Harassed by Police for photography on playground. (Memory card confiscated and harassed by police)

[cenelsonfoto]

Thank you, Ronaldo.

[ray .]

Pretty convincing argument CE, you've got my vote.

 

20 years ago you could photograph children in a park or playground without thinking twice about it. The freedoms have already been eroded. We live in a time when the lowest common denominator is king, and people too often decide to suspect the worst instead of trusting in good.

[cenelsonfoto]

They'd stone the dogshit outta Norman Rockwell these days. It's pretty sad.

[ray .]

Ronaldo, I have to say that if I were the original poster and was telling the story as I witnessed it, your inferences that I was making the whole thing up would be very offensive to me. You seem to think this sort of story just doesn't happen. I know better.

[wigwam jones]

"They'd stone the dogshit outta Norman Rockwell these days. It's pretty sad."

 

Think about Gigi. "Thank heaven, for leeeetle girls!"

[anthony_bez]

"CE - your posts make no sense at all".

[thomas_sullivan]

CE...........your Mar 26, 2007; 06:31 p.m. post makes perfect sense.

[steve_g2]

CE, I've not been on this forum in a year or so but it's still the same.

[chris_waller]

This is a case for ACLU. Do you have that detective's name? I'd ensure his feet don't touch the ground between here and dismissal.

 

This is just another aspect of the hysteria whipped up to distract from the monstrosities perpetrated by those who claim to act in our interest.

 

The world is increasingly falling into the hands of those with very small minds.

[knockknocking]

And here is my 2c. . . I come originally from South Africa but am now residing in the UK. I still get the knee jerk reaction of wanting to shut down anyone with an opinion that doesn't agree with mine esp when they are quite agressive about it. That is what happens when everything you read see or hear is controlled by the government and you are brought up to believe that is the way things should be (pre 1995). To me even the UK is unbelievably free even when big brother is watching through hundreds of cameras. Every one of you have been able to express your opinion on this forum valid or not, that to me is amazing. You are excersising your right to free expression and it is one that I believe you should defend. So yeah report those cops, take whatever legal action you think necessary. Life is becoming way to controlled by paranoia. . . .

[cenelsonfoto]

Nedine: thank you for your insights. Not sure life is controlled so much by paranoia, not directly at any rate. The paranoia is symptomatic, brought on by the sickness of not thinking for ourselves. I've never been outside of the USA, so I can only address our plight, here. <p>

One thing I do know is that Americans increasingly are being led to believe they're genuii without having to prove it. It's slick, it's cunning, it's the wolf in sheep's clothing, and it lends itself to attribution, as in folks allowing themselves to be baited down a bad road and not being able to admit they were duped when they finally awaken and realize they've been had, refusing to hold themselves accountable.<p>

Perhaps OT, but I think germane to my current post: I spend time digging through the combat videos on LiveLeak, watching both US/Allied forces deploy against the partisans, and watching partisan videos of their counterattacks and offensive moves. I note both sides employing music, and in the case of the partisans, some use of political/religious statements either read aloud or scrolled in text.<p>

Both sides' videos trouble me in some regards, but the one affecting me most seems to be the video of US troops. I don't know who's post-editing the videos to lay sound over them, but many of these videos end up looking like bad commercials for violent combat video games, complete with hard rock music.<p> It is a curious thing, and yet, when I consider the marketing for actual RP/FPS games such as, oh, Rainbow Six, etc., it makes perfect sense. We have thousands of troops engaged in the field who grew up super-saturated by this sort of element; their friends and family back home - presumably those who are reworking the clips - are also part and parcel of the violent game culture.<p>

My bringing this up is not meant to be a condemnation of those who edit the clips, nor is it an attack on the gaming industry. I love a good sniper match of Unreal Tournament now and again, my damned self, so I'm not immune to the sickness.<p>

Humans will always have need of bogeymen. African slaves, homosexuals, women seeking equal opportunities, Hispanics immigrating legally or otherwise, H1B seekers... somebody will always have to carry the badge of <i>persona non grata</i>, here, and elsewhere. Failure to think critically leaves one open to manipulation by opportunistic entities. Again, the media, the government, the local Fred Phelps...I don't want to see something as innocent as public photography become a lynchable offense, not even a behavior deemed socially unacceptable with practicioners openly harrassed by all.<p>

And a note on police: I live in a conservative region of the country. Gawd is King and so on. I've been shooting on the street here for nearly 4 years and have captured a bit of everything in front of my lens. The police have always been fair to me, even when I was working closely with a 24mm lens while an arrest was in progress, though I have no press credentials and am affiliated with no organization.<p>

I do not fear them.<p>

C.

