Its good to get the opinions of serving officers - it gives me a bit of faith in the 'system'. I wonder if I could throw a hypothetical 'what if?' at them.

Supposing you had a report of someone behaving suspiciously so you went off to investigate. After watching at a discrete distance you decided that there was nothing remotely illegal happening (in this hypothetical example, it was clearly a case of a jobsworth acting out of order).

I presume you'd still have a friendly chat with the tog in question just to be sure, but would you go back and have a word with the original complainant and tell them you've got more important things to worry about?

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and
Flickr

Paul Montgomery:

Its good to get the opinions of serving officers - it gives me a bit of faith in the 'system'. I wonder if I could throw a hypothetical 'what if?' at them. Supposing you had a report of someone behaving suspiciously so you went off to investigate. After watching at a discrete distance you decided that there was nothing remotely illegal happening (in this hypothetical example, it was clearly a case of a jobsworth acting out of order). I presume you'd still have a friendly chat with the tog in question just to be sure, but would you go back and have a word with the original complainant and tell them you've got more important things to worry about?

Most definitely - reassurance to the public comes not only from us investigating whatever it is that they report, but also from us telling them the end result, whether that be that there was nothing to worry about or that they made the call that saved the masses from the next big terrorist hit.....and if it's appropriate to politely advise people about what they call in then so be it. We do it often with many other types of jobs such as noise complaints (call the council), playground bullying (tell the school), i want my property back from my ex-partner (tell your solicitor to tell their solicitor)...you get the drift.

Someone once reminded me that the general public think along the following lines: if you hurt yourself call the ambulance service, if there's a fire call the fire brigade.....for everything else, call the police. Not meaning to be flippant but we do get some rubbish phoned in - you'd be gobsmacked at some of it!

Matt

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My DCM Gallery

matty6380:

.....................Someone once reminded me that the general public think along the following lines: if you hurt yourself call the ambulance service, if there's a fire call the fire brigade.....for everything else, call the police. Not meaning to be flippant but we do get some rubbish phoned in - you'd be gobsmacked at some of it!

Matt

Hi Matt,

You have my sympathy with this last comment, I remember watching a documentary some years ago about what the public dial 999 for when it is not an emergency. The one that has stuck with me was a dear old lady who had dialled the nines because her son was on holiday, the remote had stopped working and she was in danger of missing her favourite TV program - priceless.

Cheers, Peter.

 

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Oh Lord, please help me to be the person that my dog thinks I am.

I find it quite ironic given all the fuss about hassling photographers, that the Metropolitan Police have asked for their help in supplying images relating to the shooting by armed officers of that idiot barrister (or whatever he was)...

Doesn't CCTV work in Central London? Oh no, obviously not!

It makes me laugh especially when we see posters telling people to be suspicious of photographers (if you spot an odd photographer, report it).

Go to a Flickr meet... plenty of odd 'togs at one of those!

... and yet in North Wales, it's still impossible to have a delinquent, stoned, drunk, dirty, smelly, dole-scrounging sixteen year old arrested for threatening to damage your car and to poison your dog because - as my local 'Community Beat Manager said';

"It's your word against his!"

Go figure!

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Si
DCM
spiritflier.com
My Flickr
BPITW x 4

admin:

What do you want to know about photographic law? If you've got quesions you want answered or specific topics you want covered please post them in this thread, I'll be taking note.

Thanks,

Rach @ DCM

rachaeldcruze@fuurenet.co.uk

Got enough notes yet Rach?

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
A BLOG
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matty6380:

Paul Montgomery:

Its good to get the opinions of serving officers - it gives me a bit of faith in the 'system'. I wonder if I could throw a hypothetical 'what if?' at them. Supposing you had a report of someone behaving suspiciously so you went off to investigate. After watching at a discrete distance you decided that there was nothing remotely illegal happening (in this hypothetical example, it was clearly a case of a jobsworth acting out of order). I presume you'd still have a friendly chat with the tog in question just to be sure, but would you go back and have a word with the original complainant and tell them you've got more important things to worry about?

Most definitely - reassurance to the public comes not only from us investigating whatever it is that they report, but also from us telling them the end result, whether that be that there was nothing to worry about or that they made the call that saved the masses from the next big terrorist hit.....and if it's appropriate to politely advise people about what they call in then so be it. We do it often with many other types of jobs such as noise complaints (call the council), playground bullying (tell the school), i want my property back from my ex-partner (tell your solicitor to tell their solicitor)...you get the drift.

