On 9/11/05, William Robb, discombobulated, unleashed: >The teacher has a right to be interested, but has no right to accost the >photographer or call the police, since no laws were being broken.
Calling the police is not a right. Anyone can call the police for whatever reason. It is up to the police to decide how to respond, and depending on availability and local protocols, they may or may not respond immediately. They are overworked (anywhere) and so would doubtless class a call about 'persons seen photographing a school' a little lower down the scale from 'persons seen photographing a petro- chemical facility. > Having >said that, a simple conversation would have been acceptable, rather than the >threats and innuendo that the fellow was doing something wrong . Fully agree here. But teachers are by nature over-protective and some are outright control freaks (I speak from experience). They do not like things happening within the perimeter of their grounds that they have not 'okayed'. They like it even less when it's happening just outside that perimeter, over which they have no control. I have had teachers accost me on numerous occasions when filming outside of schools, threatening me with all sorts of legality. I tell them they can do what they like. 'It's against the law to film children' is a classic. I reply that I am not filming children, just the buildings and grounds. 'I'll call the police' - I reply by offering a suitable phone number to speed their cry for help. 'You need permission to film'. I say politely that I do not and carry on with my task. 'I demand your employer's name', I give it to them and the phone number. They scurry off, but within a couple of minutes I am finished and am gone. Most people do not know anything about what is 'legal' and what is not. The truth is that these matters can only be sorted out in the courts. Meanwhile, I just get on with the job :-) Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________
