Our post on aggressive head cam vigilantes today, See it here has caused a flurry of tweets from no less than the replacement to ACPO Ltd, The National Police Chief's Council (NPCC)
You will see that there is ample evidence now that anyone videoing others with a view to ill will, and accosting and rebuking other road users, threateningly with a camera, would cause confrontation and rage and could be words and behavior likely to cause a breach of the peace.
I also raised the very valid observation that, without rigorous screening, anyone can point their camera at women and children and so head cams could also be a perverts dream too. People are pointing these cameras into the space of others. They are filming young women and kids in cars too.
Is this something UK's 35 million drivers should just accept? Well the Daily Express gave this writer some prominence & is using the term 'vigilante' too.
The Home Office and ACPO Ltd, ignored me but now it is happening and what is the reaction from someone at NPCC to a straightforward question? See the following series of tweets.
@DriverUnion People should feel that they are able to stand up to and challenge illegal activity in their communities 1/2
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) June 19, 2015
.@DriverUnion We encourage anybody in possession of evidence of a crime, or that could solve a crime, to report it their local police force
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) June 19, 2015
@DriverUnion People should feel that they are able to stand up to and challenge illegal activity in their communities 1/2
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) June 19, 2015
@EastMidsDrivers @DriverUnion @PoliceUK If they are doing so in a safe, legal manner for the purpose of preventing crime and ASB - then yes.
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) June 19, 2015
Note: Much of this confrontation is not about any offence but mere subjective perception of cyclists. Clearly the police are seeing drivers as criminals.
@PoliceChiefs So you encourage vigilantes to go out with a camera to find crimes then instigate confrontation when they think they have?
— Drivers Union. (@DriverUnion) June 19, 2015
@PoliceChiefs @DriverUnion @PoliceUK Stick to the point please. Do you support random vigilante videoing of citizens & rebuking them?
— Drivers E. Midlands (@EastMidsDrivers) June 19, 2015
Now at this point, for some reason, the ani driver Rod King of 20s Plenty supports the police:
@PoliceChiefs @EastMidsDrivers @DriverUnion @PoliceUK That's sensible. Thanks for your reasoned and objective comments
— Rod King (@20splentyforus) June 19, 2015
@DriverUnion We encourage the public to assist us by being vigilant & reporting crimes. Everybody has the right to film in a public place.
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) June 19, 2015
@PoliceChiefs @DriverUnion Not of individuals selectively they aren't & not with ill will then to threaten & rebuke with a camera?
— Keith Peat (@BogTrotter1) June 19, 2015
On this last point we are not talking about the right to film in a public place, but directing the camera at an individual without their consent, with the express intent to publish the video and to use it against them. It seems NPCC cannot see the difference. So drivers it seems that The NPCC is all for aggressive videoing without your consent, even when confronting you with a camera and having instigated the confrontation with some gesture, rebuke or comment. That this is bound to cause rage and reaction and road etiquette and harmony is the victim, seems less important to the police than keeping an unwelcome minority of vigilantes and camera sales people happy.
I will enquire if this is official policy and the rank of the Tweeter. Clearly a cycling fan it seems.
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