You Can't Picture This

After further contact and in an email exchange with PCSO 7166, Xuan Dang I was able to confirm his involvement. Please call Xuan Dang on the cell number given, or email him at Xuan.Dang@met.police.uk, the routing displays the confirmation of the email and CW number as follows. : Xuan DANG PCSO 7166 CW. He was polite and responsive, however sighed the email: MPS personnel (or agents working on behalf of the MPS) must not use
"MPS systems to author, transmit or store documents such as electronic mail (e-mail) messages or attachments: containing racist, homophobic,sexist, defamatory, offensive, illegal or otherwise inappropriate material;..." This means they cannot keep them, so be polite and factual regarding the incident, store a copy of the mail sent, and he appears willing to respond. Perhaps he will be able to explain why what he did even complied with his own email warning?

His flabby partner supporting him is PCSO John O'Brien. You can find out all about this 'team' at their website

The pics can be scrolled and you will see the pair of them pictured. It is interesting that the Met police seem so proud of him, that in their newsletter he sits in the middle on the front row, grinning. Perhaps we could attend some of their public street briefings?

My husband and I suffered similar to this in a public park just for taking a few photos!

It was a couple of years ago now, these officials are so ignorant of the law.

The number is CW (Westminster) 7166 and he's in Oxford Street, that means Westminster - Oxford Street, Regent's Street & Bond Street . There are two possible PCSO's there that fit the bill for the shut-up guy, I have a strong suspicion that it is PCSO Xuan Dang. It could be PCSO Tony Timthong. Call his boss' Acting Sgt Chris Mulrooney or Acting Sgt Damon Goodman-Anders at Oxford Street, Regent's Street & Bond Street Team, West End Central Police Station, 27 Savile Row, London W1S 2EX and call 020 8721 2413 or 07920 233947.. you can get more info and a web form to use here: http://www.met.police.uk/teams/westminster/oxfordstreet,regentsstreetandbondstre...

what do you think can be the reason why some people don't want the streets to be pictured? my city is not the safest in the world, but we still can go around with a camera even if police officers and even army members walk down our streets!
really, what do you think about it?

In a time of terror it was not unreasonable for the officer to question the reason for his filming. Why didn't the man just say what his reason was?

Listen to the dialogue carefully. The officer asked him to merely stop and explain why he was filming. If I'm walking down the street getting filmed by I stranger, I sure as Hell would want to know why.

Much ado about nothing but your petition just made you less safe. Lots of rationalizations by people playing amateur street lawyer. Good luck.

As a keen photographer I find the actions of the community support officer astonishing and deplorable. I truly hope he was dismissed from his position as a result of this incident.

I acutally think, that the officers werent trying to "censor" anythink. What they were doing, was judging a person (the cameraman) not by his actions but by his looks. OpenCircuit looks Pakistani to me (judging by his avertar) and if the officers took this look as a basis for their judgement, it would be even more unsetteling than if they were trying to push some obscure "censor" agenda...

Great film.

Pity about the racist comments below, plus a bit of 'let's insult the other PCSO 'cos he's fat' prejudice. Sigh.

Just because the talking PCSO has an accent does NOT mean he's not British, nor that he's part of some Chinese/Korean plot ('they all look the same' blah blah - you racist idiots!).

And even if he was from abroad and had got a job here, don't be a jumped up nationalist 'how can he tell me what to do in my own blah prejudice blah'.

The issue is about people with power abusing that power and bullying people not in a uniform.

Really engaging film!

Well-produced, relevant, and thought-provoking. I particularly like the point about the gov't wanting, in the event of a problem, the very photos that they sometimes are trying to prevent from being taken in the first place.

this is absurd!

The sheer contempt that the Asian "officer" shows toward the man filming is reminiscent of the reactionary stringency often observed in Tiananmen Square, China, where government agents are trained to neutralize photography. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to wonder if the officer is part of a Chinese deep integration program designed to infiltrate UK police and subvert Western safeguards on individual liberty. Sound far fetched? It is exactly the kind of long term usurpation strategy a country like China would employ to assimilate Western law enforcement programs into China's supranational hierarchy. Just because something has not been reported on does not mean it is not happening...

