Pixiq

Yeah I saw this video the other day. Sad sad place. Wonder how far it will go before anyone wakes up.

Mepsipax, unlike here they have already began disarming their citizens, so it may go pretty far.

From 12/9/2009:
Some UK police did not get last week’s memo (about not harassing photographers in London).

The ability to read also seems to not be high on the priority list for London cops.

Your first sentence is inaccurate. There are actually caps on intelligence for police officers. They don’t want someone too smart because those people get bored with the work and cause problems or quit. Here’s one example, but you could search on “police IQ” and find many other results.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_56314.html

I don’t think IQ caps are the standard for cops. It may exist in some municipalities as evidenced by that link. But I would imagine they’d want people with high IQs to do detective work. But in that case, it was an older guy who would only be street patrol, and probably not become a detective without the experience of cops who had been there awhile. Maybe they had a point there.

If I had my way, any cop who wrongfully harrasses a photographer should be fired immediately and made to pay for any damages out of their own pocket.

Good luck with that – Police and Sherriff departments are set up with minimal accountability. Sometimes they get fired just for the publicity and get the media heat off them, but he or she will get hired right back either with the same department or with a department in some other county.

Its sad really – A Navy SEAL damn near looses his entire career for punching a combatant but stateside LEO’s regularly beat/torture/murder US citizens and nothing really happens to them.

The UK is right where we’re headed it seems like. The sad thing is a lot of people will like it just fine, until it suddenly affects them personally.

And I was just tossed this link, but apparently in Indiana we have more pressing issues:

http://www.in.gov/portal/news_events/45981.htm

STATEHOUSE (Dec. 16, 2009) – State Sen. Tom Wyss (R-Fort Wayne) filed legislation Tuesday to help protect Hoosiers by making it illegal to take or distribute “upskirt” pictures or video of a person in public.

“I felt compelled to author this legislation after hearing public concerns and media reports about a loophole in Indiana’s voyeurism law that doesn’t prohibit individuals from taking video or pictures of another person’s private area in public,” Wyss said. “As camera phones have become more popular, the ability for people to secretly take photographs has dramatically increased.”

Current law prohibits taking photos of a person without his or her consent in a private place – bath, dressing room, restroom and shower – but provides no protection for public places and does not yet address the Internet.

If passed, Senate Bill 101 would make taking an inappropriate picture or video a Class ‘A’ misdemeanor – a crime punishable by up to one year in prison. If the person publishes or forwards an image via the Internet the crime becomes a Class ‘D’ felony – punishable by up to three years in prison.

“Voyeurs are taking advantage of new technology to secretly film and photograph unsuspecting victims in compromising positions,” Wyss said. “Some of these opportunists then publish the video or images on Web sites featuring inappropriate shots of women in public places. Advances in technology have made updates to our law a necessity.”

…

I can’t wait to see how that bill is worded, and how badly it can be misused or not.

Key word there is ‘inappropriate picture or video’ which will mean that what ever mood the cop happens to be in will determine what ‘inappropriate’ actually is (given what is happening in the UK as an indication). Get ready to get screwed big time with that law.

Like the Park Ranger story where the equipment looked ‘professional’ LEO’s will use this law to harass everyone with any kind of camera.

Well, the UK has its photo terrorism bogeyman, it seems only appropriate that the US would choose OMG!Sex! as its own.

Please put this story somehow in pictures. Tell everyone about the lie and just help one family at Christmas time.Help these people:

http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/12/unemployment-benefit-extensions-are-...

Here is the initial text for the bill “Invasion of Privacy by Photography,” http://bit.ly/63Cp6m (PDF LINK)

The two chaps in uniform in this video are not police officers. They are Police Community Support Officers who are civilian employees of the
police and have very limited powers. The one taking to the girl acted disgracefully.