Just had a note from the door from Cambridge Police...for taking photographs!

From a perspective of many thousands of kilometres away I just have to ask this... don't people in the immediate area of one's own home know one's neighbours to the point that one NEED NOT call the police because they were out taking pictures? Just the other day I was lying on a neighbour's lawn trying to get a picture of one of their hyacinths and someone walked by on the sidewalk and mentioned how beautiful the flowers were. No visits from the police here. Just strikes me as really odd and makes me wonder if the paranoia is really as bad as all that.
 
photogwannabe said:
From a perspective of many thousands of kilometres away I just have to ask this... don't people in the immediate area of one's own home know one's neighbours to the point that one NEED NOT call the police because they were out taking pictures? Just the other day I was lying on a neighbour's lawn trying to get a picture of one of their hyacinths and someone walked by on the sidewalk and mentioned how beautiful the flowers were. No visits from the police here. Just strikes me as really odd and makes me wonder if the paranoia is really as bad as all that.
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Paul..I think you have a valid point there..here in the UK there are very fractured communities. Generally it would seem that you only converse with your neighbour when you want to complain about their behaviour (and even then the conversation would be full of expletives!). Very few people I know actually get on with their neighbours.
 
Grayman said:
Paul..I think you have a valid point there..here in the UK there are very fractured communities. Generally it would seem that you only converse with your neighbour when you want to complain about their behaviour (and even then the conversation would be full of expletives!). Very few people I know actually get on with their neighbours.
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Whilst being married I've lived in a few properties, the second property I lived in, I couldn't tell you who my neighbours were, though I did know them by face and would say hello.

Everywhere else I do know them by name, however we don't see eacy other much or talk much.

When I was growning up, on a summers evening all the adults would be sat outside in the street nattering. Nothing like that now...
 
Grayman said:
Paul..I think you have a valid point there..here in the UK there are very fractured communities. Generally it would seem that you only converse with your neighbour when you want to complain about their behaviour (and even then the conversation would be full of expletives!). Very few people I know actually get on with their neighbours.
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:( That just makes me sad. . . and reminds me how lucky I am to have found a little pocket of normality.

There are only about 20 houses in my cul de sac, and a big public green area at the end of the street.
I know almost all the neighbours by first names and I know what they do for a living.

We take it in turns to maintain the green.
Summer evenings, we have street barbecues where everyone brings something along . . . and in the day the kiddies play on the green.
The kids know all their neighbours by name too and always say hello or if one of us is walking a dog down there they'll come over to pet it.

People look out for one another. My OH does computer repairs and has helped a lot of the neighbours with IT problems. Mick round the corner is a mechanic and has changed a fair few tyres and done minor repairs for neighbours . . . and on and on . . .

And before you all start getting jealous, there is one downside . . .
I rarely take the camera out on the street or down the green. By the time everyone has popped out for a chat, I can end up out there for 2 hours or more and come back without having had the chance to take a single photo :bonk:

It's nice to know that not all of the UK is hotbed of paranoia though. There are still some "normal" places out there.
 
Photo Plod said:
Unfortunately, some time ago, people decided that police officers were exercising too much discretion and ignoring their complaints. As a result, we got the National Crime Recording Standards, "Ethical Crime Recording", the Policing Pledge, and so on and so forth. What it essentially boils down to is that the police are obliged to bottom out almost every complaint or report made to them, however spurious or nonsensical. If we don't, and the original informant complains about a lack of action, we end up facing disciplinary action.
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So, does that mean I can report my neighbour for 'being in possesion of an offensive wife' and that the police will investigate it?
 
Ok so can I just say after reading the first 3 pages that if anyone spots any of the numerous Police TV shows recording you stop what your doing and phone the Police about someone recording footage where ever you are. Lets play fair and see what the Police would do about it (Though they do repeat numerous times when people complain about the camera crews being there that it is perfectly within the law). As Photoplod has said they will have to react to the call.
 
Matt Rimmer said:
Ok so can I just say after reading the first 3 pages that if anyone spots any of the numerous Police TV shows recording you stop what your doing and phone the Police about someone recording footage where ever you are. Lets play fair and see what the Police would do about it (Though they do repeat numerous times when people complain about the camera crews being there that it is perfectly within the law). As Photoplod has said they will have to react to the call.
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But the Police would already be in attendance. :thinking:

If you phone the police to say there is a film crew filming police officers on duty I hardly think they're going to send more officers out to investigate.
 
fabs said:
But the Police would already be in attendance. :thinking:

If you phone the police to say there is a film crew filming police officers on duty I hardly think they're going to send more officers out to investigate.
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But they would have to investigate some way or another be it with the police that are there or other officers. I would be intrigued to see the result if anyone did this. Thinking more in depth can we report any news crews? Yep I am just being silly now but it seems like this whole country is silly so why not.
 
Matt Rimmer said:
But they would have to investigate some way or another be it with the police that are there or other officers. I would be intrigued to see the result if anyone did this. Thinking more in depth can we report any news crews? Yep I am just being silly now but it seems like this whole country is silly so why not.
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Well it all depends on what you tell them. If you tell them that there is a film crew filming the police at work, they'll say "yeah, we know, it's our officers they're filming" and will be under no obligation to do anything so I can't really see your point.
 
