From today, anyone taking a photograph of a police officer could be deemed to have committed a criminal offence.
That is because of a new law - Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act - which has come into force.
That's pretty sad I think. I can understand that there is a theoretical reason to need to protect the police, but I think if you took a million photos of every police officer in the country, most of them would not be used for criminal offenses. And it will probably be harder to take news photos if you can't take one with the police in them.
In other news, sales of of super telephotos has skyrocketed in the UK, with all manufacturers posting a 1,000% increase in profits in the telephoto divisions. JK
Although this law is in the UK, I can see it coming to a nation near you.
Where would Rodney King be without the video of his beating?
Filming the President in Dallas, sorry, not allowed. (Chief of the Armed Forces)
That little thing that happened at Kent State, sorry, no photo's.
No more watching the people that are watching you.
At that point, you're hosed. They can video and record you, and you can do nothing about it
What's next, are they going to take our birthdays away?
Although this law is in the UK, I can see it coming to a nation near you.
Where would Rodney King be without the video of his beating?
Filming the President in Dallas, sorry, not allowed. (Chief of the Armed Forces)
That little thing that happened at Kent State, sorry, no photo's.
No more watching the people that are watching you.
At that point, you're hosed. They can video and record you, and you can do nothing about it
What's next, are they going to take our birthdays away?
Kent State....d00d; yer showing yer age~"....tin soldiers and Nixons coming..."
OK ... I may be a bit late but I'd like to jump in here.
I have an entire gallery of our local police officers at work and no one has ever raised an issue. In fact, they used one series to document a subject who was strongly resisting contact and had to be tased.
That being said, I would never photograph an officer if he is trying to make contact with me for some reason like a traffic stop. That would be too confrontational and raise the likelihood of being ticketed or whatever.
And I fully agree that pointing anything at a police officer is a good way to get hurt or worse. Officers have no idea who they are stopping and what they might be up to so even though they don't appear so, they are very much on the defensive until they figure out what they have.
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That's pretty sad I think. I can understand that there is a theoretical reason to need to protect the police, but I think if you took a million photos of every police officer in the country, most of them would not be used for criminal offenses. And it will probably be harder to take news photos if you can't take one with the police in them.
In other news, sales of of super telephotos has skyrocketed in the UK, with all manufacturers posting a 1,000% increase in profits in the telephoto divisions. JK
Where would Rodney King be without the video of his beating?
Filming the President in Dallas, sorry, not allowed. (Chief of the Armed Forces)
That little thing that happened at Kent State, sorry, no photo's.
No more watching the people that are watching you.
At that point, you're hosed. They can video and record you, and you can do nothing about it
What's next, are they going to take our birthdays away?
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
Kent State....d00d; yer showing yer age~
I have an entire gallery of our local police officers at work and no one has ever raised an issue. In fact, they used one series to document a subject who was strongly resisting contact and had to be tased.
That being said, I would never photograph an officer if he is trying to make contact with me for some reason like a traffic stop. That would be too confrontational and raise the likelihood of being ticketed or whatever.
And I fully agree that pointing anything at a police officer is a good way to get hurt or worse. Officers have no idea who they are stopping and what they might be up to so even though they don't appear so, they are very much on the defensive until they figure out what they have.
Just my nickel's worth (inflation, ya know)
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