Police Misuse of Powers Again

[Paddy]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...e-1833127.html

Alex Turner, an amateur photographer from Kent, was arrested after he took pictures of Mick's Plaice, a fish and chip shop in Chatham.

A BBC journalist was stopped and searched by two police community support officers as he took photographs of St Paul's Cathedral.

Andrew White, 33, was stopped and asked to give his name and address after taking photographs of Christmas lights on his way to work in Brighton.

Martin Parr, a photojournalist who was threatened with arrest after he took pictures of revellers in Liverpool city centre

[Spacecadet]

At least they weren't arrested for being too tall

[HairyArsedBloke]

Any day now I'm expecting a story of how one of these plastic plod gets themselves a good kicking for trying to 'lord it over' someone who isn't going to take it.

Maybe that person will be me.

[lilelvis2000]

Funny, none of those names sound remotely Pakistani or Muslim to me. They really are going over the top these days. I seem to recall a story in the summer where a German(?) couple were stopped for photographing a London bus and the police officer forced them to delete all images on their digital camera. what the heck is going on?

[NickFitz]

At least they weren't arrested for being too tall

Ahem:

Alex Turner, an amateur photographer from Kent, was arrested after he took pictures of Mick's Plaice, a fish and chip shop in Chatham.

Same bloke, same incident

[HairyArsedBloke]

what the heck is going on?

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[Paddy]

Funny, none of those names sound remotely Pakistani or Muslim to me. They really are going over the top these days. I seem to recall a story in the summer where a German(?) couple were stopped for photographing a London bus and the police officer forced them to delete all images on their digital camera. what the heck is going on?

Probably for the same reason that I was stopped by police for doing 35mph in a 40mph passed a school. There reason, I was acting suspicious by driving slow.

The efficiency of the police is measured with targets and statistics. If a policemen stops a number people under anti-terror laws; then he is keeping up with his anti-terror targets. Furthermore, the police need to stop more middle class whites to balance out the number of minorities they stop. If a policemen stops a bearded Afghan, he will need to stop five whites to balance his books.

[DaveB]

Craig Mackey, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on stop-and-search legislation, said he does have sympathy for photographers, but said that part of the problem was that some officers were not aware how best to use the "complex" legislation. He said: "It goes back to the issue of briefing and training of staff and making sure they are clear around the legislation we are asking them to use."

Sums it up really. Govt passes some shiny new legislation without thinking it through. It's pushed down to the plod who get a 30 minute "briefing" on it and are left to work it out for themselves. They are always going to err on the side of caution and nick someone first and ask questions later.

Similar problems were seen during the anti-capitalist protests where large numbers of provincial plod were bussed in to help police the events while having no real experience with the legislation around authorised protests and section 44 areas. Mark Steel did a very good radio piece on it at the time.

[xoggoth]

My favourite stop reason was "we haven't seen you around here before". This was on a fairly major A road.

[NickFitz]

My favourite stop reason was "we haven't seen you around here before". This was on a fairly major A road.

Well, if you will go to Wales...