A class of five-year-old schoolchildren return to the classroom after playing at recess.

The teacher says to the first child, “Hello Becky, what have you been doing this playtime?”

Becky replies, “I have been playing in the sandbox.”

“Very good,” says the teacher. “If you can spell ‘sand’ on the blackboard, I will give you a biscuit.”

Becky duly goes and writes ‘s a n d’ on the blackboard.

“Very good,” says the teacher, and gives Becky a biscuit.

The teacher then says, “Freddie, what have you been doing in your playtime?”

Freddie replies, “Playing with Becky in the sandbox.”

“Very good,” says the teacher. “If you can spell ‘box’ on the blackboard, I will also give you a biscuit.”

Freddie duly goes and writes ‘b o x’ on the blackboard.

“Very good,” says the teacher, and gives Freddie a biscuit.

Teacher then says, “Hello, Mohammed, have you been playing in the sand box with Becky and Freddie?”

“No,” replies Mohammed. “I wanted to, but they would not let me. Every time I went near them they started throwing sand at me, calling me nasty names and asking to see under my jacket in case I had explosives.”

“Oh dear,” says the teacher. “That sounds like blatant racial discrimination to me. I tell you what — if you can spell ‘blatant racial discrimination’, I will give you a biscuit.”

[pedantic sarcasm]
If you have to have a license to own a television in the UK, why not one for a camera? They’re both receiving electromagnetic radiation, just at much different wavelengths.
[end pedantic sarcasm]

http://uffish.net/archives/2006/02/london_undergro.html has a little more info, and some links that look interesting.

Educating the public, the regular police force, and the special volunteer police force alike on our rights would seem the most useful strategy at this point. [Although flash mobs sound like a fun way to do this.]

Just because you “delete” the images, it doesn’t mean that they have been erased from the memory card.

‘The outrage they were picking on a photog just because he was using a cannon D40 we must all go out an buy one and flashmob anywhere that a undercover cannon employee has demanded to see someones camera liscence.’

Brilliant!!

or Mr. Orwell was off by a few years.

Clearly the problem is that the child’s name is Mohammed.

If the child had a pretty name such a Eric or Charles, he’d be playing in the sand box with Becky and Freddie all day long.

I JEST I JEST I JEST!

Or “bomb target” or something.

The “cop” was a special constable, which means they were a volunteer. They still have all the powers of a regular cop, but perhaps we can give them a little more leeway when they screw up?

IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM EXCUSAT:
Seems to me, the Hobby Bobbies should be given a lot *less leeway* when they “screw up”. At the other end of the legal equation, how many times have we been told in our lives “ignorance of the law excuses no one”? This should count double for the meddling, do-gooder, busybodies with too much time on their hands who volunteer to be extra-special constables.

On the other hand, count your blessings: if this happened in the US, chances are you’d be tasered or shot or both.

PC Clouseau: “Deu you have a licaunce for that camera?”

Innocent punter: “A what?”

Meanwhile in the background an actual crime is taking place…

My MP wouldn’t sign it but wrote to the minister of state at the home office. So at least I have a letter to carry around, from the Rt Hon Tony McNulty on home office stationery, that states “There is no legal restriction on photography in public places, and there is no presumption of privacy for individuals in a public place”

Brits. should write to their MP about the matter. The EDM now has 131 signatures, and looking at other EDMs, this seems to be a lot. Make it more.

Find MPs at http://www.parliament.uk/people/index.cfm

Alan Clifford

http://blog.clifford.ac/2008/03/photography-in-public-places.html

I think what you really meant to say is, “I can’t think of any way this can be justified, and it scares me – so I’ll just make up a completely different set of facts on my own and pretend they were the case.”

“… PCSOs have been well trained to overcome the natural human instinct to save a drowning child. Trained not to attempt something for which they had not been trained.”

http://snipurl.com/24v48 [www.timesonline.co.uk]

1,000 people in Guy Fawkes masks with cameras.

SCs have the same powers of arrest and training as normal police officers but are generally volunteers and so don’t get paid. PCSOs have no more powers than any other member of the public and exist to provide support to regular police. They do get paid a full salary though.

In this case, whether the policeman was a PCSO or SC he should have known better.

But, reading between the lines, this is about someone taking photos of a band on stage with a pro-looking camera:

“The 49-year-old started by firing off a few shots of the warm-up act on stage. But before the main attraction showed up, Mr Smith was challenged by a police officer who asked if he had a licence for the camera.”

If you go to a concert (and this seems to be something of the sort) and stand by the stage and take pics with a big SLR-type camera, there’s a really good chance you will be stopped – usually by venue security. Nothing to do with anti-terrorist absurdities. It’s more about venue photo licences (which exist), band PR rights and the like.

My 2p.

Everyone knows that you get camera licenses from the same bureau that issues Fish Licenses.

Clearly, common sense is too much to expect in many of these situations. I mean, really. Is England training their cops with crayons and coloring books?