MG TF 135 said:
And do the Police really think that a terrorist would respond to a compliments slip requesting that they attend the station for a chat? Thats like saying that they buy a return bus ticket, pure idiotic.
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Now who's succumbing to media scaremongering, who said they thought he was a terrorist?! Its more likely the neighbour thought he was some kind of perv (ie, taking pics through windows and such rubbish).

Anyway, the officer obviously knew it was a load of tosh, hence putting the note through the door. He/she knew it was simply a paperwork exercise in order to file the job.

You honestly don't think police put notes through suspected terrorists doors do you????
 
MagicMynx said:
When I was growning up, on a summers evening all the adults would be sat outside in the street nattering. Nothing like that now...
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Same when I was growing up. Now it is not possible to do. We used to do it up to a few years back but stopped after other neighbours complained about "the noise". Wouldn't be so bad if it was really late or were drunk but it was mostly just normal (outdoor) conversation level. Apparently the mistake made was to amuse each other to the point that people laughed. Must have disturbed some peoples emmerdale/corrie/enders :shrug:
 
Matt Rimmer said:
But they would have to investigate some way or another be it with the police that are there or other officers. I would be intrigued to see the result if anyone did this. Thinking more in depth can we report any news crews? Yep I am just being silly now but it seems like this whole country is silly so why not.
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Are you mental? Why would the police investigate? They know who they are, and why they are there? I really cant understand this kind of mentality.
 
We live in a society of state induced fear.
If you are in fear you don't question why your tax is being spent on CCTV or inefficient policing or Trident. We are keeping a lot of people in jobs doing nothing.
 
What I want to know is the OP going to go round to the neighbour and say anything....?
 
MissV said:
What I want to know is the OP going to go round to the neighbour and say anything....?
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Pretty sure the OP doesn't know which neighbour it was.
The police certainly wouldn't have informed him.
 
MissV said:
What I want to know is the OP going to go round to the neighbour and say anything....?
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I don't know who they are - I know the people immediately to the left and right of me, so it wouldn't be them.
 
You really should complain about this behaviour. Find out who is the chief of police in your area, and write him a polite but forceful letter, explaining that you'd be treated like a criminal for no reason, and that valuable police time has been wasted. Something similar to this happened to a friend of mine. They complained and they got a letter of apology from the chief super, and a guarantee that it wouldn't happen again! It didn't happen!
 
gabe said:
You really should complain about this behaviour. Find out who is the chief of police in your area, and write him a polite but forceful letter, explaining that you'd be treated like a criminal for no reason, and that valuable police time has been wasted.
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<snip>

..but the original poster wasn't treated like a criminal. The police put a note through their door, asking for a call back. That's not quite the same as "being treated like a criminal" - i.e. being arrested - as has been pointed out already.

The police are duty-bound to follow up reports of "suspicious behaviour", whether or not it involves a camera. A phone call or knock on the door is usually all it takes to bottom things out. Would you rather you called the police to report something you considered suspicious, and be told that they weren't interested?

The problem here is that the neighbour felt it necessary to call the police in the first place, not the police's response, which I think was quite sensible and reasonable in the circumstances.

A.
 
No, the police should have known that it isn't illegal to take photos so their response was NOT reasonable! And, like it or not, if I were asked to report to the local police station for no apparent reason I would complain about it. These idiots should be kept on their toes so that next time some moron phones them bleating about their neigbour's activities they'll think twice about it.
 
gabe said:
No, the police should have known that it isn't illegal to take photos so their response was NOT reasonable! And, like it or not, if I were asked to report to the local police station for no apparent reason I would complain about it.
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<snip>

Again..

It was a report of suspicious behaviour, that the police were duty-bound to check up on. No one is arguing that taking photos isn't illegal in itself.

To put it another way, if you saw someone hanging around by your car for no reason, would you feel bad about giving the police a call? Hanging around a car isn't illegal (provided you're not wielding a crowbar or otherwise making it obvious you're about to break into it), but it might give the police cause to have a word with the person concerned.

And no one was asked to report to a police station. Look at the scan of the note - it asked for a phone call back.

At the end of the day I'm a photographer and I want to practise my hobby without being made to feel like I'm doing something wrong - BUT - the police have a job to do. The price we all pay for living in a post-9/11 world.

A.
 
A wpc asked them to go into an incident room so it wasn't just a matter of a simple phone call. IMO they were being treated like a criminal, and it also is very obvious that the police don't even know the law! The reason we are now living in a semi-police state is that people like you always say 'oh the police have a job to do', etc...
 
Nice neighbours, remind me not to purchase a house around where you live.

