According to his blog, Kevin visited the Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland with his son to spend the £10 his father gave the boy on a family visit. While there, he seated his son on a coin-operated train ride and snapped a photo of him with his cameraphone. At this point, a Bridges security guard came by and ordered him to stop taking pictures. He said that it was mall policy, and implied that Kevin was taking pictures because he was a paedophile. Kevin told him that this was ridiculous and took his son to find his wife and get out of the mall away. He also took a picture of the security guard "so that if I later wanted to make a complaint to the centre I would be able to identify him."
Outside of In a different part of the mall, Kevin was stopped by a police constable who had received a complaint from mall security that a suspicious potential paedophile had been taking pictures on its premises. The PC threatened to arrest Kevin "for creating a public disturbance" and told him she could order him to delete the photo of his son. The PC also averred that the Bridges Shopping Centre is a hotbed of paedophile assaults.
For the record: It's not clear to me how a fully clothed child on a mall coin-op ride is harmed by having his likeness captured by a camera, even if that camera is in the possession of a paedophile. And I'm pretty sure that taking pictures of your kids having fun on rides isn't a warning sign of paedophilia (I'm in big trouble if it is!).
(Thanks, Guy!)
- London cops declare war on photography
- Manchester man arrested for alleged sewer-grate photography, held as a terrorist
- Current TV on photo bans in UK
- UK Police seize amateur photographer's film
- UK photographer chased down and detained for taking pix at fun fair
- Photographers win British war on photography?
- UK cop: 'War on terror means no pictures of police vans in disabled parking spots'
- UK man hassled by cop for not having a "camera license"
- UK mall bans grandparents for trying to photo their grandkids
- Another London photographer arrested for "terrorism" (i.e. "taking a picture of a public building")
- Photographer beaten, detained in London for being "cocky" to policeman who implies she is a terrorist
- I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist campaign for photographers' rights
- UK cops threaten to bust woman who videos her boyfriend's search on terrorism charges
- Video: English cops terrorism-harassing photographer for taking photos of town Christmas decorations
- Middlesbrough cops, goons and clerks grab and detain photographer for shooting on a public street
- Brit photographer who shot demolition of flyover arrested for terrorism
- Police warn UK man that taking photos of "hooded teenagers" is illegal
taking - UK Home Secretary green-lights harassment of photographers in public places
- British cops deliver Catch 22 to photographers: you're not allowed to know which areas you're not allowed to photograph
- UK to introduce "photograph a cop, 10 years in jail" law
- BBC photographer prevented from shooting St Paul's because he might be "al Qaeda operative"
- Kids' TV hosts terrorism-stopped for pew-pewing with sparkly hair-dryers
