Comments on: UK cops still having problems with suspected terrorists carrying cameras

By: RC

RC — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:11:30 +0000

My whole life I wanted to visit the UK. Until a few years ago that is, when all of the police there turned into a bunch of paranoid photographer hating psychos.

By: discarted

discarted — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:02:27 +0000

andrew should be inTERRORgated about why he still has that monitor

By: stephen

stephen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:31:37 +0000

Well, in this one case, and in defence of the police, let’s face it – the guy’s carrying a RUSSIAN camera! He’s obviously a spy.

By: Jon Quimbly

Jon Quimbly — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:49:23 +0000

From this article in The Independent, it sounds like the UK establishment is starting to hear photographers' complaints-

Lord Carlile [the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism] said, "The police have to be very careful about stopping people who are taking what I would call leisure photographs, and indeed professional photographers. The fact that someone is taking photographs is not prima facie a good reason for stop and search and is very far from raising suspicion. It is a matter of concern and the police will know that they have to look at this very carefully," he added. Martin Parr, a photojournalist who was threatened with arrest after he took pictures of revellers in Liverpool city centre, said: "Unless we do something to stop this trend it will become virtually impossible to take photographs on a British street." Marc Vallee said, "Why is the act of taking a picture deemed by the state to be so potentially threatening? Photography is not a crime but it is being routinely criminalised," he said. "Anti-terrorism legislation talks about creating a hostile environment for terrorists to operate but the reality is that it is creating a hostile environment for public photography. That has an incredibly detrimental effect on freedom of speech."

Maybe change will come.

By: John in Boca

John in Boca — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:05:10 +0000

I know of some local photographers who were run off by the Boca police for photographing near the local airport .. but it is getting pretty bad .. I don’t know how many different people stopped and asked me what I was shooting while on a night shoot in nearby Delray Beach .. If the USA starts considering folks with a camera to be doing terrorist acts, we’re all in trouble .. even worse than the scenario in Orwell’s “1984: .. just more of the hypocrisy in the world .. such as Sony making all this equirpment to be able to make your own cd’s and dvd’s and then abusing your rights by imbedding software in them to spy on your computer usage to make sure you aren’t copying any of their content ..

By: mepsipax

mepsipax — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:40:13 +0000

I have no idea what that last comment was about. Hope we don’t follow the UK on this trend but it seems to be coming.

By: I don't have a darn name

I don't have a darn name — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:22:23 +0000

In other news, TDM reports that the average chav has only thirty and a half teeth, a foreigner is interviewing for your job right now, and boffins show that chavism is up 225% since we stopped giving kids a good and proper birching.

By: Duane

Duane — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:38:50 +0000

He should have been stopped by the fashion police. Are rainbow camera straps still in fashion?

By: C. Rich

C. Rich — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:04:09 +0000

I won’t even fly anymore because of the whole ordeal. I just want these stupid wars to end. This is a great link which says it all:

http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/12/a-season-in-hell/