How Stupid Is This?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7143496.stm

A park warden tried to stop a couple from taking photographs of their own daughter playing on a swing.
Steve Brook and Mandy Smith were with toddler Rebecca in Alexandra Park, Oldham, when the warden said it was illegal to snap children in the park.
Mr Brook said the incident had "beggared belief".
An Oldham Council spokesman said that the warden had misinterpreted rules designed to protect children and had been "made aware of his actions".

is this more proof our freedom is slowly slipping away???

Answer 1

yes it is slipping away. Rules are there for people,s safety.I wouldn,t want a stranger taking a photo of my kids, but you have to use common sense when applying these rules. They were the only people there and obviously the child's parents. Some people need to be told what to do, down to the last letter. People are getting frightened to move nowadays.

Answer 2

This is a two sided argument. People want their children to be protected and not open to chance by any paedophile just happening to be taking pictures in the local park on a sunny day (as highlighted in the News of the World on many a Sunday) but at the same time they don't understand why they are stopped by the same ruling by some warden who doesn't fully understand the rules. Instead of rushing to the press, they should be thankful that a park warden was on hand just in case it had been some dodgy couple in the park taking photos. People can't have it both ways.

Answer 3

Yes it's stupid and is symptomatic of the mass hysteria that abounds around the subject of paedophiles that the vast majority of the public know nothing about.

However, it is unfair to berrate this individual warden too much for doing his job - imagine what the mob would have done to him if parents had turned out to be bogus and the real parents arrived on the scene to find their offspring being photographed by a couple of perverts and a park warden telling them what a pretty kid they had!

Furthermore, it makes the rule harder to enforce if somebody sees the warden allow certain people to photograph kids and not others. Might he then make judgements about people he does not know based on his own prejudices?

Although this scenario is unlikely, it is why the rule exists and it was the warden's job to enforce it - no matter how daft he felt it to be.

You either have the rule and suffer it's boundaries, or you do not and risk the dangers.

Answer 4

Must be a spate of them.I read about a father being stopped from taking pics of his kids at an ice rink.
I think what's needed is a happy medium.A quick check to establish the relationship between child and photographer then let common sense take over.
I think we should be pleased someone was looking out for the childrens well being even though they did lose the run of themselves.

Answer 5

No it's not. However it is a good indication of how easy it must be to get hired as a park warden.

Answer 6

Seems that this park warden was acting like a little Hitler but at least his bosses have made him aware of his mistake.

Answer 7

how strange...

park wardens are endangered species - they should have been taking his picture!

but to stop people photographing their own children is ridiculous - so long as they were not photographing other children

schools have to have permission from parents if they photograph children in school - for inclusion in articles for papers eg nativity play or special events

- it is child protection, or something

the world has gone mad

Answer 8

I'd say that it's more, proof of how stupid people are becoming. If you can't figure out when to let a rule like that slide you must be pretty moronic.

Answer 9

LOL!
An isolated incident is proof of losing freedom? You must be joking.

Answer 10

you bet it is, th creeps taking pictures of our kids, sit half a mile away in the bushes with a telelens, but I guess that is to complicated for this pea brain to understand.