 Throne Stowing
I always carry a camera, and sometimes a 300mm telephoto lens.
Last month near Blackburn I was stoned, and got some ace photos of the
teenage culprits. Unfortunately I accidentally opened the camera
later before rewinding, and all but one photo were ruined. I reported
to the police, because there was some damage to my boat, but when a
copper came round to take a statement he made me sit still for 90
minutes while he laboriously wrote down evidence. I only had a lame,
blurred picture of a yob on a bike from behind to back up my written
evidence - a waste of time.
However, a couple of years ago at Kidlington I had some wonderful
photo evidence, with pictures of youths looking like those Gaza Strip
Arabs, clearly throwing stones (and in one case, mooning at me!).
Many of the clothes were very distinctive, despite some of their faces
being masked. Others were completely unmasked and identifiable. The
police laughed and said they'd never had such clear evidence before.
The result: the pictures went to a 'schools liason officer' and it
was deemed not worthy of a criminal prosecution. However, I was not
even allowed to know which schools the boys went to, let alone their
names. I felt like my good evidence went into a black hole.
What's needed is an entrapment; someone to hide in bushes in known
troublespots, complete with 500mm telephotos, and someone else to come
along in a boat at the right time. Evidence to hand, we track down
the schools concerned. It's unlikely they will have left school, or
if they have, we could present evidence to their employers or their
parents or wherever. At least we could work off our frustration. And
it would make a fun magazine article.
I'll volunteer for the photography - any volunteers to put their shiny
boat in harm's way?
I was down the Wigan flight ten days back. A group of kids were
swimming in locks, and there was a para-police security officer
driving up and down. The kids were messing around, risking their own
lives (e.g. jumping in, in front of the boat as it entered the lock)
but not endangering me. I felt they only wanted something to do. I
thought "why doesn't BW train them to be lockwheelers for us?"
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