UK police threaten to arrest photography for "breach of peace"

Garry Chinchen was threatened with arrest for taking the above photograph
Garry Chinchen was threatened with arrest for taking the above photograph


As bad as it gets in the United States, it always seems worse in the United Kingdom when it comes to getting harassed for taking photos in public.

The latest incident comes to us from Wales where a photographer named Garry Chinchen was taking photos of a man and a boy on a jet ski.

Somebody told him to stop taking photos of the kid, even though the kid was dressed in a wetsuit in complete view of the public.

The cops were called and they ended up checking Chinchen’s images which did not reveal anything perverse or illegal.

But they still performed a background check on him and even contacted his employer, which in my opinion, should be grounds for a lawsuit because he was not breaking any laws.

And even after it was determined that he was not breaking any laws, police still threatened to arrest him if he continued taking photos.

They claimed that by continuing to take photos, he would be charged with “breach of peace” because it would be viewed as “inflammatory behaviour” towards the complainant.

Talk about a backwards system.

In an official statement, a South Wales Police spokesman said: ‘We were called by the landowner of Glyneath lakes [sic] following concern of a photographer taking photos of a child on a jet ski.

‘The officer carried out all the necessary checks on this person and no offences were disclosed. The photographer was appropriately advised regarding his conduct.’

Then later that day, Chinchen’s boss called him concerned about having been contacted by the cops.

Comments

Anonymous
Anonymous

apparently the lakes are private property? therefore the rafter pig who called the cops should be allowed to throw water on the photographer! apparently!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Crazy, just crazy. The thought police have arrived in the UK.

The following is partially from an old comment, reposting it here because its relevant to what’s going on over there-

A British woman was spied upon by her local school board, because they suspected she had falsified her children’s school enrollment forms. Phone records, web surfing habits, and covert videography. The kind of practices we assume are reserved for suspected terrorists and high-caliber criminals, right?

“They said my privacy wasn’t intruded on because the surveillance was covert.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/world/europe/25surveillance.html

So local school bureaucrats in the UK have the power to covertly spy upon law-abiding citizens?!!

To say her privacy was not violated because the spying was done covertly… can you say doublespeak? Blackwhite? Is Ingsoc already here?

Doubleplus ungood.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Things are much worse in the UK from everything I’ve been reading. Just imagine the contortions Big Brother is going to go through to try and watch everything when the Olympics hits town. The idea that photographing a completely clothed child engaged in recreation is something that should be reported to the police is so totally out of line with reality I have no words to describe it. And the fact that they called his EMPLOYER? Any cop asks for my employer and I’ll tell him it’s none of his freaking business.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Difster, I doubt they even have to ask who your employer is. Throughout Europe and the UK, it’s a matter of record.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Yeah, the fact that someone will call the police over this shows how some people are easily influenced. Somehow, somewhere, someone told this person photography in public is illegal if it is a kid. The cops actions are heinous but it is indicative of the system. 1984 is just a little late in arriving.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I respect what you’re doing Carlos, don’t give up on what you believe in – these idiots disrespect you and become police officers because they’re bullies, show them they can’t get away with it – they’re bottom feeders, and exactly what’s holding our society back.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Garry Chinchen was taking the photographs from the public highway, not private property.

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