[Uhooru]

Sorry..I've been far too busy following the Anna Nicole Smith story to participate in some silly debate about civil liberties, but C.E. seems to make sense.

[Alex_Es]

This is a case for the ACLU. It is most likely that anything stated verbally by any of the cops

will be denied. Did the cops give you anything in writing. They were keeping memory cards

did you get anything like a receipt. If you got the cops' names it might help. Even if you

cannot make anything stick against them there may have been other complains against them.

If indeed everything happened as you said, the worst thing to do is to do nothing.

 

So, Brad, what's the other side of this story?

[Alex_Es]

It' s late in Japan. Second sentence should read: They kept your memory cards. Did you get

anything like a receipt from them?

[robert_m_johnson]

"So, Brad, what's the other side of this story?"

 

Some of you people are living in a dream world!

 

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=boy+kidnapped&ie=UTF-8

[robert_m_johnson]

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/11264218/detail.html

[robert_m_johnson]

This just happened!

 

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NATION/

703160367/1020

[robert_m_johnson]

Bad Link...

 

 

"A 6-year-old boy who vanished a week ago while playing near his trailer home was

found slain Thursday, and police said they would probably charge a registered sex

offender and three other neighbors with murder.

 

The partially concealed body of Christopher Michael Barrios was discovered by a state

ranger about three miles from the youngster's home, authorities said...."

[wigwam jones]

Yes, Robert. Children get kidnapped. It happens, and it is tragic. I don't think anyone has denied that crimes like this happen. I think what is denied is that there are perverts and pedophiles and kidnappers lurking behind every camera lens.

 

Your google queries don't show me that any photographers kidnapped any children. Nor does it show me that any kidnappers referred to photographs they had seen to find their victims.

 

So I fail to see how kidnapping of children would be affected in the slightest by banning photography of children.

 

Showing that children get kidnapped does not show how photography of children is related to that sad fact.

[robert_m_johnson]

" Your google queries don't show me that any photographers kidnapped any

children"

 

 

No, but it does show why some people are hyper vigilant these days.

[wigwam jones]

If the goal of hyper-vigilant parents is to keep their children from being kidnapped, they would achieve just as much by banning smoking as by banning photography of children - since neither have any connection whatsoever to the kidnapping of children, neither would have any affect at all, other than to restrict the rights of others.

 

"Hyper vigilant" is an explanation. It is not an excuse, nor is it a license to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens so that they can feel better.

[robert_m_johnson]

WW - I have been told that I was "on my way to the morgue" by a cop. I am well

aware of police stepping over their boundaries.

[matt_m__toronto_]

robert, when was the last time you saw 'positive news' on the news or in the newspaper? of course you will be able to show us examples of the negatives. re: the 5 year old. who lets their 5 year old play outside un attended? maybe some common sense is needed? better parenting education?

 

how about this: BREAKING NEWS STORY: 12 year old plays in park with friends...has good time.

 

when people are fed the negative story day in and day out, of course they will think negatively.

 

your links do nothing but spread fear, and they have nothing to do with photographers. this woman who tried kidnapping the boy was alone and just walking around. maybe we should try and ban solo walks?

[robert_m_johnson]

" the 5 year old. who lets their 5 year old play outside un attended"

 

When I was growing up everyone did! This incident didn't happen in a vacuum, like

Brad said, there is two sides to every story.

[robert_m_johnson]

there are..

 

Kids, the big bad wolf is out there, don't trust anyone without a camera. :-)