Someone once reminded me that the general public think along the following lines: if you hurt yourself call the ambulance service, if there's a fire call the fire brigade.....for everything else, call the police. Not meaning to be flippant but we do get some rubbish phoned in - you'd be gobsmacked at some of it!

Matt

Again, my views are similar to Matt.

Most (not all) ring the police to report something because they have a genuine concern. Its only common courteousy that we should speak to them to update them. Most (if not almost all) police work relies on help and info off the public, without them the police force would be just stabbing in the dark.

Sometimes the public do get it wrong though, and depending on the complaint, we do give words of advice, or just a simple 'thanks' for reporting it. One instance that spring to mind of a job i went to, was a report from a concerned parent. They had been informed from their child that a man and woman were sat in a car videoing children as they left school. They thought that maybe a snatch was going to take place as this had happened on several occasions and had been their daughter that was videod. She was obviously quite worried to. I made a check on the number plate, and it was registered out of the area, raising concerns even more.

To cut a long story short, this couple were spoken to and worked for the council videoing children, because of reports they had received of school childen littering in the area, and they wanted to catch them at it. I updated the original caller, and put the mind at ease.

One of the most pathetic calls i have had to respond to was a constant complainer/caller, who called police to say that 'her budgie wouldnt go in its cage'.

 

MATT

For more info about what PCThug thinks click here

As you can see he knows nothing about the law and has obviously recently been issued with new guidance ie don't upset the middle class togs.

Bit of tune changing I think

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BPitW 9-10 June 2007.
My website. My DCM gallery. flickr

matty6380:

We do it often with many other types of jobs such as noise complaints (call the council),

but isn't breach of the peace a police matter?

matty6380:

playground bullying (tell the school)

threatening behaviour? assault? Police matters surely?

matty6380:

i want my property back from my ex-partner (tell your solicitor to tell their solicitor)

theft?

matty6380:

Not meaning to be flippant but we do get some rubbish phoned in - you'd be gobsmacked at some of it!

I believe you that you get some rubbish phoned in, but for most people, the sort of thing mentioned in your examples are far from "rubbish" to the people involved.

Your attitude is typical of what I've found from most police officers: If there isn't an easy collar involved, they're not interested. I'm sure you didn't mean to come across as uncaring and I'm sure you actually do as good a job as you can under difficult circumstances, but it is depressing that not even the police are interested in these "everyday" crimes which cause daily misery to an awful lot of people.

This thread seems to be turning into a bash the police thread, instead of the original topic. The police are charged with upholding the law, so perhaps, the people who we should bash are the lawmakers! Who are the lawmakers? Well by a strange twist it's the MP's, who are so busy milking the public purse they haven't got time to address this topic.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

Yep, have to agree with you Oldboy - this thread was not about police bashing.

I'm not a policeman, but by son-in-law is, my nephew is and my wifes' previous husband was and you only have to talk to them to know that some people really haven't got a clue. Usually most of the people just require an education on the fact that with rights comes duties... or the fact that a police officer is not employed to tell you the best way to find your cat who's late for lunch!

No, let's keep this thread to what it is, a dicsussion on how best to deal with those killjoys in the security industry who sometimes impede us in the enjoyment of our hobby.

Andrew

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My Gallery

veggiesosage:

For more info about what PCThug thinks click here

As you can see he knows nothing about the law and has obviously recently been issued with new guidance ie don't upset the middle class togs.

Bit of tune changing I think

Veggiesosage, why do you personally attack me?

Why bring up a thread from 4 months ago?

I have done nothing to you, or even bad mouthed you the way you do me.

This started off as a good thread (and good site/forum), now it is being brought down with personal attacks. Shame.

This is one of those threads where a nice bit of moderation (and maybe some PMs from the admins) would calm things down a lot....

Anyway - back to the real topic. Check out this story. Some of the comments referring to other incidents are pretty alarming too.

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Check out my Soup - pretty cool for one of the best
wedding photographers in the UK.

Where can I find a pdf or something that outlines the laws regarding photography in public places ? I would like a document that I can carry with me and show to people who ask questions.

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please view my pics
I'm driving to Mongolia for charity<-- click to find out more

Have a look at my first post on the previous page for a link to the Sirimo site.

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BPitW 9-10 June 2007.
My website. My DCM gallery. flickr

tortoise:

Where can I find a pdf or something that outlines the laws regarding photography in public places ? I would like a document that I can carry with me and show to people who ask questions.

Halfway down the page is alink tp a PDF which wil print out ontyo an A4 http://stirlyn.co.uk/photography-laws-copyright-and-trespass/

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MY GALLERY