Going Around with a Camera can be mistaken as a Terrorist

[hotwork77]

Photographers in UK gathered on Jan 23 to protest against unduly targeted by Section 44 of the Act, which allow police officers to stop and search people, regardless of whether they have reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

In Singapore it seems that we are also at times stopped by Security and to refrain from further picture taking citing terrorism concerns.

This thread is started to share similiar experiences we have encountered either in Singapore or as tourist overseas. Anyone?

 

[denniskee]

if ever, Singapore govt decides to do it like UK (i hope not), and we gather in large group to do this without permit, need i tell u what will happen next?:bsmilie:

 

[aryanto]

if ever, Singapore govt decides to do it like UK (i hope not), and we gather in large group to do this without permit, need i tell u what will happen next?:bsmilie:

Actually they will hunt down the organiser
Too many participants to put into jail, just make organiser and example so nobody dare to do it again.

Typical imperial chinese punishment style. :devil:

 

[phoakm]

Sad but true. I got a feeling that some securities does not know the proper law and order. Anyhow stop people from shooting even standing in public area. :think:

The only place which I feel safe to shoot is in the long kang. :bsmilie:

 

[neech7]

Real terrorists carry around a big fat camera body with a big white lens mounted. Yeah right.

 

[denniskee]

no. real terrorist needs to look like ang moh, goes around in tri-shaw rides, that way they can go right up infront of the parliament house to shoot continouesly w/o police stopping them.

if terrorist looks like us local, the moment u set up tripod at the T-junction of the parliament house, police will come looking for u.

above is my personal experience.

 

[phoakm]

no. real terrorist needs to look like ang moh, goes around in tri-shaw rides, that way they can go right up infront of the parliament house to shoot continouesly w/o police stopping them.

if terrorist looks like us local, the moment u set up tripod at the T-junction of the parliament house, police will come looking for u.

above is my personal experience.

True True. :embrass:

 

[Galdor]

no. real terrorist needs to look like ang moh, goes around in tri-shaw rides, that way they can go right up infront of the parliament house to shoot continouesly w/o police stopping them.

if terrorist looks like us local, the moment u set up tripod at the T-junction of the parliament house, police will come looking for u.

above is my personal experience.

Very true. I experienced that too.

 

[mookie]

http://blog.dpreview.com/editorial/...at-especially-when-the-sun-is-shining-yo.html

The last paragraph of the article:
"Now, it seems, there might finally be an end to this waste of time and public money. As we’ve read in a BBC News article today the Section 44 stop-and-search powers have been ruled illegal by the European court of Human Rights. It might take a while before the last community support officer will have received the memo but it looks as if in the near future photographers (and crucially also camera reviewers) in urban Britain will be able to take a picture again without making themselves a terrorist suspect. Common sense prevails (pending government appeal) and you can expect many more Tower Bridge and City Hall images in the sample galleries of reviews to come - everyone's a winner."

 

[night86mare]

Photographers in UK gathered on Jan 23 to protest against [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]unduly targeted by Section 44 of the Act, which allow police officers to stop and search people, regardless of whether they have reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

i've gotten stopped and searched before, no big deal.

to be honest, people are just overreacting over a small thing.

 

[phoakm]

i've gotten stopped and searched before, no big deal.

to be honest, people are just overreacting over a small thing.

It is not overreacting. They are just doing their job.
However, the person must know what and why they are doing.
If the search is a must, so do it to all.
But not doing it with bias thinking.

 

[night86mare]

It is not overreacting. They are just doing their job.
However, the person must know what and why they are doing.
If the search is a must, so do it to all.
But not doing it with bias thinking.

yes, but the majority of the people i see protesting will never get this bias :bsmilie:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...-by-police-over-canary-wharf-photo-project.do

most police will just be friendly, do a routine check, etc.

if i be honest, i think most of the photographers are there just to feel excited about something. :bsmilie:

 

[phoakm]

yes, but the majority of the people i see protesting will never get this bias :bsmilie:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...-by-police-over-canary-wharf-photo-project.do

most police will just be friendly, do a routine check, etc.

if i be honest, i think most of the photographers are there just to feel excited about something. :bsmilie:

:bigeyes: ..... this is extreme! The person had been compling to whatever been asked. Still received such treatment? :think:

 

[zcf]

Did they actually caught any terrorist with camera on them before? :think:

 

[Ian]

I've been stopped and harrassed by more law enforcement and military / para military types than I'd care to remember in my adult life. However the levels of paranoia now apparent in many countries makes me wonder about the mental stability of a large chunk of the population and of law enforcement and security operatives in particular.

