On 30/11/09, Jim King, discombobulated, unleashed: >That's my take on dealing with this problem too. But how do we make >sure that those in charge of tourism are aware >that we are boycotting London because of harassment of photographers? >Do we need to orchestrate a public boycott, with media fanfare and all?
I did post the original article, although I did not intend it to be alarmist - I intended it to be informational. Clearly those people who will be alarmed enough to stay away when they might have otherwise come on a visit have freedom of choice and will make their decision accordingly. What I would say is that the police and the city officials would argue that they are simply out there being visible in the prevention of terror, and seen to be doing their jobs. This level of policing is the base 'on the street' stuff - I suspect that the police officer was out training the PCSO <http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/pcso/> and there are many more important and covert investigations going on of a much more serious nature, the vast majority we all will never know about. Playing devils advocate for a moment, if this wasn't happening there would be plenty who would chirp up to complain that there was no visible presence on the streets of police these days. London, by and large, is a relatively safe place to be, and most police don't carry firearms, and as a Brit I hope it stays that way. If I am visiting a large city anywhere in the world and photographing buildings, bridges, anything you like, I would expect at some point to be questioned by someone in uniform. At least here in London they will not as a matter of routine cart you off to the cells to question you as they would do in plenty of countries. One could argue that if these tactics had been in place before nuts with ideals and death wishes started blowing up buildings, we might be living in a slightly less dangerous world.... <flame proof suit on> -- Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ---------- http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
