CSBC
News Editor
Reged: 24/11/2006
Posts: 825
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AP News
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boo22
newbie
Reged: 15/05/2008
Posts: 1
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I really do think that the Police enjoy harassing photographers. Only the other week I was approached by a female copper who had objected to my taking some street photography even though I and the entire UK force who had tipped up to deal with a domestic incident were in public! It really did beggar belief, and as the domestic was between husband and wife or boyfriend girlfriend, and they had kids with them I had made sure I did not take any photos of the children with mum merely because of the uneducated knee jerk reactions of both the police and public.
Although when the copper asked me what I was doing my telling her I was having a swim probably annoyed her a little! But I was sat there on a park bench with my dslr camera with a 70-200 canon lens fitted with a 2x teleconverter, so not at all discreet you might say, but it wasn't my intention to take pictures of any street photography, it just so happened that that was what I had fitted to my camera at the very time key stone cops turned up.
I had read a little of UK photographers rights a while previous, but when interrogated you kind of forget all logic and your legal rights and sit there all guilty! She was joined by another male officer who wanted to see exactly what photographs I had been taking, when he had had a look, he merely said "I'm happy with those except the ones of me talking to the member of the public, I want you to delete those as he hasn't given his permission to be photographed" By now I was so incensed at having two coppers looking at the photographs on my camera two police vans and one car on the road all with blue lights flashing and the general public walking and driving past all I assume coming to the same conclusion as I would "probably a peado"
When the copper handed me the camera back to delete the photographs I had failed to get permission for, I simply deleted the whole memory card, just so they would get out of my face, then the female copper decided that she wanted to see if she could get a rise out of me and started asking for my name and address etc, well to be honest this isn't the first time I've had a run in with the law, and I know that unless you have committed an offence which they need to issue you with a summons for then you do not have to answer their questions and most certainly don't have to tell them your name and address. This only added fuel to the fire with even more deriding comments from her and her "colleague" but I sat their whilst they filled out the "stop and account" form, once she had handed it to me I whipped out my mobile phone, made out I was calling my solicitor "Hello, can I speak to M**************s please? Ok what time is he out of court? Thank you I'll ring then" And by the time I had finished the two coppers were falling over themselves to justify their actions.
I came home and read my rights again, printed off a couple of copies, put one in my wallet. Made sure I knew off the top of my head exactly where I stood on taking photographs in public. Then two days later I was at an event busy taking photographs, when I caught an incident which put six people in hospital, and for my time the papers paid me £325 for three photographs! I'm just waiting now for the time I capture the Police having a scrap with the local thugs, yeah wanna be my friend then eh, wanna see my pictures then eh, well no, in actual fact I will have deleted them before you can pick yourselves up off the floor, 
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NorthernNikon
Bulls Hitter
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 6178
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
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And breath ...
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www.BarneyAllen.com the new home of ComicShots.
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Matt_Hunt
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/11/2005
Posts: 2280
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If the police are too ill-trained to understand that a terrorist is unlikely to carry out a reccie by blowing £800 of their precious guns, cars, fertiliser and nail budget on a DSLR (I understand you can buy a lot of 1" nails for £800), then they really need to up the IQ test on their recruits.
Let alone the whole photography in public thing. Do police colleges only comprise of 'How to look good wearing your belt kit courses'??
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/reactivefilm/
My Blog
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Bawbee
Out on a whim
Reged: 06/05/2000
Posts: 7067
Loc: Dundee, Scotland, UK
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Quote:
And breath ...
Phew! That's some story for a first post.
Do you have any respect at all for the Police Boo22?
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Bawbee BSRIPN
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
Bawbee Louis Stevenson 1850-1894
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Mark101
addict
Reged: 15/03/2007
Posts: 583
Loc: Lincolnshire
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It has been said so many times before ........NEVER, NEVER, EVER delete a photgraph, they are your interlectuisl property snd if you have commiteed a crime they are evidence. You can always remind the police too that photos deleted can be recovered at home because software recovery is available.
The big problem is too many of photographers engage into discussion with the police over matters that are no concern of theirs. The best method is to make a statement of the law as advised over photography then say nothing else. Write to the Chief Constable if I were you.
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Cavyslave
Edited by Mark101 (16/05/2008 13:41)
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Ian_A
Avocadopearaphobe
Reged: 02/09/2002
Posts: 7897
Loc: Horwich UK
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Quote:
You can always remind the police too that photos deleted can be recovered at home because software recovery is available.
I'm not sure it's a good idea to 'wise them up' that way - just tell them a court order is required to destroy the photos, and maybe politely remind them that it is their job to enforce the law - not make it up as they go along ...
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Ian A 
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TheFatControlleR
L'éminence Grise, Devil's Advocate & AP Fanboy!
Reged: 24/04/2001
Posts: 11659
Loc: Not here, it's rubbish...
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Quote:
... and maybe politely remind them that it is their job to enforce the law - not make it up as they go along ...
... or, indeed, break it! 
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TheFatControlleR
And so, my fellow Benchists: ask not what your bench can do for you - ask what you can do for your bench... Ben Chism
Live fat, die young, and leave a self-basting corpse...
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