When you’re filming on location it’s wise to contact the local law enforcers to let them know. It’s also a smart idea to request an officer onsite during the filming. Why would I suggest voluntarily interacting with the police? Because, in the case of on location filming, it could avoid a situation like this:
Police in Indiana fired a gunshot at a man who they thought was a thief on Tuesday, but was actually just an actor playing one.
The incident occurred after Indiana State Police responded to the scene of a possible robbery at Backstep Brewing Co. in Crawfordsville, Indiana, according to Fox 8 Cleveland.
When actor Jim Duff exited the building, wearing a ski mask and holding a gun, police reportedly thought he was the suspect they were looking for.
My guess is that either the film crew didn’t alert the local law enforcers that they would be filming there or they did inform the local law enforcers but that information didn’t communicated down the chain. Having a local law enforcer present could have prevented this since when the other officers arrived at the scene a known individual could have informed them that the “robbery” was being shot for a movie.
There are no absolute rules in the universe. While I normally recommend against voluntarily interacting with law enforcers, there are circumstances where doing so may be the less bad option.