Another “terrorist” stopped by PCSOs

Snapper quizzed under anti terror laws for taking too many pictures of Christmas Lights

If you bump into me in King Street, South Shields over the weekend stood behind a tripod with my camera mounted on it, seemingly taking an age over taking my pictures, it could be because of a number of reasons:

• I want to take bracketed shots in batches of three to make HDR images of the Christmas lights.
• I want to wait until the wind dies down because with longish exposures I don’t want the bulbs to move about and look blurred in the final image.
• I want to make sure that I get at least six “keepers”, so working on the principle that only 10% of most shots are good ones, I will take at least sixty.
• Busy shoppers always get in the frame when you least expect them too.
• Some seeker of fame from South Shields will believe that they’ll get themselves in the Gazette if they stand in the way, (funny how they think that a tripod is the sign of professional activity).
• I want to test the effectiveness of South Shields’ best Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in defending us against an evil terrorist plot to blow up the Christmas Tree “down at the lights” it is after all in far better nick than that scrappy little bush down the road in Sacriston.

Seriously, just when is someone going to give these Blunkett Bobbies some effective training and let them know that real terrorists are hardly going to spend their time doing everything possible to stand out like a sore thumb, and that a real terrorist is more likely to use the camera on a pay as you go throw away phone rather than a huge “look at me” digital SLR. However with only 13% of real police spending time on the streets some parts of the country are left with little choice other than to deal with the poorly trained PCSO.

Cue Alan Johnson, your time to stand up and be counted and try to do something about this nonsense before you return to the anonymity of opposition!

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