md95065

There are some public parks in San Francisco which have designated play areas for children which have signs indicating that adults who are not accompanying children are not allowed.

I think that this is just a local ordinance, not a state wide thing.

Anyway it always kind of irritated me because of the presumption that any unaccompanied adult was automatically up to no good, but this incident certainly indicates that there might be a real need for it.

Tarkak9

that may be so, and as I said prior, its really in the hands of LE etc to make such determinations regarding if any illegal activity occurred. (OP won't know if there is a 'case' unless she mentions something to LE)

E3only

such is the world we are living in.....unfortunately.

RoadWarriorFromLP

If it occurred on private property, the property owner or its representatives could put a stop to it, because it is their property. That wouldn't bar the guy from filming what he could on the property from outside of it (although they would, in turn, be free to put up barriers to prevent him from getting a good view.)

In a public area, it is absolutely his right to film, unless there is some specific reason why he wouldn't have the right, such as a criminal conviction that bars him from doing it.

It is highly unlikely that his conduct was illegal. If anything, he could sue the OP and the police for harassment by interfering with his rights.

Nonetheless, his camera would have given my throwing arm a good workout. No way I'd want images of me and mine in the possession of another without my permission.

OverThePond

This is so sick. We don't even have kids yet but for sure if someone was filming my kid at a pool I'd have their camera and tape. It's a horrible old world that we live in.

Anyhow - not sure if anyone has suggested this yet but you could post that guy's picture on this thread. After all - it was taken in a public place so we should all get a look at the 'photographer'.

anotherlimey

Yeah, name & shame......

kins

Thank you for the replies. I had a sleepless night, and I'm going to report him today.

I don't think we violated his rights in any way - we just talked to him. We didn't touch him or take away his camera (sadly). I would've been amazed if he had tried to stay and continue filming anyone after the scene we caused, I think some of other parents would have assaulted him.

I can't get the photo off my camera until I get back home, but I'm already thinking about who to send it to. I think parents in Boston need to know this guy is out there.

I don't want to break the law but I think posting his photo online with exact details of what he did, where and when would be legal? What do you think?

Ray

What did he do that was illegal ??
Offensive maybe !!

lisa67

If I lived in Boston I'd want to know what he looked like.

Tracym

Did the camera equipment look professional?

Has anyone considered the idea that he IS what he said he is?

I still wouldn't have liked it, but like others have said - I suspect it is perfectly legal in a public place.

kins

The camera equipment didn't look professional, and he said it was low-res video. He said something about working in multi media.

If he was a professional videoing children to use in a commercial environment then a) I'd expect him to ask permission before he did any videoing of scantily dressed 7 year old girls and b) he would need our permission to use the video.

I would also expect him to be happy to give me some description of what he planned to do with the video. Instead he said 'I can do what I like with this video and you have no right to know what that might be.'

kins

The police clearly are not happy about what he was doing - both the police and Parks Department have said if it ever happens again dial 911 straight away.

Ray

They are responding to your report ...Not facts
But its good advice

LadyBelle

His answers are too defensive and at the same time somewhat informed...i.e. he's either looked into this or has been in trouble for it before. If he were completely innocent and innocently capturing innocence (whatever ), he probably would have been nicer to you and probably would have erased the pictures/video. Yeah, low-res, great; so that means you won't be using it in any high-budget production then? Ok great. Up to no good, even if he's using it as a little movie for his own entertainment; he's taping your child getting changed too?!

My OH would have thrown the camera too -- and I would have had the police on the guy, especialy with that attitude. He may very well be a known sex-offender to them. Incidentally, in some states (don't know about all), residents are told if there are child sex-offenders in their neighborhood, so there may be a database for this as well.

I hope the facility did enough to follow-up with this; is there management there to get involved so that a policy can be put in place for it if possible?

His picture should be shared in various places. Get it up on some websites where possible -- or email it out to friends/neighbors/area schools to have them in the know, just in case. I don't know that you can add all of his details to it; that could be illegal. But as a parent, I'd want to know his face, just in case I see him doing the same again.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I would suggest that you also complain to the pool management. If it is private property, they have every right to post prohibitions against photography without consent, something that they should do, anyway. At the very least, it would give them the ability to evict such users of the pool, and he would have little if any recourse to stop them from removing him or his equipment.