Even in Africa in some locations paranoia is becoming the norm when you pull out a large DSLR and lens. By far the worst harrassment I've had though was for a few months here in Australia. It was after a report a terrorist suspect campaign on TV and everytime I'd poke a big lens down a road to get a road shot for a client some ar$e would call the Aust Federal Police and a few minutes later the boys in blue would arrive to demand identification and an explaination of what I was doing. Complience is safer (at that point in time) so I'd go along with it and then flash a press pass and business card and basically tell them to sod off. The security guards were worse, as soon as you were on territory they had legal supervision of they'd tell you to stop taking photos, blah blah blah. So in the end I'd just stand 100mm outside of their jurisdiction and take the shots I required. Things have pretty much cooled down here now, but there are still a few over zealous types out there.

Now for some food for thought.

1) The threats of terrorism are vastly over estimated. This is largely occuring because certain groups (politicians / law enforcement) hate seeing people people be "free". Freedom in thought and action largely makes politicans and the law enforcement agencies redundant. Politicians have been using the excuse of "terrorism" to negate civil liberties globally for the past 8 and a bit years. Certain media owners are assisting in this by raising the levels of paranoia amongst the general public with often false and patently dodgy statistics and tactics.

2) If you don't believe me, do a quick calculation on the probability of you being in a bomb attack in London involving public transport. The base figures are all out on the net for the number of passengers per year, number of train trips made, bus trips etc.

3) Study the causes of the current outburst of global terrorism and you'll discover some very nasty home truths at the bottom of the woodpile.

 

[Tupi Guy]

if ever, Singapore govt decides to do it like UK (i hope not), and we gather in large group to do this without permit, need i tell u what will happen next?

7 years will be the minimum servicing for starting a protest or riot in sg if i not wrong:sweat:

Actually they will hunt down the organiser
Too many participants to put into jail, just make organiser and example so nobody dare to do it again.

Typical imperial chinese punishment style. :devil:

Yes, they will get the "headmen"

 

[neech7]

If the step up in security is actually effective then perhaps it's justified. But do real terrorists actually go around taking photos? They can probably get what they need by googling for images of buildings and other structures. Won't they be more interested in say the itineraries of VIPs? Another example of stupidity is the 100ml liquid rule of the US TSA. So each person is limited to no more than 100ml of liquid on the plane, presumably some expert told them that's not enough of liquid explosive to blow up a plane. Fine, if the terrorists want to, send 5 or 10 guys on the same flight, each with 100ml of liquid. Once on the plane, one guy collects all the liquid from the others and go to the lavatory and combine all of it. Then what?

 

[night86mare]

:bigeyes: ..... this is extreme! The person had been compling to whatever been asked. Still received such treatment? :think:

well... what to do.... i don't think it's fair to that group of people actually.

it doesn't just happen that way.

 

[Ian]

If the step up in security is actually effective then perhaps it's justified. But do real terrorists actually go around taking photos? They can probably get what they need by googling for images of buildings and other structures. Won't they be more interested in say the itineraries of VIPs? Another example of stupidity is the 100ml liquid rule of the US TSA. So each person is limited to no more than 100ml of liquid on the plane, presumably some expert told them that's not enough of liquid explosive to blow up a plane. Fine, if the terrorists want to, send 5 or 10 guys on the same flight, each with 100ml of liquid. Once on the plane, one guy collects all the liquid from the others and go to the lavatory and combine all of it. Then what?

The vast majority of alleged and tried terrorists used video cameras not still cameras to take images.

The liquid ban is pure and simple US paranoia as that nation has a long documented history of having to have a big bad bogeyman as an enemy. The current whipping boy (or girl) is so called Terrorism and terrorists.

 

[mysterio506]

I remember couple of years back, i setup my tripod in front of buck palace gate at nite to take photos,
minutes later cop car arrived & saw me with a camera & drove away... :think: maybe checking up for my safety :thumbsup: