UK man hassled by cop for not having a “camera license”
[Quote:]
A quick-thinking police officer spotted a 49-year-old man taking photos of Christmas lights and busted him on the spot for not having a camera license. When the photographer failed to produce a license (which would have been a neat trick, since there’s no such thing as a camera license in England or any other free nation) the officer kept the world safe from terror by making the man delete all the photos in the camera.
“People were still taking photos with mobile phones and pocket cameras, so maybe it was because mine looked like a professional camera with a flash on top,” he says.
“I wasn’t very pleased because I was taken through the crowd and through the barriers at the front and people were probably thinking ‘I wonder what he was doing.’
“To be pulled out of a crowd is very daunting and I wasn’t aware of my rights.
“It’s a sad state of affairs today if an amateur photographer can’t stand in the street taking photographs.”
Here are Flickr photos of the Christmas lights of Ipswich, every one taken by terrorists no doubt.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:20
But you have to admit, that the police officer has been corrected, and the guy got a letter of apology and a personal visit and personal apology from the police later.
Yes, the officer made an error, but then the police did apologize and try to make up for it. I think that is part of the story too.
Paranoia is rampant, but at least they did not behave like ass in the end.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:44
Yes - and this story needs to be spread as wide as possible to prevent future incidents like this…
April 18th, 2008 at 8:55
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7351252.stm
I saw it three times yesterday. The whole BBC article, including the what steps people - both civilians, journalists and politicians - took to lighten up the situation.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:45
A Home Office minister has now re-affirmed the legality and rights of photographers to operate in public places.