As an addendum, I should add (I guess that's what you do in an addendum) a couple of things:
Firstly, what I wrote in my previous post is my understanding of what the law is in "Common Law" countries (ie: Britain, the US, the Commonwealth countries). It may be way different in other jurisdictions. BTW, it isn't a "legal opinion", it's just an opinion. Secondly, I'm not saying that anyone should refuse to co-operate with the cops. I'm just saying what I understand that they can legally do or not do. In that situation (where an officer demands my film), I'd probably co-operate myself. Ending up with a smashed camera, and having the officer say later, "I didn't do it, he must have dropped it in the melee", doesn't suit me. And third, I'm not saying that cops are all a bunch of jerks who illegally seize film from poor photogs. Some cops are jerks, just like some photographers are jerks. No more so, no less so. And let's face it, officers have to work under extreme stress at times, and sometimes make bad decisions at such times, just like all of us. Problem is, because of the large amount of power they have, when the police are jerks, it can be a scary thing. In my opinion, anyway... And, last of all, matters of national security (referring to Brendan's experience) may legally be different. I could understand why Canada's Navy would be embarassed to have anyone photographing those leaky buckets of bolts even in a peaceful situation. I heard last week that there's a water shortage aboard our ships that are on their way to Afghanistan. I'm not sure if they've gotten there yet. Sheesh, a water shortage on a boat! And, they haven't even started to fight yet! regards, frank - a Canuck and proud of it! frank theriault wrote: > Well, I don't know too much about the law, and how it pertains specifically to > photographing "crime scenes", but I do know a little bit about criminal law. > > I don't know how photographing police officers at their work "impedes" anything. > It may piss them off, but it doesn't impede them from carrying out thier duties - > assuming that you're far enough away from the action that you're not physically > impeding them from moving about. > -- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
