6 ms·

At London trainstations, police asks you to notify them if you're a train spotter. That way they won't bother you (unless you start taking pictures of the infra

• Nextgrid 7y ago
  Why would taking pictures of the infrastructure be illegal?
  • reallydontask 7y ago
    It's not illegal, AFAIK, just suspicious, at least to some people.
  • Simple_Guy 7y ago
    because people think that terrorists will do that when they plan their attacks. obviously you can just pretend to be vlogging
  • frereubu 7y ago
    After the 2005 bombings in London, which targeted public transport networks and the people on them, the security services are understandably concerned about similar attacks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings
  • mc32 7y ago
    It’s why we can’t have good things. Someone will abuse the privilege. Just earlier we had a post about people pulling the emergency brakes on NYC subway cars. For decades it was fine. Suddenly people are causing some chaos. That’s about it. People will exploit weaknesses and we all lose.
    • dontbenebby 7y ago
      I don't think they'll remove emergency brakes. I think they'll beef up CCTV and enhance patrols so they can respond quickly next time it happens.
      • ccffph 7y ago
        So everyone now is surveilled en masse and patrolled by agents of the state, great solution. Is that really what we want?
        • dontbenebby 7y ago
          In the article I read, the suspect exited the carriage and went down an employees only tunnel. Those sorts of tunnels seem like a place it's OK to put CCTV, since the general public doesn't even use them.
  • village-idiot 7y ago
    It’s like hanging out at a bank too much. Not illegal per se, but people are going to assume you’re casing the joint eventually.
  • FabHK 7y ago
    In many countries the advice is not to photograph infrastructure (bridges, dams, etc.), as it is illegal. Examples: > Photography: Taking photographs of UAE military facilities, sensitive civilian sites, airports, some beaches, or foreign diplomatic missions – including the U.S. Embassy or Consulate General – may result in arrest, detention, and/or prosecution by local authorities. Travelers should be aware of signs which indicate where photography is prohibited. Note that it is illegal to take photographs of other people without their consent. In addition, engaging in mapping activities, especially mapping that includes the use of GPS equipment, without coordination with UAE authorities, may have the same consequences. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/UnitedArabEmirates.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra... > Photography: Photographing military installations is forbidden. Individuals have been detained and/or had their cameras and film confiscated for taking pictures of hospitals, schools, bridges, industrial sites, and airports. Sites where photography is prohibited are not always marked. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Tanzania.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra...
  • Havoc 7y ago
    It is actually illegal in some countries. Got marched to a police station and interrogated in Mozambique for it Other countries designate key infrastructure as strategic
  • Consultant32452 7y ago
    My city has a beautiful courthouse. You'll be detained and questioned for taking pictures of it. It's not technically illegal, but they'll ruin your day, strongly discouraging you from doing it again.
  • morpheuskafka 7y ago
    Evidently "security by obscurity" is our government's approach. Reduces accountability and public freedom as a supposed solution to terrorism.
  • kingaillas 7y ago
    Pictures can be used for planning an attack against said infrastructure. The whole situation is unfortunate since there's a lot of cool looking government buildings and infrastructure out there.
• scarejunba 7y ago
  In Japan, I took photographs of trains, buses, railway lines with no one on them, and the police just ignored me or smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Interestingly, if I had to rate the approachability of cops, I'd put Japan > UK >> USA. And tbh, that's far down the list. In America, you try to avoid the police, even if you're law abiding. In the UK, you might have a chat.
  • village-idiot 7y ago
    Police in some parts of japan will even give out these adorable little patches or buttons to small children.
  • noir_lord 7y ago
    The police are really friendly. After the morons started driving vans into crowds and attacking them with knives they stepped up armed officer patrols at busy times in my local city center. My stepson was frightened as he'd never seen anyone wandering around with a gun before so I took him over and said hello and he was asking the copper all the awkward questions a young kid would :). After that he started waving at them (and they have always waved back). It's sad we have to have heavily armed officers on foot patrol but by and large they are damn good at their job. Also the criteria for been an armed officer is quite strict, you have to be a full officer after probation (2 years) and a volunteer and physically fit then you get extra training. If you do have to shoot someone you are automatically took out the field until the IPCC has gone over it in detail. It's not perfect, nothing human is but it's a good balance.
• jstanley 7y ago
  > If people see the police as their partner, they'll be happy to help them do their job (at least in the UK). Unfortunately, that ship sailed long ago when the police stopped treating the community as their partner and started treating people with suspicion by default.
