Remember my naked photograph incident at my local pool? Well............

[Northerner]

The council have responded to my letter and are basically fobbing me off. They say it is impossible to man the changing rooms as they don't have teh staff or the money, they can not ban mobile phones as it is too difficult and I was not offered any support or comfort by their staff because I didn't appear to be upset.

FFS my son and I had just seen a man peering over our cubilcle and take a picture of me naked - did they think I'd be delighted FFS.

They have not mentioned any procedure being implemented to prevent this in future and still have not offerred me my money back. So i STILL paid for the pivelage of being perved on.

I am so

What should I do next because I simply can not let this lie.

TIA

I would probably have chased him naked through the corridors which would have beeen a frightening sight for all

Think that cubicle designs now need to reflect the technology available to the sick of mind esp. in areas where children are changing.

jasper, as northerner said, the lay-out is terrible. Anyone can indeed just walk in off the street, and it's a huge space with rows and rows of cubicles and very bad lighting. There are no single sex areas.
(It's also dirty and smells but I suppose that doesn't have anything to do with the perverts )

It's just very frustrating as the entire complex was built only a few years ago, they could have done a much better job.

northerner, I can just imagine it - the receptionists there are so irritated to be disturbed during their all-day break whenever I go swimming.

I think it is a police matter.
There have been pervs like this for all time. The portability of mobile photo phones has added a new dimension.

I remember men exposing themselves to me when I was in primary school ( not actually IN school at the time) on a number of occasions. I grew up in Toytown in the 60s.

It is a sordid business but I still think you are targetting the wrong people.

You're right about the lighting geekgrrl. Hadn't thought about that. And it does stink! But I'll leave that for now!

If they can't modify cubicles I want them to put up signs alerting users to the risks. I have changed there many times and it never occurred to me I could be being photographed. People need to know so they can be extra vigilant IMO.

Jasper it's a council run public facility. A council who on their website bang on about personal safety and public protection, their mission statement is to ensure people feel safe and not threatened by crime and disorder.

jasper, how difficult can it be to make cubicles with only a small gap at the bottom and that are sealed at the top? that's what they are like at my local swimming pool. Plus, ours are gender-segregated.

it's not a question of losing the plot (how rude, by the way), the point is that particularly in a council-run facility, services should ideally be provided which protect the most vulnerable from those most determined to prey on that vulnerability.

no council can protect everyone all the time but in this instance it's an easy and obvious fix so they should just knuckle down and do it. and they should have been more appalled at the time... the fact that they weren't suggests that the staff aren't particulalry motivated on security issues, which is also a worry.

to return to my earlier point, are you honestly saying that is someone took a naked pic of your DD (if you have one) that you would just shrug it off without seeing the wider implications for other people?

I answered your question already.
If someone took a picture of my daughter naked I would chase them,and probably thump them, even if I was naked myself.

I would then go to the police.
HOW RUDE of you to suggest I would just shrug it off.
But it wasn't her daughter!
And if it happened to me I would not spend much time worrying about the fact that it MIGHT have been a child. Why spend time worrying about something that has not happened on the grounds that it might?

I would NOT demand that the architecture of a building be rearranged at public expense so as to rule out the possibility of another freak occurence of this type.

I have three kids of my own, I am all for protecting them but I don't want the world rearranged to accommodate perverts.

We will have to agree to differ.
I wanted to put the other viewpoint as I am sure I am not the only one who thinks far too much fuss is being made here.

i am not trying to make you angry, i had read it that you were saying you would thump them if they took a picture of you.

nevertheless, at our local swimming pool it is perfectly normal for children to go into cubicles of their own, so a parent might not know about it in time to go out and thump the perpetrator.

also, some people just aren't the thumping type.

the police have said that they aren't likely to catch anyone, so it is really up to the council to address how they might prevent incidents/crimes like this in the future.

for example, if bags were persistently being stolen from their premises the council would at the very least have to put up a notice warning people to be careful, even if they acknowledged that their cctv arrangements were such that they were unlikely ever to identify and catch the bag thieves. (stretching this example to breaking point, however, i should point out that they do provide lockers to stop people's bags being stolen, whereas with new crime relating to mobile phone cameras they have yet to catch up and protect their clients.)

i really don't think that this is a fuss over nothing, particularly if there is a problem with lighting and the fact that the changing area is accessible from the street. and i do think that saying that northerner etc (i am including myself in the etcetera) were losing the plot wasn't very polite under the circumstances.

but i meant no offence when i asked if you would shrug such an incident off, i meant that solely with reference to the council, not the police, so i am happy to apologise.

I can appreciate that the actions of perverts is out of the control of the leisure centre but i cannot understand why they dont make the swimming pool changing areas safer.

To have mixed changing rooms is fine ( as a family we use them all the time ) however my friend is in the family protection unit and comes across stories like this all the time.

People with perversions do tend to go to places such as swimming pools where security is somewhat lax to say the least. The most shocking case recently was a young teenage girl who was abused in a family changing room.

So to dismiss the taking of a photograph is a little glib given that anything could have happened if the pervert had acted otherwise.

There instant reaction should have been to review cctv of anyone entering the building and to date and time the incident to see if similar incidents had taken place prior.

good luck - hope the perv gets struck down with something baddd !

I think this is a horrible thing to have happened Mortherner. And I think it is extreemly unlikly that is is the first time this person has done it, and until they get caught and /or it is made impossible, I bet it will go on happeneing.

Unless the council makes a firm stand againsy this sort of thing I can also {sadly) see this sort of thing becoming more common. Teenagers doing it for a laugh sort of thing, another vile extension of the 'happy slapping' thing, a horrific invasion of your privacy. If nothing else, this person should be banned from council facilities.

Re what should have happened, it is so sad that in these litigious times comanies and organisations are too scared of legal action to say, 'This is a horrid thing to have happened to you, I am so sorry it happened', which 9 times out of 10 is all someone wants to hear.

Hear, hear, mb.
Also worth saying (again) that northerners ds was with her in the cubicle at the time. She could hardly have left him to dash out and thump the pervert, (quite probably putting her at risk of assault charges )

Even if I were alone Betty I don't think I'd have ran out naked.

i wonder which the council would be more aghast at - a violent streaker or a happy snapper?

Not sure it is just a 'freak incident' - something similar happened at our local pool years ago, when some creep was using a periscope to spy on people changing - and yes, the council did modify the cubicles so it couldn't happen again.

just to jump in on this...our local leisure centre has signs clearly displayed telling all customer "that the use of mobile phones is NOT allowed in the changing areas." Obviously because of this sign it makes us "normal" folk aware of the misuse of mobiles.

Our changing rooms look like they are from the 1920's but at least the are split into male/females.

Good luck northener.