http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wenn/20080213/ten-spears-hospital-escort-prompts-new-b-c60bd6d.html

Spears' hospital escort prompts new 'Britney law'

By WENN world entertainment news - Wednesday, February 13 03:25 pmBritney Spears is to have a law in Los Angeles named after her - because it was her GBP12,000 police escort to hospital last month which prompted councilmen to propose the amendment.

The troubled pop star was taken from her Coldwater Canyon home to UCLA Medical Center on 31 January in an ambulance with a motorcade from the Los Angeles Police Department.

The job of the motorcade, which included more than 20 police officers, a helicopter and a team of intervention specialists, was to block off traffic ahead and behind the ambulance carrying Spears to hospital, and to keep the paparazzi at bay.

And the move has inspired L.A. City Councilman Dennis P. Zine to propose a safety zone be set up to protect areas around celebrities, hospitals, traffic, businesses and homes.

The bill also suggests all members of the paparazzi get licences to take photographs in the protected zones - with those breaking the law having their licence revoked and royalties from the picture confiscated.

He says, "The straw that broke the camel's back (idea that prompted the law) is the GBP12,000 we spent to escort an L.A. City ambulance to the hospital. I'm not infringing upon the right to take a picture. I'm concerned about the impact they have on the general public."

Councilmen will vote on whether to adopt the new 'Britney Law' on 1 March, reports Hollyscoop.com.

Thank you, that is the councilman I was referring to in a post of mine two weeks ago. He had stated he was tired of the stupid photographers who felt they were going to cause an accident either with the celebs or the innocent people who may get caught up in that mess.

It is not a law yet, but let's hope the council members vote to make it a law.

I think the Paparazzi people are insane and deserve this done to them. Yes, Britney is a trainwreck and yes her name sells magazines and newspapers, but don't forget she is still a human.

What does GBP12,000 mean?

What does GBP12,000 mean?
That's British money -- it's short for Great Britain Pound. GBP12,000 = £12,000. Convert this to US dollars, and you get USD $23,533.10 (as of this posting). That means the Los Angeles Police Department spent about $24K *JUST* to escort Britney to the hospital. :eek: The LAPD shouldn't have had to spend that much money... but they HAD to because of the insane paparazzi.

finally! i mean, i know britney's a little weird & all, but she still is human, like dean winchester said. a week or so ago, they were showing her getting into the car after she came out of a hospital and the paparazzi were all around her car. her driver couldn't even drive cause they were literally blocking all sides of the car. and they've said some pretty harsh stuff to her too. dang...no wonder britney's crazy. lol. if i had paparazzi around me 24/7 like she does, i'd go psycho too. lol.

That's British money -- it's short for Great Britain Pound. GBP12,000 = £12,000. Convert this to US dollars, and you get USD $23,533.10 (as of this posting). That means the LAPD spent about $24K *JUST* to escort Britney to the hospital. :eek: They shouldn't have had to spend that much money... but they HAD to because of the insane paparazzi.

shizzzzle. that is a lot of money to escort her out of the hospital.

shizzzzle. that is a lot of money to escort her out of the hospital.
I know, right? The Great Britain pound has been worth more than the US dollar in recent years -- the exchange rate has almost always been $2 for £1. So if you see British money mentioned in a news article, you can count on that being about double the amount in US money.

It's bad enough that it's ****ing EXPENSIVE to go to the hospital in an ambulance -- and I'm sure that in Los Angeles, that cost is SKY HIGH -- but to need to have the LAPD also come along as escorts because of how bad the paparazzi is... that's money that could've gone towards improving something in the city. :faint:

I know, right? The Great Britain pound has been worth more than the US dollar in recent years -- the exchange rate has almost always been $2 for £1. So if you see British money mentioned in a news article, you can count on that being about double the amount in US money.

It's bad enough that it's ****ing EXPENSIVE to go to the hospital in an ambulance -- and I'm sure that in Los Angeles, that cost is SKY HIGH -- but to need to have the LAPD also come along as escorts because of how bad the paparazzi is... that's money that could've gone towards improving something in the city. :faint:

yeah, that's exactly what i was thinking.
that much money could've gone to something better than escorting someone out of a hospital.

BTW, US California taxpayers are going to pay that $24 grand. :rolleyes:

BTW, US California taxpayers are going to pay that $24 grand. :rolleyes:
...And, once again, let's say a big, hearty THANK YOU to the ****ing paparazzi for making that happen.

...And, once again, let's say a big, hearty THANK YOU to the ****ing paparazzi for making that happen.
With all that blood money they are making off of Britney, I think the PAPARRAZI SHOULD PAY THE BILL! :mad:

shouldn't they just fine National Enquirer, Star and TMZ to foot the bill since it's their doing?

shouldn't they just fine National Enquirer, Star and TMZ to foot the bill since it's their doing?

