all troubling stuff. I wonder what my response would be if two police officers (and they are always in pairs these days arent they - more intimidating that way) stopped me in a public place and demanded I hand over my film? I'd like to think I'd politely say "no, I'm not breaking the law and you can not require me to do so without a warrant from the court" but I know that in the heat of the moment, I doubt i could be so calm. In my professional life, having to collaborate with police officers in area of the law that they are not expert (eg anything outside of PACE) always resulted, without fail, in them arguing their way, in a bullish and non-compromising manner, to whatever they want to do rather than what they should do. Any question of that from a non-police person resulted in increased stubbornness. We'd hope our police force would be populated with intelligent and expert personnel, but sadly this just isnt the case - in the UK at least. |