michael_darnton1 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/04/london-cops-declare.html#comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shambrick007 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hmmmm...maybe one reason to add an inconspicuous point-and-shoot to one's "arsenal"..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike dixon Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 If you follow the link in the article, you'll see that the police have also "declared war" on people with houses and people with more than one cell phone. They really should have title the article, "London cops declare war on homeowners." That would have been even more sensationalist (and just as accurate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_darnton1 Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 I don't know that "sensationalist" is the right word for pointing out when a government is acting like a total moron, and encouraging the public to be just as stupid. Usually "sensationalist" implies an over-reaction on the part of the recipient, not the part of the doer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike dixon Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 When I saw the headline "London cops declare war on photography," I was expecting to read an article about mass arrests of photographers, or at least draconian new laws forbidding photography. For an article about posters alerting people to report suspicious activity, it's a rather sensationalist title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick_evans1 Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 This was high lighted in another photo forum to which a link was sent to a shop selling tee shirts and hoddies saying. I am a photographer. Not a Terrorist. If I can find it later I'll post it. NIck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_henderson Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I'm in London at least a day a week, sometimes more. I see people taking photographs all the time. Now I can't tell you that I think our policeforce do a great job on this front- I reckon a number of them are much happier harrassing innocents than trying to catch real criminals- terrorists or otherwise. Easy wins are in. Further I think that many police and maybe more rent a cops don't have a clue about what photographer's rights actually are. But nevertheless a couple of points. First I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of photo trips to London go off without incident. Second i don't think for a moment that London is any worse than many other cities round the world, perhaps particularly in the USA In some senses the article and comments aren't sensationalist because frankly we should live in societies where we don't get harrassed whilst performing innocent tasks, and where the people we entrust with enforcing the law are actively discouraged from making that law up. On the other hand despite the occasional lunacy such as this one, mostly you can wander round this and other cities taking photographs. I'd have thought that 1GBP=2$, seriously expensive hotels and public transport would be a far greater disincentive to come to London than a stupid police initiative designed to convince the populace that they are being vigilant. They haven't really quite worked out that the people they attempt to reassure are the same people they harrass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eigtball Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I think its funny that they have to do this. Isn't this exactly what they want. I mean these posters are terror them selves. The terrorists have accomplished exactly what they have set forth to do, create police states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_darnton1 Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 It's been said repeatedly before, but bears repeating, that it's only on a site populated mostly by non-blacks that you'll hear that for the most part there's nothing to worry about, the percentage of police abuse is small, and that most honest people never have problems with law-enforcement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_. Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 >>>It's been said repeatedly before, but bears repeating, that it's only on a site populated mostly by non-blacks... i have to admit this is the first time i heard and it has been repeated once too many times...keep dividing people into their race categories... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_darnton1 Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 Thanks for your unwitting support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Soare Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 <i>"the percentage of police abuse is small"</i><br><br> The percentage of police abuse is never too small. And the biggest problem is not the abusive policemen themselves (they exist unfortunately everywhere and are not specific to UK or USA or any other country), but the way the authorities deal with them. Abusive policemen should be prosecuted, dismissed from the Police and in more serious cases even sent to jail. <br> The problem, as I see it, is that policemen <b>are allowed</b> to be abusive, that Police abuse tends to become a state policy. <br><br> It hurts me to see what's happening there, because I have a deep respect for British people and for Britain in general, and I have always looked up to them. It's really a pity, and I can only hope that sooner or later the authorities will come to their senses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael s. Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Mike Dixon is correct. I'm very committed to the civil rights/civil liberties side of this issue, and I've posted my views many times on many threads. But this headline was on the sensational side. The proof will be in the implementation. I'll be interested to see whether this policy leads to new problems for photographers in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray . Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Could just be about somebody collecting a paycheck and having to do something to keep up appearances... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray . Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 ... or what was that John Lennon line? "..it's all show biz.." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waite_watson Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 "I think its funny that they have to do this. Isn't this exactly what they want. I mean these posters are terror them selves. The terrorists have accomplished exactly what they have set forth to do, create police states." You don't know how right you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waite_watson Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 http://gizmonaut.net/bits/police_state.html no desire to go there.ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wenti duo Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 I will turn in one of their CCTVs, they all look very suspicious.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive1 Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Waite, is it the weather that turns you off, or that Imperial gallon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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