to continue to work with city officials on a policy that, first and foremost, protects the people of New York and that is in the best interests of all parties."