Be careful out there

[Hanky]

Perhaps she wanted to see how the kids were interfacing with her companys playground equipment and did not have time to advise officials. LOL, Maybe her boss needed report yesterday.

[Bill]

Worried parents can at least dress their child so that playground activities do not expose what the parents do not want seen or photographed. That reminds of Celia Ravenbark's book, "Stop Dressing Your Six-Year Old Like a Skank." Not the same thing, of course.

Murph can probably inform us of the details, but if it is in "plain view," the police or anyone else should be able to see it or photograph it. If you do not want something seen or photographed, do not have it out in plain view.

If parents do not see that their kids are dressed appropriately for the activity, turn them in to Child Protective Services. For all my talk, I am more liable just to think that the kids have clueless parents. Not having children, I am the expert, of course, with no experience to foul up the pronouncements!

[brad]

Originally Posted by Murph

Ok, I have a different perspective on this since I am a sex crimes investigator for my Sheriff's Office. Perverts come in all shapes and sizes, and I have no problem with the Po-Po going over and asking her what she is doing if it gets called in. I have spoken with sex offenders and have had several tell me that they would stand and look at kids in a school yard, and they could pick out the children that would become their victims. Now they use little digital P&S cameras, and camera phones to photograph their intended victims. You see a person photographing the kids, you ask the question: What are you doing? A reasonable explaination is ok. I ask, and determine why they are there.

A recent study was done with sex offenders and they were shown 100 photographs of women of which 20 were abused/molested/raped. The 100 perverts picked out unerringly the 20 without fail. 100% accuracy rate! I am suspicious by training and nature, so I don't have a problem with asking. I don't see it as persecution to just asking what you are doing.

Thanks for the perspective, Murph.. I also would not have a problem with her (or me) being asked on the spot what I was doing. And if, as someone else suggested, someone did start to approach her and she ran off -- yea, that's suspicious.

But the point of the article seems to be that the act of taking pictures is what made her suspicious... there was nothing, nothing, nothing else in the article about what she was doing. No one even saw specifically what she was shooting... they ASSUME that she was photographing children. And they make it sound like that was a criminal offense... "It may be noncriminal" ... that statement, in this context, makes it sound like there is a "but we suspect it was not" that follows... unspoken.

No crime was committed by this woman, but they are trying to find her for questioning? Questioning for what, exactly? What crime do they suspect her of? The article makes it sound like they are on a manhunt for this person.

At the very least, this is an example of bad journalism. There is no story here unless we are told why she was "suspicious" ... and if the story is accurate, and she was suspicious solely for the sake of taking pictures this one time -- suspicious to the point that they are seeking her out for further questioning -- that sounds like bad police work.

[brad]

From a personal standpoint, I had an incident at Scarborough Faire last spring... a little girl was being adorable with bubbles, so I grabbed a couple shots...



Now, I am a parent myself.. and well aware of the paranoia parents have about their children these days, and thanks to stories like this one, about photographers... so after I took them, I walked over to the adults she was with, handed them a card and told them what I had done and why -- offered them copies as well. Even then, trying to be nice, I was, at first, treated like a criminal by them... but answered all of their questions (why didn't I say something before shooting them? because I was afraid she'd stop if I did.. was better when she was unaware of the camera), left any political diatribe out of it, and they were happy in the end.

But if they hadn't liked my answers, I'm sure I would have been questioned by security.. perhaps worse.. who knows.. but this kind of bad reporting (I honestly think that's what it is - NOT bad police work) of paranoid parents gets on my nerves and makes honest situations scary for us photographers.

[AndrewCCM]

I photograph kids at my son's school all the time. However, I check in at the principles office ahead of time and get a volunteer badge prior. That is probably what this person should have done. Ask.. get permission... Simple as that...