By Carlos Miller
Two British women were jailed for four days after photographing police and asking for their badge numbers.
They were charged with obstructing a police officer but those charges were later dropped. Now the arresting officers are under investigation.
The irony is that police were recording the entire incident themselves. And now it may come back to bite them in their cheeky asses.
Check out the video here.
That incident is just the latest to emerge from the United Kingdom this week in which War on Photography has been doing a good job of documenting.
Here are the other incidents:
- British School Bans Parents From Making Memories – A school in Britian forbids parents from taking photos of their children during “Sports Day”, which is evidently some type of event where kids engage in the types of activities a parent might just want to document.
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Warning to Tourists Visiting Great Britain - We all know that photographing police in the U.K. is equivalent to an act of terrorism but now we learn that British authorities maintain a secret list of locations where photographers are subject to arrest if they dare take pictures in those locations. The government refuses to reveal these locations, making it a crap shoot for photographers.
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British Police Community Support Officer Insults Photographer – A photographer who was carrying two digital SLR cameras was accused by police of being a “child photographing pervert” because they believed that perverts use D-SLRs while normal people use point and shoots and cell phone cameras. Obviously, they haven’t heard of the upskirting cell phone perverts.
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Related posts:
- Even the British courts understand the rights of photographers
- British photojournalist wins more than £5000 in damages from unlawful arrest
- British cops caught on camera punching and torturing innocent soldier
- Photographer who was arrested by English police posts photos of the incident
- Internet videos expose the dark side of the badge
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Fernandez, as I mentioned in a 
correct link for the video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/jun/21/fit-watch-kingsnorth-arrests
Thanks. Just corrected it. I was looking for an embed but couldn’t find one.
It’s kinda scary that the police’s faces are being “protected.” Why would the police need to hide their faces? Aren’t they there to protect and serve? Is this what we have to look forward to in America?
Well if they don’t want to give up their names, they surely don’t want the world to see their faces.
It’s easier to break the law that way.
Welcome to fuckin’ fascism. It could never happen here. Right?
Charge people with a bogus crime, the charges eventually get dropped, but not before those held in contempt of cop have spent time in jail and gone through a hell of a lot of aggravation, while the police go on about their business.
It’s easy to be a bully when you’re a cop.
I’ve met cops who are completely fine with the dance that goes on between them and protesters. They will say their badge number and go on doing their job because they know that this identification is just as much a protection for them as it is for the people they are supposed to be policing/protecting, whatever it is they call it.
Bullies are bullies no matter the colors they wear but they get so much more dangerous when they think they have some sanctioned right to their force.