My thoughts exactly.

The paparazzi are disrupting lives, period. And not just the celebirties they stalk, but all the neighbors who live next to them, and the people on the streets.

I'm surprized some innocent bystander hasn't been killed in an accident involving these idiots who tailgate Lindsay Lohan just to get another picture of her going into a Starbucks.

Start putting them in jail, and fine the photo agencies who pay them.

I agree with everyone's sentiments, but I'll add a point I made recently. Anyone who buys the rags and mags or watches this crap is part of the problem. No consumers, then no demand for their product. It seems that a large part of society has become hungry for every little tidbit. Red carpet stuff is fine, but these disgusting invasions of privacy have got to stop before someone gets hurt. It already happened to a degree with Princess Diana, although her drunk driver didn't help the situation.

I hope it passes but, even if it does, they will just start using long lenses, until the hubub cools down, then slowly start doing the same things they always have (it's happened before)

I agree with everyone's sentiments, but I'll add a point I made recently. Anyone who buys the rags and mags or watches this crap is part of the problem. No consumers, then no demand for their product. It seems that a large part of society has become hungry for every little tidbit. Red carpet stuff is fine, but these disgusting invasions of privacy have got to stop before someone gets hurt. It already happened to a degree with Princess Diana, although her drunk driver didn't help the situation.
interesting that you mentioned Diana. I was thinking about why they didn't enforce stricter paparazzi laws after her death, which would've been prevented if the paps weren't trying so hard to get a money shot of Diana that they were willing to get her to die for.

Please don't bash LAPD for their part in this. They handled Britney's escort
to the hospital for her protection.

Yes, but they shouldn't have had to. I think that's the point most people are making.

And this is 2008, why the heck are they doing it now? This should have been done YEARS ago. Anyway, i'm just glad to hear they are doing this. I truly believe the reason Britney is a bit messed up right now is BECAUSE of them. I honestly can say i'd go crazy too, if i couldn't live a minute of my life in private. She probably gave up custody of her kids just so they could live a more normal life, the paparazzi is more likely to go after her than K-fed or wherever the kids are located. I feel sorry she has to go through this. Thats what she gets for trying to entertain people, in return, being treated like crap.

If Britney's home was on fire, or there was a life or death situation going on, ambulances and firetrucks would never be able to get in on time. To set up all of those cops on motorcycles and stuff took some time, but when there is a worse situation, there is no time for gathering every cop in the city. The thing that made me hate the paparazzi even more, was when Heath Ledger died. They stood outside his apartment building like a bunch of vultures trying to capture pictures of his dead body. Anyone terrible and sadistic enough to do that deserves to go to jail for a long long time.

Please don't bash LAPD for their part in this. They handled Britney's escort
to the hospital for her protection.

Nobody is bashing the LAPD. We are just appalled that they even have to do this. It shouldn't take that many cops to escort one person to a hospital, but thanks to the stupid paparazzi, they had no choice but to use them.

FINALLY! Down with paparazzi! :mad:

interesting that you mentioned Diana. I was thinking about why they didn't enforce stricter paparazzi laws after her death, which would've been prevented if the paps weren't trying so hard to get a money shot of Diana that they were willing to get her to die for.
Her death happened in France, so I doubt much changed there. The point I'm making is that if so many people weren't such gossip mongers and didn't buy the products with the money shots, and other pictures which are a clear invasion of privacy, this wouldn't be an issue. The paparazzi are doing this because of supply and demand. I agree they're scum. They're doing their jobs, and probably don't even care about the gossip angle of it. It's the people who buy this crap who keep them in business, plain and simple.

The thing that made me hate the paparazzi even more, was when Heath Ledger died. They stood outside his apartment building like a bunch of vultures trying to capture pictures of his dead body. Anyone terrible and sadistic enough to do that deserves to go to jail for a long long time.
I agree. I also think that anyone; for example, standing in the grocery line and sees the National Enquirer with a headline along the lines of this: "Heath Ledger's body carried out out his home. Three pages of pictures inside! Don't miss this!"

I think the person who shells out the cash for that is equally terrible and sadistic. Same goes for those who keep TMZ and their ilk in business. I believe that consumers of a disgusting product are culpable, as well.

from what I've heard, the paparazzi has been obsessed with dead celebs since Elvis. There's an infamous "Elvis in coffin" photo that people still debate over the validity of it, considering the Elvis in the coffin resembled the Elvis of 1957 moreso than the Elvis of 1977. Whether the picture was real or fake, shows that the paparazzi has been very low for over thirty years.

