I am currently in Adelaide, looking around to see if it is somewhere I would like to migrate to. I have been here a week, and was enjoying my time until this morning. I was strolling from my hotel towards the centre, taking a few photographs as I went, including one of a police station.

Suddenly, two police officers (one man and one woman) approached me and asked me what I was doing. I explained I was on holiday, and taking a few photographs. They asked me why I had taken a photograph of the police station. They asked to see my passport, but I did not have it with me. They said they wanted proof of identity, and so I showed them a credit card, which was the only thing I had with my name on.

The woman then took out her notebook and started asking me a series of questions, while her male colleague returned to their car and made checks on his radio. The woman wanted to know my date of birth, address, telephone number, hotel details, when I arrived in Adelaide, when I was leaving, if I had been to Adelaide before, whether I was travelling alone, where my family was, etc. I remained calm, but really, I was wondering what was going to happen next. I asked her if I had committed an offence. She said I hadn't, but they are worried about terrorists and become concerned at anyone taking photographs of government buildings.

The man returned from the car and took my camera from me and looked through the photographs that I had taken.

I asked them why they were asking so many questions. The woman told me that if there were any future terrorist incidents, they would have my details at their disposal.

After around ten minutes I refused to answer any more questions. With retrospect, I think I had answered too many already, and when the woman asked me where I was born, I felt she was going too far, and would not tell her.

Of course I regret taking the photograph of the police station, but honestly I did it on the spur of the moment.

To be fair, both officers were polite, but nevertheless I was left very upset by the whole experience, and I have been pre-occupied by it since it happened.

Now my concern is what will happen to the information they collected from me. My fear is that it will end up in a database, and will remain there. If I subsequently apply for a visa, the database could be checked and I will be labelled as a terrorist suspect.

Has anyone had similar experiences with police in Adelaide or elsewhere? I was thinking about going in to the police station and asking what will happen to the information I supplied, but perhaps I should just leave it and try to forget about the whole incident. Any views would be welcome.

I suspect that the same might happen in any country, it's all to do with terrorism and the fear of it. many places where you could take photos have also been made impossible, particualrly at airports etc, and much more at airports which are shared by the military. Best advice is NOT to take any photographs of government buildings to be on the safe side.
No idea whether they will keep your details on file, but if they do it may cause something to be flagged.

If you were a civil libertarian and wanted to be provocative you could have snapped a few shots of the police officers for good measure. There was a media piece not so long ago, when police in Sydney were perceived to be using excessive force when dealing with a guy at the Mardi Gras parade. Officers screamed at the person filming them to cease, but they carried on and seemed quite aware of their legal right to do so, which was later confirmed by 'legal experts' on TV.

http://youthlaw.asn.au/street-law/gi...e-and-address/
This is a Victorian based fact sheet which informs of the legal situations when you must state your name. At the end of the day officers are here to support us and despite my strong inner gripes RE: loss of privacy in the same situation I would no doubt have disclosed my details too.

I can't imagine 'intelligence' documenting that you once took a photo of a police station would be exciting enough to prevent you from doing anything. Surely they rely on triangulation of data e.g they've documented you taking photos of military bases before, have intercepted interesting telecoms from you before.... and other suspicious things that I can't think of.

It's clear you are more upset with the data collection and loss of privacy and not really with the officers who were quite polite in grilling you for information. You could write and complain or submit a freedom of information request to see what data they have stored on you?

Ultimately you did nothing wrong. They've documented that you did something perfectly legal. You went on your way. I can't for the life of me believe they could stop you getting a visa or anything with such a benign incident on file.

Officious pricks .

Must have been a slow day on the traffic.

Just as a point of interest is the local nick , that you took a pick of , an older building --ie have some historical or architectural merit ?

As unlikely as that may be

I'd be checking to see if they'd filed a report , not sure how you'd go about it though.

I was once stopped by a building security guard from taking some pics of skyscrapers at Canary Wharf. I wish I had stood my ground, he had no right to do that.

But it is reasonably common knowledge that someone is going to object to people taking pictures of police stations and government buildings, surely?

Absolutely disgraceful. OP can I ask, are you white or black/brown skinned? Cops in Australia are always overstepping the mark. In Perth they dress up like robocop at stations and use sniffer dogs to detect people carrying marijuana. People are sleepwalking towards totalitarianism.

My husband worked on the Canary Wharf some years back. The security was absolutely mental on that job I remember him going on about it all the time.
Terrorists attacks were a massive threat to the project so that's why they probably stopped you. Terrorists come in all forms nowadays, men, women, children, etc...so they won't take any risks.

I agree.

Hubby was stopped from taking photos of an enormous US flag displayed in a New Jersey mall for security reasons.

We went to Czechoslovakia (before it split up) just after the Berlin wall came down. This was before Essex hen and stag nights found the place and before real tourism got going. The hotel was definitely built in the old Soviet style crumbling concrete and trabant cars were still in vouge. The food shops still had restrictions which made eating out a challenge. Everything seemed to be boiled in water to death.

Anyway we were walking around a city called Brono admiring the old architecture and snapping away and winding the film on as you did in those days Some police came over and asked us what were doing, we explained we were from the UK and on holiday. They asked to see our passports but they were back in the hotel room safe. Couldn't flick through the photos we had been taking in those days, well not without taking the film to be developed first lol They opened up the back of the camera and ripped the film out anyway and said no more photos around here took our names and hotel details and then they buggered off.

Nice

Cops everywhere overstep the mark. I was beaten by a London cop many years ago. Dumb ass was caught on film.

Lawyers love it. All they have to do is trace through the arrest and other procedures. They know cops will screw up somewhere along the procedure.

Nevertheless, he had no right to do that. And do terrorists really come in all shapes and sizes? I didn't know that, I just thought it was not politically correct to say otherwise.

We're probably all on some dodgy list because of something we posted on Facebook while drunk.

Scary story though, OP. As much as I would like to say that I would have told them nothing, I guess you just go along with it because you are not up to no good. I think it's a bit unprofessional for them to tell you that you wi be added to a potential terrorist list though.

Sure, but it's not illegal. We got pulled up by the military in Hanoi in 1993 for taking photos of the Hanoi Hilton prison (where they kept US POWs). They told us to scram but did not take our film. Adelaide ain't Hanoi!

The OP has done nothing wrong. These cops have overstepped the mark

Front page news.

Another unhappy customer.

http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-...-1226932637797

Rogerson’s lawyer Paul Kenny said he was furious at the arrest. He said police treated Rogerson, 73, like an animal.
“He was treated like a dog,” Mr Kenny told reporters, adding he would complain to the police commissioner.
“He’s very distressed.
“I’ve never seen conduct like this by NSW police. I’ve been in shoot outs. I’ve been bashed. I’ve had everything under the sun done to me.
“I’ve never seen conduct like it’s just occurred here ever.
“What occurred in there is not proper police practice, it’s an absolute disgrace”.
“This is like something from a TV show. But a bad TV show.”

Happened to me at Milton Keynes shopping center on my last visit.

I got asked questions as to why I was taking so many pictures of different areas of the center, whats more they told me all the areas I had been and obviously been tracking me on their CCTV. I think the difference is I was on my own that day, in a very quiet center and was taking pictures along corridors and outside carparks etc etc, I was actually getting the established trees and bushes.

Name, Address, boy did they get prickly when I told them I was an overseas tourist. I didn't have to go to a police station, I think my Crystal Palace top was the thing that convinced them, no self respecting terrorist would have been such an obvious supporter, complete with associated identifiable old accent.