Boycott Braehead
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:41 pm
Management at a Scottish shopping centre have apologised to a father after he was questioned by security guards and police - for taking a photo of his young daughter.
More than 23,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign to boycott Braehead Shopping Centre near Glasgow after Chris White, 45, was told by guards to stop taking photos of four-year-old Hazel eating an ice cream with his mobile phone last Friday.
The guard told Mr White photography was banned at the centre and he had to delete the photos from his phone.
But when Mr White told him he had already posted them on Facebook, the guard called police.
"My daughter was crying by this stage, but I said that was fine I would wait and began to comfort my daughter who was saying she didn't like the man and wanted to go," Mr White wrote on Facebook.
Mr White said two police officers arrived in five minutes and questioned him, one in an "intimidating" manner.
"They raised this terrorism issue when I said I had taken two photos of my daughter, and that he was allowing me to keep the images on this occasion and concluded that the shopping centre security guard was quite within his powers to ban me from the shopping centre," Mr White told the BBC.
The officer added Mr White had to give him his "[n]ame, place of birth, age, employment status, address".
"Had I not had my daughter with me, and the fact that we are trying to bring our daughter up to respect and trust police officers, I may have exercised my right not to provide those details," Mr White said.
The Facebook campaign, "Boycott Braehead", has attracted thousands of comments, many critical of the centre's guards and of police.
"Glad u stood ur ground! P.C has gone totally mad!" someone posted, while another wrote: "has no one spotted the photos that appear on Braehead's Facebook page? Pics they take of customers??!! Talk about double standards!"
A Braehead shopping centre spokesman said on Monday it was sorry about the incident and had changed its photography policy.
"We have listened to the very public debate surrounding our photography policy and as a result, with immediate effect, are changing the policy to allow family and friends to take photos in the mall," Scottish newspaper The Herald reported the spokesman as saying.
"We will publicise this more clearly in the mall and on our website. We will reserve the right to challenge suspicious behaviour for the safety and enjoyment of our shoppers. The two retail assistants and the member of our security staff were faced with a situation they genuinely thought was suspicious."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/father-ques ... z1aW2PPORs
