Strange phone call........Police spot check??

jamesward93

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I just had a rather strange call from some one called 'Dan'. Basically said he had seen my website and wanted to know what the youngest age would be for me to shoot a model. I told him it depended on the assignment. Anything glamour would be at least 18. I asked him for some more info and he said it was for his step-daughter who wanted to get into glamour modelling. He wanted to arrange a shoot to see if she was comfortable in front of the camera in a studio environment but she wasn't quite 18 yet. I asked how close to 18 she was and was told 'well she is actually 15'. I told him there was no way i would shoot glamour with her at that age and i doubt there would be any decent photographers out there who would, but if they wanted to do a fashion/makeover shoot to see how she felt in the studio i was more than happy to arrange something. The reply i got was 'thanks but we really wanted to see if she was comfortable getting her tits out in front of people'. i again told him i doubted anyone would take that job on and that at 15 its not even legal, then said goodbye.

Do you think this could be be the police doing spot checks on photographers?? If not i am hoping its someone having a wind up as i am shocked at the thought of someone wanting their 15 yo step-daughter to 'get her tits out!!!'
 
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I dont think its something the police would do as, well, thats entrapement.

Im equally worried by any parent wanting to try and arrange something like that. Thats completely bananas.
 
i would report it. The police can trace the call and take it from there.
 
Entrapment doesn't really work in the UK, the police here can and do regularly use "sting" operations to catch offenders.
This seems unusual though, it's possible some sort of alergation has been made and they are following it up, it might be malicious (a competitor maybe) or it might have been so vauge they don't know which one of several togs it's referring to.
Or my best guess is somebody trying to get some "dodgy" pics taken and is looking around to find someone to do it, in which case giving the old bill a ring is probably the best option.
 
Entrapment doesn't really work in the UK, the police here can and do regularly use "sting" operations to catch offenders.
This seems unusual though, it's possible some sort of alergation has been made and they are following it up, it might be malicious (a competitor maybe) or it might have been so vauge they don't know which one of several togs it's referring to.
Or my best guess is somebody trying to get some "dodgy" pics taken and is looking around to find someone to do it, in which case giving the old bill a ring is probably the best option.

Yes it does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment#England_and_Wales
 
It won't be the police, however, as you said, its illegal and for someone to be wanting topless photos of their 15 year old step daughter would ring alarm bells in my head.

Phone the police and make a statement.
 
just on the phone to them now

Fair doos.

I dont think they will be able to do anything though. Even if they trace the call and find the person, (a) its your word against theire and (b) arguably, no offence has been committed as yet.

I think your best to call them to keep yourself in the clear but i dont think it will lead anywhere. In addition it may lead to the police intervening if this step parent has had previous run ins with the police etc.
 
Well they took a statement but advised there isn't really a lot they can do without an address or phone number (was a withheld number). However i feel better for letting them know and if someone else gets a call and reports it then they may get some more info and prompt the police to follow up on it.
 
This is very discerning that a parent could even request this, this really does show the state of the country :(
 
This is very discerning that a parent could even request this, this really does show the state of the country :(

No it dosn't!
It shows the state of one sicko step father trying to make money out of his step daughter!
 
Definitely not police, unless someone has reported you maliciously?

Sounds like some perv just trying it on though.
 
Sounds like a wind up to me. Possibly even someone that knows you! You did right to report it to the police though. :thumbs: If there's ever a next time say that you could possibly work something out, then get a name and number and report to police.;)
 
If there's ever a next time say that you could possibly work something out, then get a name and number and report to police.;)

One other possibility is that it's a self-appointed Paedofinder General running his own Entrapment gig, possibly with his own vigilante justice to match...

I'd be careful about saying such things :suspect:
 
One other possibility is that it's a self-appointed Paedofinder General running his own Entrapment gig, possibly with his own vigilante justice to match...

I'd be careful about saying such things :suspect:

That's the problem with entrapment, you never know who's being entraped.:suspect:
 
Could you not contact your phone provider and ask if they can tell you what the number was?
 
It wont have been the police. We don't have entrapment in this country - that's an americanism which has crept into the language, but we do have agent provocateur, which is pretty much the same thing. The police set up sting operations all the time as second hand dealers and drug dealers and that's fine as long as they wait to be approached. What they can't do is approach people and encourage or provoke them to commit offences.
 
I've had similar calls more often than I can remember. My take on it is that it's just someone who gets off on making this type of call. But sometimes it can be irresponsible parents, I had a chav mother with her 'big built' 13 year old daughter at my studio once, insisting that it was OK for me to take topless pics of the girl because she was giving me permission to do it - she became quite offensive when I told her that, as mother, it was her job to protect her daughter from photographers, not a photographers' job to protect her from her mother.
 
Omg!!!!! Can't believe it!!! That's shocking!!
 
Garry Edwards said:
became quite offensive when I told her that, as mother, it was her job to protect her daughter from photographers, not a photographers' job to protect her from her mother.

Great come back :D
 
I just told my wife about this thread and her take on it was that it could be an older man trying to take advantage of the girl, not a step-father like they stated.

Her other suggestion was that it could be a parent (still a bit dodgy imho) trying to scare their daughter - for example, she may have expressed an interest in glamour modelling and they want to shock/embarass her into giving up the idea in the way a parent might force a child to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes if they discover that they'd started smoking (also not a great idea but it's something that you hear of).
 
My money would be on a competitor in the area trying to get you to go down a road in which he can later use agaisnt you. Wouldnt suprise me if the call was recorded in the hope you'd agree to something.
 
My money would be on a competitor in the area trying to get you to go down a road in which he can later use agaisnt you. Wouldnt suprise me if the call was recorded in the hope you'd agree to something.

My Bold

What does that say about Photographers if you are right ?
 
I just told my wife about this thread and her take on it was that it could be an older man trying to take advantage of the girl, not a step-father like they stated.

Her other suggestion was that it could be a parent (still a bit dodgy imho) trying to scare their daughter - for example, she may have expressed an interest in glamour modelling and they want to shock/embarass her into giving up the idea in the way a parent might force a child to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes if they discover that they'd started smoking (also not a great idea but it's something that you hear of).

i would agree with that if it was my daughter i may have thought of doing this.
 
This is very discerning that a parent could even request this, this really does show the state of the country :(

Presumably you mean "disturbing" rather than "discerning"?
 
My Bold

What does that say about Photographers if you are right ?

Nothing, these things go on in most professions.

In my families business one of our competitors rang up all our customers saying that we had gone bust and they had taken on all our work....

It happens, all the time in business.

Luckilly we found out and told all our customers it wasnt true, and now the company that did it are up sh-t creek and have lost any future custom they may have got from these customers.
 
I just told my wife about this thread and her take on it was that it could be an older man trying to take advantage of the girl, not a step-father like they stated.
This was also my first thought. 'Step-parent', so no obvious familial resemblance. I was/am a step-parent myself, so nothing against as such. But it's a convenient get-out for a certain section. I'll refrain from profanity. My step-daughter was/is to all intents and purposes MY daughter. I'd never even think of her in this situation. She's 24 and I can't even think of her erm, Oh dear lol.
I've done some work with young gay men (boys, 16+) and this stinks of what I've come across :(
 
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