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Short person: good. Tall person: Terrorism suspect

posted by nrh on Tuesday July 21, @08:29PM

Anonymous Coward writes "Possibly the most stupid grounds for arrest yet. Kent Police in the UK arrested a man taking photographs (in a public place - a perfectly legal act), on the grounds that he was "too tall". Alex Turner, all 5 foot 11 inches of him, was arrested, searched, and held for 20 minutes, before he was released.

Read about it on his blog. The Register also has a writeup."

Thanks, AC! This certainly is a problem! I suspect this is the sort of thing that gets solved only when police are penalized for making such arrests. As bureaucrats, police always face an incentive to keep people locked up -- they would take the blame if they'd said to the unnamed accusers (or whatever they were) "Hey, he's just taking pictures, it's a free country" and then the photographer had turned out to be a member of Al Queda.

As long as this perverse incentive is in place (and it is very well-established here in the U.S.) police will have an incentive to abuse their power to lock up everyone else.

I hate to think what those police would do with a touring basketball team taking a few pictures!

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by kylemonger on Wednesday July 22, @07:25PM (#3644)
User #133 Info

I hate conspiracy theories but other than assuming a mandate from above requiring officers to intimidate private photographers I really can't see what UK police think they are accomplishing with this harassment.

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