Via Samizdata, this little story.
A deer hunter who took his photographs to a supermarket for processing was shocked to find himself reported to police.
Although the sport is legal, Tesco gave his details to officers who questioned him for several hours.
Note the valid point here; the sport is legal yet the police were called and he was questioned. Now the discussion over at Samizdata takes an interesting turn – some make a point that this is newsworthy because it is unusual. Others make the point that it is newsworthy because it is becoming more commonplace; that it is a reflection on what is repugnant about the British psyche. I tend to take the latter view. After all, we are now being exhorted by government to snitch on our neighbours, so why shouldn’t Tesco workers snitch on customers?
Mr Williams, who is in his early thirties, from north Devon, took his film to Tesco in Barnstaple. Staff deemed photographs of him with his gun and a deer he had shot “inappropriate”, although he had broken no animal cruelty or firearms laws.
Just who the fuck gave the Tesco photo technicians authority to decide what is “appropriate”? Why were the police called just because some self-aggrandising little sneak thought the pictures “inappropriate” even though no law had been broken? And why didn’t the police just make a quick check on the man’s licence and tell Tescos to fuck off and stop wasting their time?
A second letter on behalf of Sir Terry said: “Tesco does not discriminate against any lawful section of the community… We are confident that the actions of our staff were… within the law.”
Really? And what is reporting lawful customers to the police if it isn’t discrimination? Or do they only discriminatate against those customers who engage in activities that Tesco staff consider “inappropriate”?
On the face of it, there may be some exaggeration in the article; why would the police want to question the man “for several hours” when it is a simple matter to establish that his gun was properly licensed and that his actions did not constitute an offence? It’s possible that the pudding has been egged a little to embellish the story and make it appear worse than it was. Reading the story, the police appear to have reacted correctly; they investigated, found nothing and took no further action. It would have been satisfying if the pestiferous little busy-bodies in the Tesco photo-lab were prosecuted for wasting police time, but in snitch Britain they weren’t poking their noses where they had no right, nor making judgements that were not theirs to make – oh, no, these nasty little arse-wipes were doing their civic duty. It’s more’n their job’s worth to let such a thing go without notifying the authorities – just in case, like. What odious creatures they are.
Still there is a solution. Get yourself a digital camera and print out hard copies yourself. :devil:
This is another reason why sales of digital cameras (;) Mark) are going through the roof in this country: who wants to have some backstabbing shitlicker at Tesco et al spying on all your personal photos? It works out easier, more convenient and cheaper in the long run just to buy a half-decent digital camera instead.
It’s a good job he didn’t have some string sticking out of his pocket (with which to tie the deer up). It would have been mistaken for fusewire and he would have been locked up for 28 days for obviously being a terrorist (before being released without charge – phew).
“And why didn’t the police just make a quick check on the man’s licence and tell Tescos to fuck off and stop wasting their time?”
Because despite 8 years and several million quid, the database which is supposed to track gun licenses — yes, you guessed it — doesn’t work.
“And what is reporting lawful customers to the police if it isn’t discrimination?”
I don’t know about discrimination, but surely it counts as wasting police time? Jail the jobsworth sack of shit, that’s what I say…
DK
Because despite 8 years and several million quid, the database which is supposed to track gun licenses — yes, you guessed it — doesn’t work.
Indeed. However, checking the licence – even physically isn’t that difficult. That then should be the end of the matter. I suspect that this, in reality is pretty much what happened.
Of course, the NIR, being a gold standard will work – faultlessly every time from the off… :whistle: