Originally Posted by knockoff nige

And now we're back to the same disagreement on what's suspicious and what's not. Anything can be seen as suspicious if we want it to. That consumes a lot if resources to chase after every potentially suspicious incident that is most likely completely innocent. We've essentially already handed over all of our information already and this is almost co-owned by governments. We might not even own much of what we think is personal as there is a higher power that's capable of changing much of it. If we can't do innocent things on the street without being treated as a suspicious person, what's next?

Originally Posted by geordiebloke

So we have one extreme, where every act is seen as suspicious and acted upon, which you seem to be worried that the world is moving towards.

Or, you have the other extreme, where no activity is questioned because it may upset, or impinge on somebodies civil liberties.

As with all things, the reality will fall somewhere in the middle, with what the average reasonable person considers to be suspicious, being looked at.

Also consider that an act / behaviour that you don't think is suspicious, based on your knowledge or experience, may make you very suspicious once you have more information.

Originally Posted by knockoff nige

Actually, I don't think we have or need either of those extremes. The second one is a bit irrelevant here as no-one suggested it.

A reasonable person who doesn't have a vested interest in something being or looking suspicious can treat situations as they see them. When we have a very paranoid government who want you to appreciate the defence they provide you with their big toys and sophisticated technology, we have a very conflicting view on privacy and your rights.

Was the OP likely to blow up the police station? Far more unlikely I would think. As well as that, what standard of terrorist/bad guy would expose himself to the staff of this police station ahead of causing damage to it? I think it wod have been acceptable to have let it go without the request for the life story and had their own CCTV footage they could reference.

Originally Posted by geordiebloke

The only paranoia I've seen in this thread, comes from those who seem to think that speaking with police when doing nothing wrong is some how going to incriminate them, or lead to them being entered onto a "Most wanted/ do not allow entry into the country" list.........It's not.

I can understand why you and the OP would think that taking photos of a police station is not suspicious, because you may not be aware of all the security risks that such places have to consider.

Some of those risks have been pointed out in this thread and that is why such behaviour is considered suspicious until shown otherwise.

And yes, the police/ security services do have a vested interest in things which look suspicious.........................It's their Job

It would be a neglect of duty for any officer not to at least inquire as to why somebody was taking a specific interest in that station, in the same way as if it was a military establishment or an airport.

These issues are completely different from Google and the likes, retaining your personal details for commercial reasons

Originally Posted by lesleys

The OP should not worry about divulging personal details to the Aus authorities. They already have them. You showed your passport, so all the info behind that (eg details of your application) can be accessed if anyone who has the authority.

How many of the indignant brigade use Facebook? (I never have.)

Originally Posted by lesleys

The OP should not worry about divulging personal details to the Aus authorities. They already have them. You showed your passport, so all the info behind that (eg details of your application) can be accessed if anyone who has the authority.

Originally Posted by Kim67

I think I've told this story on here before, but a few years ago, my husband was looking at the public website that shows the entry records of 10 pound poms. He found himself, his sister, mum and dad - along with their full names, dates of birth and mothers maiden name. He contacted the administrators of the website and had the mothers maiden name removed from the website because of the obvious id required for bank accounts. Just about everything we do, write and say is out there for the world to see - it's amazing when the authorities are looking for a missing person etc and you see just how many CCTV cameras there are.

Originally Posted by Tramps_mate

At the end of the day you shouldn't have photographed a police station through common sense. And why would you need to as well? They were doing their job. Move on...

Originally Posted by michael_w

I used to be a keen photographer, but not anymore. Take a picture in the city and you get approached by police or security guards asking what you are doing. Take a picture at the beach or park and you get irate parents accusing you of being a paedophile. Google Street View allows you to see police stations from every angle, not sure why police are questioning tourists who take pictures of these same places. My 15 year old son was once stopped by the police while walking home in the evening from his friend's house (with our knowledge and permission) and had his details taken. A year later he got caught for dodging a ticket on the train (yes, I know ...) and the police brought this previous 'record' up - along with a lot of other personal data that even we didn't know about. I was shocked by how they had access to data on my son from school (attendance), banks, Medicare, and mobile phone use - and worryingly they also had similar information on his schoolfriends (I'm talking about ordinary Year 10/11 kids here, not drug dealers or gang members). They say if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to be afraid of - but they can also take a lot of innocent stuff and arrange it into a pattern that could look like juvenile delinquent behaviour. I just assume that everything we do now goes into the police database and on your 'record'.

Originally Posted by renth

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.

Originally Posted by teejaydee

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.