Not really, but you can't
beat a ripping off a song title.
The fuss over Police
treatment of professional and amateur photographers has died down, but it's
never too late to enter the fray.
A couple of seasons ago, I
covered Hartlepool v Sheffield Wednesday for When Saturday Comes, the half
decent football magazine. As I was getting some shots of people milling around
outside the Victoria Ground, a Policeman came up and explained that his boss
was 'Getting twitchy' and wanted to know who I was, what I was doing, and for why.
It may be that the Darlington/Hartlepool
rivalry has flared up again. For all I know there could be an Al Queda cell in
Hartlepool. If I wanted images of the Victoria Ground to pass onto unnamed
forces of darkness, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to take photographs on a
matchday with dozens of police in attendance.
Around that time I took some
shots of Listers Mill in Bradford, one of the many wonderful Victorian buildings
in the city. Manningham Police Station is over the road from Listers Mill, it
wasn’t long before the long arm of the law had a short stroll to enquire who I
was, etc etc.
Not to labour the point, but
if you have evil intentions, would you photograph outside a police
station in broad daylight?
Actually yes, if you have a
camera phone. You can photograph anything without anyone bothering you.
The other question is, why
bother? Google will show you photographs of almost anything.
Of course, I didn’t raise
these points at the time.
I didn’t fight the law, and
the law won.
Paul Thompson.
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