Oi Shorty, what are you saying (I'm 6'7")

He was on the High Street, which as far as I know is public space.

The reason he went there, apart from being a regular photographer in the area, was to take some pictures of some demolition work going on.

Sorry, but if you find someone who is 12 stone and 5' 11" intimidating you really need to resign from the police force, that's just useless. 12 Stone is pretty light for a bloke, and 5' 11" is far from being tall.

[LIFTED], is this the ban hammer I see before me?

So the X404 merchandise... Most people should just order a Small, right?

Common sense seems to be increasingly irrelevant to this new breed of "officers". Every week there's something new in this forum about this. This guy can bloody well photograph what he likes. He's done nothing wrong, but this kind of thing will continue until it reaches breaking point before anything changes.

Thing is, you know the situation, you also know what is likely to happen. Taking the photo of the Police officers could have been seen as provocational in this instance. What we don’t know are: tones of voice, body language, other agitation factors - a lot of things which could make the situation more edgy and will have caused what could have been a short polite conversation into a van, handcuffs and an arrest. We are getting about 33% of the story here. Perhaps some CCTV footage could show what actually happened?

The reality here is that, yes, I agree that he had the right to take photos where he was. The issue here is that you do have to be sensitive to the fact that you are very likely to be challenged for taking photos, and it won’t help your situation if you appear confrontational, arrogant about “my rights”, etc..

I have the right to be arrogant about my rights. Do I not? They're important to me and if I've not committed a crime, I should not be arrested for simply "agitating" the police. If they're gonna do that job, they need to know the difference between someone in defence of their rights and someone about to commit a crime or cause them injury etc. This is the problem with these people. If they were to just enforce the law and not take offence when people know their rights and wish to uphold them as fervently as possible, this wouldn't be happening so regularly.

Unfortunately, it seems their badge (or lack of, in some cases) allows them to harass anyone they like. It's unacceptable, but I fear nothing will happen about it for a while yet, if ever.

Well the thing to do is contact all the prospective parliamentary candidates, and ask them about their views on the police state. If you are not happy with their answer tell them that you will not be voting for a totalitarian party, and that you shall be voting for another party.

Except that how I vote is irrelevant. This country is going the same way, regardless of who gets "power".

Completely with okenobi on this. If I'm carrying out lawful business then the Police can foxtrot oscar. I do not have to explain my actions, it is up to them to prove I am doing something wrong. If I was arrested and released without charge I'd be seeing the Chief Constable in the County Court and suing the force for wrongful arrest/false imprisonment.

I'd want to know why I was stopped and what I'm suspected of. Frankly if I don't like their answer I'm going to tell them to go away and I will walk away - walking away from a Police Constable is not an offence after all.

Useful, when visiting the US.

I think the basic guidelines stand for the UK. If I can, I will try to find out what the standpoint in the UK is, especially bearing in mind the OTT "anti-terror" laws since 2001.

Here we go...

http://www.photographersrights.org.uk/index.html

I know it was primarily for US law but there were further links on that page to allsorts.

I have this on file. I should print it out and stuff it in my camera bag.