Peaceful picket to save youth club and anti terror laws

[suityou01]

Boy of 12 hauled out of class by police over David Cameron Facebook protest - Mirror Online

A schoolboy trying to save his youth club was hauled from class after his plan to protest outside David Cameron's constituency office was spotted - by anti-terror police.

In an astonishing over-reaction, 12-year-old Nicky Wishart was warned he faced ARREST.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "The policeman asked me lots of questions about why we were having a protest and who would be there.

"I said it was simply because we didn't want our youth centre to close - it's a fantastic place to go and there isn't much else for us to do round here."

Well I for one feel safer.

[vetran]

and the police shower themselves in glory again.

Police officer threatened to arrest man for photographing scene of an accident | Mail Online

‘We’ll nick you now and I will make your day a living hell, 'cause you’ll be in that cell all day’: Police officer swore and threatened to lock man up for photographing crash scene
Aggressive officer confronted man taking pictures after a road accident
An elderly woman had been hit by a car in Churchdown, Gloucestershire
The photographer said anyone injured had left scene and police tape lifted
Officer, who said he was Sgt Tony Wallace, swore at the photographer, 26
He threatened to arrest him, adding: 'You're lucky I didn't knock you out'
Online footage of confrontation has been viewed more than 10,000 times
Gloucestershire police commissioner Martin Surl condemns the officer

[DaveB]

Boy of 12 hauled out of class by police over David Cameron Facebook protest - Mirror Online



Well I for one feel safer.

2010 called, they want their story back.

[hyperD]

I was in bed last night, around 1:30am, listening to LBC on the topic of crime and how 50% of cases do not end up in jail. Boring enough to send me to sleep until they had this young policeman on. Never had so many words been said in so many subordinate clauses to explain so little. It was cringeworthy stuff, devoid of anything informative, devoid of any basic construct of an argument. It was so bad that the host cut him off mid sentence and said thank you very much. Scary stuff.

For the benefit of the CUK collective, this is of course a true representative sample of all policemen.

[minestrone]

They look like a couple of troglodytes.

[minestrone]

The police use screen scrapping now to search twitter for terms and charge them with offence laws even if nobody was offended.

[Gittins Gal]

Hmm, the quintessential dichotomy...

I've read both stories and I'm one side of the fence for the first and kinda the other side on the second.

Regarding the schoolboy wishing to protest about the closure of his local youth centre - fairly cut and dry IMO; completely disproportionate and just confirms the maxim that if you give anyone too much power they WILL abuse it. And we see this all the time with anti terror laws.

The second one isn't so cut and dry. I kind of skip read the article yesterday so I have to admit to a slight knowledge gap in terms of exactly what was being photographed. So he could have been doing wrong. But this highlights the dichotomy - on the one hand, we condemn the officer(s) involved in the first case and we probably all thing they are officious bar stewards. But what if the guy in the second case was in the wrong? It doesn't sound like he was very cooperative - do we want the police to treat him with kid gloves? Or do we want him to have the fear of God put up him by this officer threatening to unleash the full might of the law on him?

[vwdan]

and the police shower themselves in glory again.

Police officer threatened to arrest man for photographing scene of an accident | Mail Online

As a bit of an amateur photographer things like that make me really angry. I have a general respect for the Police, but to listen to one talking so much tulipe and making so many threats winds me right up. Personally, I'd have taken the arrest because he would've had to work really hard to explain that away.

[vwdan]

The second one isn't so cut and dry. I kind of skip read the article yesterday so I have to admit to a slight knowledge gap in terms of exactly what was being photographed. So he could have been doing wrong. But this highlights the dichotomy - on the one hand, we condemn the officer(s) involved in the first case and we probably all thing they are officious bar stewards. But what if the guy in the second case was in the wrong? It doesn't sound like he was very cooperative - do we want the police to treat him with kid gloves? Or do we want him to have the fear of God put up him by this officer threatening to unleash the full might of the law on him?

While I take your point, the officer in question was completely and utterly wrong in what he was saying. The law is really quite clear in respect to private individuals taking photos in a public place and I've not seen any legislation which makes things any different if you're a member of the press. He used his power and the threat of arrest to assert power that he simply he didn't have - that's UTTERLY out of order.

[Gittins Gal]

While I take your point, the officer in question was completely and utterly wrong in what he was saying. The law is really quite clear in respect to private individuals taking photos in a public place and I've not seen any legislation which makes things any different if you're a member of the press. He used his power and the threat of arrest to assert power that he simply he didn't have - that's UTTERLY out of order.

Perhaps I'll revisit the article. As I said, I only skip read it. And it was the DM so I admit to not having all the facts of this case to hand.