Wouldn't people rather try to remember Heath as he was alive instead of the body being wheeled out in a bag?

from what I've heard, the paparazzi has been obsessed with dead celebs since Elvis. There's an infamous "Elvis in coffin" photo that people still debate over the validity of it, considering the Elvis in the coffin resembled the Elvis of 1957 moreso than the Elvis of 1977. Whether the picture was real or fake, shows that the paparazzi has been very low for over thirty years.

Wouldn't people rather try to remember Heath as he was alive instead of the body being wheeled out in a bag?
One would think so. I know I have no interest in that, but I've been seeing pictures of dead celebrities on the stretchers for years. The one of Marilyn Monroe being carried out of her home is burned in my brain.

It happens, even in "regular" life. My husband's father died in a very fiery car crash 11 years ago. The entire car was engulfed in flames. The Town has a daily paper, which is huge, as they lived on Cape Cod. The paper is even in color, like USA Today. Anyway, the day after the crash, there it was, front page, huge picture of the car ablaze. My husband's family got very angry, and who could blame them. To this day, my husband has never looked at the picture, and I have the paper. Pictures like that hurt loves ones, famous or not.

****, that's terrible about your husband's father. Did any of the family decide to speak out against the newspaper? I think when someone dies in a car or plane crash or whatever, less is more in terms of photos. The newspaper doesn't seem to want to realize that there is a family behind the picture. I mean, your father-in-law was not a celebrity, and the car crash wasn't an act of terrorism or anything along those lines, so what does it profit the newspaper to post that photo like that, knowing he had a family who doesn't want to see their loved ones death like that. That's very disgusting and classless.

****, that's terrible about your husband's father. Did any of the family decide to speak out against the newspaper? I think when someone dies in a car or plane crash or whatever, less is more in terms of photos. The newspaper doesn't seem to want to realize that there is a family behind the picture. I mean, your father-in-law was not a celebrity, and the car crash wasn't an act of terrorism or anything along those lines, so what does it profit the newspaper to post that photo like that, knowing he had a family who doesn't want to see their loved ones death like that. That's very disgusting and classless.
Yes, his daughters gave the suits at the newspaper an earful, but beyond that, what else could they do. I think the creeps published the photo because it was sensational. Words can't begin to describe the picture. Bright orange, red, flames shooting into the sky. The story before it, how before it exploded....it was at a rotary. The poor man had passed out, most likely from a diabetic seizure....a woman who owned a real estate office was trying to open the car door, but it was those automatic locks. He was slumped over the wheel. Everyone could smell the gas, but she wouldn't leave the car. They had to pull her away, and just when they did, it exploded like a scene in a Swartnegger movie. How he had just dropped his wife of 59 years off at the salon to have her hair done, and the cops picked her up, instead of her husband. Retired couple living on Cape Cod, happened just weeks before Christmas. Tragedy sells. I'd say that edition sold a lot of copies.

The kicker is that the night of the crash, a reporter from the paper called our home, and I gave him a telephone interview, and told him how my father-in-law was a decorated war veteran, fought in The Battle of the Bulge, what a wonderful man he was, raised five kids, had 17 grandkids. I gave him a nice interview because my husband's family was paralyzed with grief and could barely speak. I was a mess too, but not like them. Then, the f'ker rewards me with that picture, that accompanied my interview. I wanted to strangle him.

Please don't bash LAPD for their part in this. They handled Britney's escort
to the hospital for her protection.
We're not bashing the LAPD. We're just saying that they SHOULDN'T have had to escort her TO THE HOSPITAL if it wasn't for the stupid paparazzi ****tards who are so damn hungry for the slightest glimpse of a ****ed up Britney.

The paparazzi are disrupting lives, period. And not just the celebirties they stalk, but all the neighbors who live next to them, and the people on the streets.

I'm surprized some innocent bystander hasn't been killed in an accident involving these idiots who tailgate Lindsay Lohan just to get another picture of her going into a Starbucks.

Start putting them in jail, and fine the photo agencies who pay them.

If a celeb is walking on a sidewalk into a restaurant or public place, okay, they're fair game for a photo. But once they step inside somewhere, be it a restaurant or their car or especially their home, they should be left alone.

If a celeb wants to kick back in their backyard by sunbathing in the nude or just hanging back, they should be able to do so without having to worry about a helicopter overhead or someone hiding in a bush or tree trying to snap a candid photo.

And once they get behind the wheel of a car or just get inside a car, no one should be chasing them. No wonder the popular term for paparazzos these days is "stalkerazzi."

One would think so. I know I have no interest in that, but I've been seeing pictures of dead celebrities on the stretchers for years. The one of Marilyn Monroe being carried out of her home is burned in my brain.

