Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

photos of child without parent permission

i was in the college where my son goes to day care, my wife is a teacher there and in playground. A man cxame over to children playing and started to take pictures of them. I told him to stop. he had no identification on and I said, ''don't you need a parents permission to take pictures of children, they were all about 4-5. he said he didn't and that he worked for the college. I find this very disturbing as he couldhave been a pedophile using the pictures for some criminal activity, who knows. he got angry and said he can do what he wants. My question is, can he take them? or is it against the law without permission? I'd appreciate an answer as it makes me feel the security at the college is lacking...people go in and out all the time and no one asks who they are...thank you tom--name removed--


Asked on 6/03/03, 3:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeffrey A. Lustick, Esq The Lustick Law Firm

Re: photos of child without parent permission

First of all, if security is lacking at your son�s day care, you need to find another day care immediately. What happened is extremely serious and if the day care administrators aren�t willing to beef up security and provide better control or limited access to the children, then you need to find some place else to take your son.

I would also report the incident to the police. While it�s true that merely taking pictures of the children may not be illegal in itself, the police will likely treat it as a suspicious circumstance and will investigate it. If the fellow is a sex offender, his photo session would be a violation of his probation or parole. If his not �in the system,� having him investigated now could avoid a terrible incident.

Read more
Answered on 6/03/03, 6:43 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Washington