Help me out here/ urgent

[Kab13]

At a soft play, 90% sure there's aan taking photos of random children. Seem him sat on his phone with camera on. Told the managers don't seem to be doing much .
Not sure if he got a shot of my dd who ran infront of him. He's acting very shifty.
What do I do?
He's here with his son...

Probably because they didn't want me to think they'd done nothing. Because they want their customers to know they take safeguarding seriously... Either way I appreciated it.

I hadn't seen your post of 18:44 when I was typing and posting mine (which appeared at 18:45)

Bullshit. Why would it be in the hands of the police when there are no laws against taking pictures of anyone you feel like? What a crock of shit.

So the Soft play management called the police and reported the 'crime' of a father taking random photo's in a 'public area' ? If indeed this is the case it'll be reported in the local press in the "most stupid" reasons the public waste the emergency services time along with calling 999 for an ambulance for a splinter or the fire service to extinguish a match.....................

I think you seem very naïve for someone who works in safeguarding MrsDeVere. Yes paedophiles do take pictures of children in non sexualised contexts. It's a fairly common finding for there to be seemingly innocuous pictures of children amongst more explicit images of child abuse when stashes of child abuse images are found in offenders' possession. personally I wouldn't think about a Dad at soft play being a particular risk, but a man who seemed to be surreptitiously taking photographs of other people's children, yes that would concern me. I can't imagine that this man is going to be traced and hauled in for questioning tonight, unless he's a known offender.

I don't know whether it's on the level, none of us were there and it'd be a strange thing to make up. I'd rather choose to believe the OP and respond accordingly than risk calling her a liar and mocking her concerns when by the sounds of it she's had a horrible experience today.

Hmm, this thread just gets more and more bizarre, doesn't it?!

the point is though that no matter what he was doing and why, he wasn't breaking any laws.
You don't get questioned by police because some random mothers think you're behaving oddly.

I'm actually quite concerned that the op chose to carry on with the soft play session choosing to expose her DS to the potential danger that this man may present rather than simply leaving and informing the management / police of her concerns ? As is so often said on MN its a parents duty to protect their child from harm and the OP obviously failed her DS as she chose to post on here instead of removing /watching him.

Perhaps we should be calling for SS to investigate the OP for failing to protect her DS from the potential harm her child could come to from,erm a dad taking photo's...........................

The man was obviously supervised by the staff being alerted by the OP along side the OP and all the other worried mums so there was little or no chance of any grooming. I assume that being a soft play area all the children are of an age they are accompanied by an adult therefore at little or no risk from this man who was there with his son. I think it is very safe to assume all the children were dressed appropriately and considering the time of year very wrapped up in tights and trousers etc. I also agree with MrsDV and her post. Common sense has been replaced by hysteria. The problem is with teaching children 'stranger danger' and thinking that is enough, or only being worried about people you don't know.

OP can I ask - did you see any of the photos taken?

What I'm wandering about is the claim that the man's son was nowhere to be seen when he was allegedly taking photos. What kind of soft play place is this where small children can disappear from their parents' sight? Isn't the disappearance of his son rather more alarming than what he was doing with his phone? And how did she know that the son wasn't in sight when she was busy walking behind the man, talking to management, giving them her contact details (why?) and watching other women reporting him?

And where does this stuff come from about it being massively rude to take photos of other people's children without permission? My photo albums are full of pictures of strange children who were on the same play equipment, beach, miniature train etc as my children, or in the background at school sports, football games, plays, concerts. Equally I'm sure my children feature in photos taken by the parents of said children. Guess what, we none of us asked permission, and we none of us reported each other to anyone.

Sadly its this kind of hysteria that makes it impossible to take photos of your child in their school nativity and sports days etc. Its very sad that it has come to this, that very precious and special childhood moments can't be captured due to 'over concerned' parents

crock

You should have just gone up to the guy and asked what he was doing.

Fgs if the rule is no photos then so be it . Lay the hysteria aside . The sex of the photographer is irrelevant. No pics=no pics .
I get furious with kids unclothed on a beach . I was told by someone who worked with these issues within the police that it is an issue yet people do it all the time .
Hysteria and regulation over taking pics of kids fully dressed but no one bats an eyelid at kids naked in public . The bizarre world of today .

What kind of 'hysteria' are you talking about donkey the situation OP described was of a man deliberately taking photos of other people's kids not inadvertently doing so when he was trying to take ones of his child. I think some people on MN take against a poster and then play devil's advocate, I can't imagine many parents IRL being fine about a stranger taking photos of their kids without permission in this circumstance. I also agree with grocklebox (those are words I never thought I'd type) nobody will get hauled in by the Police on the basis of these concerns but if this is part of a pattern of behaviour or if the man does has previous convictions then it will be useful intelligence.

RTT no rule about photography