You have to be kidding me.
You don't get it.....really?
What a waste of my time it was to watch all 6:08 of that.

their campaign is bollocks. for one, because it's soo dumb: friend of mine was shotting a picture of big ben when a cop said, "oi. what are you doing?". and for two, because london survives on being represented, in pictures and postcards. in fact, most of its civic buildings are drizzled in gold so that we will look, and marvel at the way london conquered then looted the world. maybe it's not bollocks then but irony, that a town which begged us to look, with its layers and crosses of gold, is now shitting it that we might see.... i'm just glad i got out. plenty more to shoot in the world than systematized oppression.

did that cop come from north korea

Well done Rajesh, laughed out loud at the volunteer PC. Did you get a release form off him? :)

I find it ironic that the pcso spouting off about the law is clearly not British and clearly knows sod all about our laws.

I very well might have conceeded to those officers, who I assume were community workers. That was tense. Well done!!! I think one of the main points of this were, look at how survillenced we are in England. The cheek!! :)

Hi Rajesh,

Found this on today's BBC news that might be of interest.,..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7351252.stm

Although I have added my name, I don't think the law needs clarifying, it is clear. You can take photographs in a public place.

where do you start? the highlight for me was The Asian pcso saying the Englishman wasn't a tourist. The Asian guy telling him to shut up....or the fat dude who looked as about as intelligent as an inbred red-neck and who couldn't muster a worthwhile word. Seems the Asian chap would be much much happier in china, as for the fat guy.....eat a salad and read a book. The other highlight was the fact that they "HAVE NO/LIMITED POWER".

This is seriously a joke. If you brandish a nice big camera with a lense you become a target for accusations. If you hold a camera phone in the palm of hand a film then you don't get any problems. Which one is the more inconspicuous. Oh lets pull the answer out of the common sense tree shall we and see what drops out.

And I'm still getting emails with a various stories of being stopped and told not to take pictures of things we are entitled to take pictures of. Mostly by PCSOs - as in the video. Are these people just 'cheap' policing? - they seem to have no or little training, and are commenting on laws that they know nothing of.

The response by PCSO CW 7166 is nothing short of disgusting. Being told to 'shut up' by him when he has realised he is wrong is not what we expect from these people. His number has been noted...

I had a similar experience in Leeds (North of England) ->
http://benneh.net/blog/index.php/2008/03/18/account-for-presence/

I would be very interested to see these 'documented' cases as I've found that filming in Britain is much the same as it's always been. There have always been a few over zealous officials and this is clearly one of them. It's a shame because I think CSOs do as good job and this fellow clearly doesn't know the law.

Also continuing to point your camera in the face of the one person you are annoying will not get your case over any better.

Disturbing video. I hope the officers you filmed have been reported. It was incredibly stupid of them to behave as they did when they could see that they were being filmed by you. I'm sure they have been caught on CCTV from another angle aswell.

I've never had a bad experience taking photographs, with regards to the police. I've been asked once to provide ID, which I did, because the officer was courteous and knew what he was talking about.

I'm glad you managed to get your point across in an eloquent and calm manner, many other would have lost their temper or just given in.

As a photographer who respects the law and those who have to enforce it, I am very keen that the authorities ensure that their work force are aware of our rights.

There are many documented cases recently where photographers have been harassed and even wrongly arrested.

It's time this was addressed at a high level within Government to protect our rights as individuals.

Brilliantly film about a very worrying trend.

Ironically the policeman causing the trouble does not even appear to be English. How dare he come over here and tell me what I can and cannot do in my own country. The British public are very tolerant - perhaps too tolerant for their own good - but eventually lines are drawn, and those lines are getting closer each day. They can't get us all.

Excellent video. This sort of attitude on the part of the police etc is becoming far too prevalent in the UK nowadays, and needs exposing wherever possible.

There's also been a disturbing spill-over into the civilian sector where its becoming ever more common to be challenged when weilding a camera.

Paranoia seems to have become the norm.

I think on these days everything goes way beyond of our freedom just because we are afraid.

Interesting. Pressuring film-makers and photographers to cease filming in certain areas certainly smacks of censorship. I agree that if we are being watched by CCTV, we should be able to watch back!

What an aesthetically and artistically obsolete world we would inhabit today if photography had been restricted throughout the last century...