"A friend who has lived in London many years gave me this advice: Take a pic of the suspected dodgy person on your phone and send it to a friend or your partner. Then if the worst is true and you are mugged for your phone etc, at least someone has a record of the person's face. Also, simply taking the pic might deter the person from approaching you. That's just some advice I was given. Thankfully I've never had to use said advice."

This forum is getting nuttier and nuttier.

How long does it take to take a photo of someone and send it to a friend? A minute maybe, if you're quick. Plenty of time for a mugger to get the phone off you. And he'd now have a reason to take it from you quickly - and possibly violently.

And remember - it's important to adjust the shutter speed to 'sport' before you line-up for the shot, otherwise the boot swinging towards your genitals can often come-out all blurry.

Tip of the week:

"Avoid miss-understandings and legal problems by taking unsolicited pictures of complete strangers in public spaces"

Brilliant.

--------------------
Radiant Bhuna of the Diamond Naga (1st class)
Find the ED Curry Club on Facebook:
[www.facebook.com]

NOt to get involved in this ridiculous discussion, but it's quite easy to set up i/android phones to automatically send photos to iCloud, picasaweb respectively on taking the photo. In fact it took me a while to work out that that's what my phone was doing as I realised that's what was chewing up my data usage.

Being worried about possible stalking is ridiculous?

Maybe you should take a stool and easel when you go out. That way you may create a watercolour of any suspicious characters.

You'll find yourself taking a photo of a dodgy character that shows him taking a pic of you.

Was a middle aged single gentlemen seemingly texting away at the edge of the children's playground on Goose Green today around 4pm- I thought of him as I passed on my way to Peckham.

poor guy, unbeknown to him as he innocently stands there checking his text messages, GG residents twitching curtains & snapping photos of him lol

Soon there will be SE22 border checkpoints and roving private security checking the credentials of all who don't fit ....

jelly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @Saffron
>
> Steady on there, 007. The risks outweight the
> positives, and if you "think" that snapping
> ordinary members of the public, however 'shifty'
> they might look, should be done from a distance,
> then you should've said so in the beginning seeing
> as you're the one who suggested such a bizarre
> measure against people who still remain innocent
> of anything except rousing your own suspicions.
> What you're encouraging is a more intrusive
> measure than CCTV, without official sanction. It
> would be against the law and could potentially
> leave you vulnerable to litigation served by an
> aggrieved party who objects to being photographed
> in public by an anxious and/or paranoid
> pedestrian. How would you react if you saw someone
> secretly or "serreptitiously" taking pictures of
> another member of the public who you didn't feel
> threatened by? One can only assume that you'd
> think the worst. Sorry, but the risks do outweigh
> the positives. By quite a lot, in fact.


Come here, jelly, let me take your picture. Muhahahahahahahaha.

But seriously, I have had a stalker. It was many years ago before camera phones were available. If it ever happened to me again, I wouldn't hesitate to get photographic evidence. There is no law about photographing individuals in public in this country. If you've seen someone acting suspiciously towards you on more than one occasion, then it's worth doing something about it. What you chose to do is of course entirely up to you. Doing nothing b/c you're afraid of upsetting an innocent person, or b/c you're afraid of how people will perceive you as being paranoid, ill-mannered, etc is ignoring an opportunity to protect yourself. xx

Ladies and Gents, I get really upset and annoyed when I see these kind of comments from some one that thinks the way mfcjoe does, that kind of person is a Danger to society as much as the man in the park, where is his humanity ? If a women member or male for that matter on this forum is writing about a serious issue like this one its because she truly felt scared and fearfull for her young family, what an heartless person you must be mfcjoe, im wondering if you have any Family yourself ????
All except for you find this incident really disturbing, any decent person would find it very alarming .
Thanks leanne I hope you get the support u need with your ordeal.
As for mfcjoe... Ever heard the saying " What goes around Comes Around ?

Really, Cas59? A danger to society??? For pointing out something in post on a forum?

Good grief, get some perspective.

Why don't we have a crime sub forum and then all these warnings,alerts and advice could have a proper collective home.

IVE CREATED IT. WONDER IF IT WILL BE USED.

I've called it Police Hot Line.

Thank you so much for posting.

Cas59 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ladies and Gents, I get really upset and annoyed
> when I see these kind of comments from some one
> that thinks the way mfcjoe does, that kind of
> person is a Danger to society as much as the man
> in the park, where is his humanity ? If a women
> member or male for that matter on this forum is
> writing about a serious issue like this one its
> because she truly felt scared and fearfull for her
> young family, what an heartless person you must be
> mfcjoe, im wondering if you have any Family
> yourself ????
> All except for you find this incident really
> disturbing, any decent person would find it very
> alarming .
> Thanks leanne I hope you get the support u need
> with your ordeal.
> As for mfcjoe... Ever heard the saying " What goes
> around Comes Around ?

You are nuts, yes i do have kids and they are very street wise. I hope you don't have kids cos with your genetics they will no
doubt be loonies. You are a complete bread and butter, ciao.

You should ring the police if you're concerned or take a photo of him on your mobile but make sure you are not on your own. There may be an innocent reason for this but in this day and age you cannot be too careful. If you are with other you could always confront him.

postboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You should ring the police if you're concerned or take a photo of him on your mobile but make sure
> you are not on your own. There may be an innocent reason for this but in this day and age you cannot
> be too careful. If you are with other you could always confront him.

For what??? Honestly, this is the equivalent of some thug in a boozer going, 'you lookin' at my missus'?

Don't confront people that are not actually doing anything wrong. How would you like it? Let's all go down to the playground next weekend and confront each and every person with children and get them to prove they are theirs. Unless they are carrying documentary proof that they are actually the parents of the children, we could detain them all and call in the police and social services.

You can't be too careful you know...

Loz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> postboy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You should ring the police if you're concerned
> or take a photo of him on your mobile but make
> sure
> > you are not on your own. There may be an
> innocent reason for this but in this day and age
> you cannot
> > be too careful. If you are with other you could
> always confront him.
>
> For what??? Honestly, this is the equivalent of
> some thug in a boozer going, 'you lookin' at my
> missus'?
>
> Don't confront people that are not actually doing
> anything wrong. How would you like it? Let's all
> go down to the playground next weekend and
> confront each and every person with children and
> get them to prove they are theirs. Unless they are
> carrying documentary proof that they are actually
> the parents of the children, we could detain them
> all and call in the police and social services.
>
> You can't be too careful you know...

Well said Loz.