While authorities in the United States are working to equip police officers with body cameras to cut abuse and violence, Spain has enacted a new gagging rule barring citizens from sharing photos of law enforcement officials.
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A woman has been fined after taking a picture of a police auto illegally parked in a disabled bay – and posting it on Facebook.
But the police tracked her down within just 48 hours and fined her €800 (£570). He now faces a fine of between €100 and €600.
Fernando Portillo, a spokesman for the Petrer police, told local media that the officers had parked in the handicapped spot because they were responding to a vandalism call and hoped to catch the culprits red-handed.
A 27-year-old man from Tenerife was fined last month under the gagging law after calling his local police force a “class of slackers” and criticising the amount money spent on police facilities in a series of Facebook posts.
The picture, taken by an unnamed woman from Petrer in Alicante, was put up online with the caption “Park wherever the hell you like and they won’t even fine you”.
Amid public uproar and reports from news outlets worldwide, officers said the woman had attacked their honour and that they had simply being carrying out their job. The woman who spotted the police auto parked in the handicap spot lives in Spain, where there is actually a law, named Citizens Security Law, which forbids people from photographing police.
‘We would have preferred a different solution but they have the legal right to impose the fine, ‘ he added, according to the Guardian.
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The gagging law, which also prohibits demonstrations in the vicinity of parliament or the senate, has been publicly condemned by the activists and human rights groups ever since it was introduced earlier this year.
