Saturday, February 27, 2010

UK - A father was told to stop taking pictures of his four-year-old son

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7326561/Father-told-to-stop-taking-pictures-of-his-own-son.html

A father was told to stop taking pictures of his four-year-old son on a ride in a shopping centre because he might be a paedophile.

By Matthew Moore
Published: 4:38PM GMT 26 Feb 2010

Kevin Geraghty-Shewan, 48, was threatened with arrest by police officers and told the images may have to be deleted, despite protesting that he had every right to photograph his own son.

Mr Geraghty-Shewan, from Gillingham in Kent, said he was approached by a security guard at Bridges Shopping Centre while the boy, Ben, played on a children's train ride.
 
The guard told him to stop taking pictures on his camera phone. "I asked why, and he told me it was because for all he knew I could be a paedophile," the father said.
 
"I told him Ben was my own son. But he said I couldn't prove it. I couldn't believe it. I walked away and then I thought about making a complaint."
 
Mr Geraghty-Shewan then took a photograph of the security guard, after which the police became involved.
 
"They took my details and said they had the right to remove the picture from my phone," he said.
 
"I got annoyed and things got heated, then he threatened me with arrest for breach of the peace. Ben thought I was in trouble because he had sat on the ride and we didn't put the money in."
 
A spokesperson for The Bridges apologised for the incident but said that its staff were instructed to "monitor" photography at the shopping centre.
 
"Unfortunately on this occasion what should have been a simple polite conversation led to a misunderstanding and we apologise for any offence caused," it said in a statement.
 
"It is always our aim to implement our security procedures with the minimum of fuss and disruption to our shoppers."

1 comment:

Denis said...

that is so completly INSANE! as a father of three i can't imagine some security guard trying to tell me how to interact with them