  • edraferi 7y ago
    I don’t think it’s fair to make a blanket statement like that, at least in the US where the local police system is hyper-fragmented. There more police-community relationships than there are police + communities, so there’s a ton of variation. Annecdote: I’m very happy with the local police in my community. There are of course correlations and general trends that can be observed. In recent years there’s been a lot of attention on the disproportionate rate of police shootings involving racial minorities. That’s a problem. But it’s not an all police departments by all communities by all times problem.
• village-idiot 7y ago
  The police and the citizenry have massively different relationships in the UK and US. UK police appear to be far more trusted and liked by their citizens than American ones are. Also, they appear to shoot their citizens less often, which probably helps.
  • billfruit 7y ago
    May be because the UK police is actually organized along the Peelian Principles. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles
    • dontbenebby 7y ago
      The whole "not being armed" thing reduces a lot of tension IMHO.
      • salex89 7y ago
        I'm not sure that not being armed is that much different. Even if armed, if the principles behind the force are well set and you trust (based on facts and experiences) that that weapon will not leave the holster without need, it makes very little difference. Just to give an example, I live in Serbia and policemen are armed. Police is far from clean, corruption is present as everywhere and there are obvious ties between crime and police. However, when it comes to the small guy, on the streets, on public events or encounters with an officer I can't say you should be cocerned with your own safety. Sometimes they are armed with rifles, when riskier events take place. Sometimes they are not the most pleasant. But I don't remember the last time I heard an officer discharge a weapon. Funny as it may seem, nobody wants dead bodies in his career. Pieceful de-escalation is a usual crisis outcome. There are a lot of veterans, PTSD sufferers and desperate people around here. Just think of the madness if police charges everywhere guns blazing... This went off topic...
      • village-idiot 7y ago
        Being a cop is a much more dangerous job than being a programmer, but it’s far from the most dangerous job around. Bartenders (1.6x), taxi drivers (1.7x), landscapers (1.5x), miners (2.6x), roofers (4x), fishers (7x), and loggers (9x) are all more likely to die on the job than cops, and none of these professions have developed the siege mentality that cops have. Furthermore, the public image of patrol officer death typically involves violent shootouts with criminals, but in reality death by homicide only accounts for about half of patrol officer deaths, with death by automobile making up the rest. For 2013 10.8 officers died per 100,000, with 49% dying by car accident, 45% by homicide, and 6% by other causes. This pales in comparison to the homicide rate for pregnant women, with up to 10.5 women being murdered per 100,000[0]. This means that a pregnant woman is as likely to be murdered as a cop is likely to die on the job from all causes, and said pregnant woman is twice as likely to be murdered than any cop. 0. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449445 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449445
• dontbenebby 7y ago
  >At London trainstations, police asks you to notify them if you're a train spotter Isn't this solved fairly easily? "Whatcha upto mate?" "Photographing the trains. I like trains" "Oh one of those. Off I go!" I don't know how that interaction would go in the UK, but I think in the states it would start fairly aggressively (demanding ID/barking orders), which in turn makes people who like to photograph infrastructure for artistic reasons dig their heels in, say they have a right to photograph in public, and refuse additional questions.
• wool_gather 7y ago
  And so...wouldn't the first thing that someone with malicious intent would do be to tell the police "I'm totally a trainspotter"?
  • JorgeGT 7y ago
    Terrorist are usually not devious smooth talkers like in the movies. Most will be too nervous to talk to the police naturally, or too frightened to attract police attention by self-reporting their activities, etc. That's the reason why one of the backbones of Israel flight security is just a brief chat with the passengers. In real life, there's no rehearsal, and no director to order a second take if you fail to play it cool.
    • nacs 7y ago
      There's lots of nervous/stressed looking people in airports, at least here in the US. How does the natural state of being stressed/tired from travel or being nervous about dealing with the horrendous TSA/CBP allow an officer to reliably distinguish regular citizens from terrorists? Some people are naturally anxious/nervous in public and a place like airports with TSA agents strip searching you and ordering you around like cattle can appear to be "suspicious" behavior.
      • wongarsu 7y ago
        Israeli security isn't like TSA. Everyone gets a short interview with a professional (not some minimum wage worker) where obvious red flags are spotted like a story that sounds rehearsed. If you pass you are assigned a security level based on the interview and other factors that affects how thoroughly you are checked in the remaining procedure.