Photographer arrested ...

... for being too tall.


An interesting Met Police policy statement.

The victim's comments.

Yet another ridiculous situation!

The fact that the plain clothed officers involved appear to not have produced ID when asked is very worrying as well.

This also begs another question, if plain clothes officers are not willing to identify themselves, and a picture if taken of them, how can this be classed as an offence under the new legislation where it 'might' be an offence to take a picture of a police officer. It the photographer sees no real evidence that they are indeed officers, then it's a bit of a mute point.

Ridiculous situation... although to be fair, the way he took the PCSO's picture as she questioned him was BOUND to wind her up.

Ah well... I don't want to sound 'BNPish' but it's another stop and search of a white individual under prevention of terrorism to try and make the police look 'non discriminatory'!

To quote from the Met document in my second link:
Which is what he decided to do.

It does seem a little incautious to photograph a police officer who has been summoned to investigate your behaviour. Then again who were the people who detained him? I'm not sure I would be too willing to have strangers detain me and I am unsure what happens if they use force.

Providing ID cuts both ways.

Mike

Given the recent Police behaviour I would suggest it is prudent to photograph any officer you have dealings with. It has been common prasctise for riot police to exchange badge numbers and take other measures to avoid identification. I grant that it is unlikely to encounter this behaviour with the local bobby but " what have they got to hide?" ( sound familiar? )
As you can probably tell I have already lost all trust in the Police as an institution. That is the real shame of the situation.
As for some unidentified person forcibly detaining you without due cause, they are leaving themselves open to charges of assault and false imprisonment. You are also entitled to use reasonable force to defend yourself, should you feel it necessary! However if you are approached by unidentified antagonists I would suggest calling the police first and have them checked out!