Realspeed
 
gabe said:
A wpc asked them to go into an incident room so it wasn't just a matter of a simple phone call. IMO they were being treated like a criminal, and it also is very obvious that the police don't even know the law! The reason we are now living in a semi-police state is that people like you always say 'oh the police have a job to do', etc...
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I suspect that this 'incident room' as it was called was the only one of the few private rooms available. The OP then states the situation was explained and they apologized for the situation that developed, which was thanks to the neighbour. At no stage are we led to believe he was treated 'like a criminal'. As Anorakus stated, he was simply asked to phone in as per the note, the only reason the OP went in in person is because he lived so close to the station.

And how do the police 'not know the law'?? They dont know what they are dealing with until they get there. ascertain what has happened and then applied the relevant legislation. Not everything can be summed up on the 'phone.

From your posts, it seems you are very, very nieve as to what situations can develop from suspicious behavior being reported, from burglaries, robberies and even rape, so the police are duty bound to investigate every call. You would soon complain if they didnt bother following up calls the public, which they ultimately serve.
 
I haven't read the whole thread so I apologise in advance if this has been said already but if I was the police I would be asking what has the neighbour got to hide that makes them wary of someone taking a photo in their street?

Trev
 
How do the police not know the law? Well they said that a neighbour had complained about someone taking photos in the street. As far as I know, there is NO law against doing this. That's what I meant when I wrote that the police don't know the law.

I wonder if the police would have been so quick to respond if some little thug had been beating up an old lady? They seem to specialise in not doing anything when it comes to real crime!
 
photogwannabe said:
From a perspective of many thousands of kilometres away I just have to ask this... don't people in the immediate area of one's own home know one's neighbours to the point that one NEED NOT call the police because they were out taking pictures?

[/QUOTe

This is Britain we're talking about here. It's become a strange frightened little nation, and is well on its way to becoming a police state. And the most amazing thing is that we are allowing this kind of thing to happen!
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gabe said:
How do the police not know the law? Well they said that a neighbour had complained about someone taking photos in the street. As far as I know, there is NO law against doing this. That's what I meant when I wrote that the police don't know the law.
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So you're assuming that someone phoned the police saying that someone was taking photos in the street? It's far more probable that they said something along the lines of "There's someone acting suspiciously in the street and they've just taken a close up photo of my car".

All the police did was to knock on his door and, when there was no answer, they up a note through asking him to give them a call so they could clear it all up nicely for the paperwork. Andy decided to go there of his own free will as he lives so close and they even apologised for taking up his time. And you think that's indicative of a police state???
 
MagicMynx said:
When I was growning up, on a summers evening all the adults would be sat outside in the street nattering. Nothing like that now...
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I'm only 19, and even when I was growing up (a kid, still in school etc.) it was like that. I know for a fact even though I don't live there anymore, that it's not like that now.
 
gabe said:
How do the police not know the law? Well they said that a neighbour had complained about someone taking photos in the street. As far as I know, there is NO law against doing this. That's what I meant when I wrote that the police don't know the law.

I wonder if the police would have been so quick to respond if some little thug had been beating up an old lady? They seem to specialise in not doing anything when it comes to real crime!
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I think they would have responded pretty quickly. You honestly have no grasp about what you are saying do you?

...and you missed my point about the law. If you digested my previous post, you will realise, or should, that sometimes everything cant be summed up on a phone call. The neighbour, rightly or wrongly, reported someone in the street taking photos (no harm in that). But put a different slant on this - when they spoke to the person with the camera, they were a registered sex offender? Same situation, different person taking the pics. See why they are obligued to follow up? No, I doubt you do sadly...
 
Hi Andy,

What an awful thing to have happened. I would personally ask all your neighbours who reported it if only to explain that you are within your rights to take photographs.

Whilst I don't like wasting Police time I would want to hear from them that they fully understand the law in this case and that you can take photographs on the street.

As to the Police always having to follow up a complaint I cannot agree with this. I live in the country and one of the members of my village has about 8 dogs, one of which is an Irish wolfhound. Those who know these dogs will also know they are a lumbering dog with little control of direction or speed once they start to bound. The man never has the dogs on a lead and they always chase other dogs including my terrified border collie.

On this occasion the wolf hound came straight into me as it could not turn and damaged my knee which took about 6 months to heal. I reported this to the Police who said they could do nothing about it and did nothing about it!

If my then 11 year old Daughter had been walking the dog and the hound had hit Her it is very unlikely that She would be able to walk again. Which is why we are nervous of Her going out on Her own.

Not a happy situation but one which I am building evidence to try and stop. What I don't think is right is the dogs should be put down, but the owner should be told to put them on a lead and if he cannot control 8 dogs then he walks them separately.

Best regards

Chris
 
Yes it would be a shame to have the dogs put down as it's not really their fault! Have you tried talking to the owners?
 
gabe said:
Yes it would be a shame to have the dogs put down as it's not really their fault! Have you tried talking to the owners?
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Hi Carrie,

The owner is a pillock as accepted by most of us in the village and not approachable.

I am going to discuss with the Parish Council to see what they think of the situation.

Regards

Chris
 
G2EWS said:
I am going to discuss with the Parish Council to see what they think of the situation.
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It's like our very own TP version of Emmerdale. ;)

Good luck :)
 
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