Posted on 12/11/2009 8:51:05 PM PST by Dallas59
CHARLESTON, WV - A freelance photographer is outraged after being arrested for taking pictures.
The dispute revolves around what exactly happened recently at a Charleston, West Virginia mall.
Scott Rensberger says when he took some photos of a child on Santa's lap, a man asked him if he could delete the photos.
He says he complied, but then moments later, Rensberger says police officers approached asking why he was taking photos of kids.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...
Back in the “olden” days...you could take pictures of just about anything. Now with pervs running around on every street corner and the net...it’s impossible.
I wonder if these were real cops or the mall nazis?
I find it weird that someone would let their child sit on the lap of a perfect stranger, then get all wee-weed up over someone taking a photo.
Give that statement a bit more thought Merlinator. It’s the mall that hires Santa. Ya think maybe they’d do a background check on Santa to make sure he’s not some child molester? (Of course they do). Why would a stranger want to take pictures of children he doesn’t even know sitting on Santa’s lap? (NAMBLA alert!)
Mall nazis? You mean the security people that make sure that you’re safe while visiting a mall?
“Why would a stranger want to take pictures of children he doesn’t even know sitting on Santa’s lap? (NAMBLA alert!)”
Why the alert? Maybe the guy is a freelance photographer and he’s going to sell the pictures? Maybe the guy was in the Christmas spirt? What is more of that spirit that a child on Santa’s lap? Why the knee jerk reaction and the loss of the presumption of innocence that used to be prevelant in this country?
And as far as mall security? Most are people who trip on power while making minimum wage. They are cop wannabes but either flunked the psych test or failed some education requirements. There are some good ones but most are just high on their “power” and think they are something that they are not.
Those cops! You’d think they were getting shot and killed 4-at-a-time while on the job or something.
Mall guards to be instructed in terrorism prevention
Jan 9, 2007 3:37 PM
Starting this month, malls across the country will begin training guards to fight terrorism.
The 14-hour program is being developed by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, and the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University at a cost of $2 million. It is the first standardized anti-terrorism curriculum written for the nation’s estimated 20,000 mall security guards, The Washington Post reports....
You’re obviously childless. If not, please take pictures of YOUR children and put them on the internet for STRANGERS to see.
I saw a “mall nazi” giving CPR to a pregnant lady recently. I don’t know how much he made an hour. I don’t think the lady and her unborn baby whose LIVES he SAVED really cared.
So true. I’m an amateur photographer and used to love to take pictures of kids on the merry-go-round or with the animals at the petting zoo - the expressions were priceless! But now I wouldn’t even think of it.
Good thing the cops assaulted him and arrested him without wasting time trying to find out who he was or why he was taking pictures. (Asking him questions while assaulting him doesn’t count.)
He’s a well known, award winning photographer. There’s nothing mysterious about him taking pictures of Christmas scenes in a mall.
Who was the guy in the Santa suit, and how do you know for sure that the mall personnel investigated him more thoroughly than they did the guy they were so sure was a pedophile that they didn’t hesitate to assault him and arrest him?
Everyone thinks everyone is a child molester these days.
The sad truth is that most molesters are either a parent or a relative. But hey, that guy taking pictures of a kid on Santa’s lap must obviously be taking them to get off later.
I mean picture of kids on Santa’s lap, you cant find those by the millions on the internet!
Sorry, not childless...two wonderfuld daughters (ages 25 and 17) but I’m also not a shrieking ninny who sees child porn producers wherever they go.
Now you’ve decided that this guy was going to put the pictures on the Internet? Are you psychic? Or are you just using a wonderful strawman to try and overblow a point?
As for your other, I’m glad that he gave her CPR. I’m sure she appreciates what he did for her. But if he was still a power tripping moron, does that absolve him from future incidents where he might not be so nice?
That scares me almost as much as the TSA.
Or...He could be just another sadistic, child eating cannibal.
You are obviously forgetting something: it’s a PUBLIC PLACE. People are permitted photography in public places unless it is posted “No Photography”. . .
I’ve posted this several times up thread, but a mall is private property, not public property.
Some cops just need to be punched in the mouth!
“They’ve got a tough job.” boo hoo!
This doesn’t give them the right to draw ridiculous conclusions, without probable cause.
Ha!
I make sure I am safe at the mall.
These folks may catch a small percentage of the shoplifters, but they don’t do ANYTHING to “make sure I’m safe”!
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