It happens, even in "regular" life. My husband's father died in a very fiery car crash 11 years ago. The entire car was engulfed in flames. The Town has a daily paper, which is huge, as they lived on Cape Cod. The paper is even in color, like USA Today. Anyway, the day after the crash, there it was, front page, huge picture of the car ablaze. My husband's family got very angry, and who could blame them. To this day, my husband has never looked at the picture, and I have the paper. Pictures like that hurt loves ones, famous or not.


Oh my, they could've probably sued for that. Who the heck could post a picture of someone dying. Selfish idiots will do anything for money. Making money off someone's tradgedy.

Yes, his daughters gave the suits at the newspaper an earful, but beyond that, what else could they do. I think the creeps published the photo because it was sensational. Words can't begin to describe the picture. Bright orange, red, flames shooting into the sky. The story before it, how before it exploded....it was at a rotary. The poor man had passed out, most likely from a diabetic seizure....a woman who owned a real estate office was trying to open the car door, but it was those automatic locks. He was slumped over the wheel. Everyone could smell the gas, but she wouldn't leave the car. They had to pull her away, and just when they did, it exploded like a scene in a Swartnegger movie. How he had just dropped his wife of 59 years off at the salon to have her hair done, and the cops picked her up, instead of her husband. Retired couple living on Cape Cod, happened just weeks before Christmas. Tragedy sells. I'd say that edition sold a lot of copies.

The kicker is that the night of the crash, a reporter from the paper called our home, and I gave him a telephone interview, and told him how my father-in-law was a decorated war veteran, fought in The Battle of the Bulge, what a wonderful man he was, raised five kids, had 17 grandkids. I gave him a nice interview because my husband's family was paralyzed with grief and could barely speak. I was a mess too, but not like them. Then, the f'ker rewards me with that picture, that accompanied my interview. I wanted to strangle him.

even if it's been over a decade, I am still so sorry. It was bad enough that your husband and the rest of the family had to lose him like that, and then having the fiery car as the front page is total insult to injury. A fiery death is the absolute least way I want to go out. I bet you've never bought another copy of their paper, right? And I wouldn't blame you.

I guess I have too much of a conscience but if I was a photographer, I would want to think "what if this was MY sister" regarding someone like Britney, or "what if this was MY brother" over Heath Ledger's death, etc... I guess a job as a paparazzi is not something in my future, because I'd try to place it as would I be liking this if I was related to the person.

I wonder... Wouldn't such a bylaw be unenforceable at best or badly mistargeted at worst? The professional photographers would just resort to covert surveillance techniques, while people who just took landscape photos in the protected areas would probably be hassled.

I would let the quasi-celebrity trash boil in their own stew. And if they require police escorts, let them pay for it out of their own pockets. (Though B.S. probably wears as few pockets as she does panties.) :p

To Janice, let me say how horrific and how terrible a tragedy your husband's family had to endure, not only from his death but the manner in which you and his family were treated. I am fuming at that thought that you all were treated that way. No excuse for that whatsoever.

As for the LAPD, they were called by the ambulance service to help maintain a clear route for them to get to the hospital. After the fiasco of the first time Britney was taken, with the photographers all around the ambulance vehicle and so forth, the ambulance service didn't want that crap to happen again. So, by law, if the ambulance service requests a police escort, the police must do so.

Anyways, what I don't get is WHY THE FIRST TIME AROUND, the photographers were allowed to even get so damn close to the ambulance and to Britney when there were police officers there???????? Why didn't they keep the photographers at bay? Why didn't they use their manpower to keep them off the ambulance? My God, remember how the photographers werea all over that ambulance? Like flies on sh*t.

That story of Janice's reminds me that the "legitimate" press isnt really a whole lot better, when it comes down to it....they treat "regular" folks the way the papaRATSzi treat celebs.....I happened to catch the news a couple weeks ago after a man reportedly killed his family, then escaped after setting the house on fire; now, its 2 days later, and some #$^@# newsreporter has a camera in the grandmothers face asking her to make a comment, She could barely speak through her tears. The poor old woman lost her daughter and Grandchildren, was now alone in the world and has to go throught THAT?
I think this law should apply to newsreporters too, at least if they persist after being asked to leave a person alone.

even if it's been over a decade, I am still so sorry. It was bad enough that your husband and the rest of the family had to lose him like that, and then having the fiery car as the front page is total insult to injury. A fiery death is the absolute least way I want to go out. I bet you've never bought another copy of their paper, right? And I wouldn't blame you.
Thank you, John. That's very kind of you. I never bought a copy of their paper, but I never would anyway, as it's a Cape Cod paper, and I live an hour from the Cape. The family takes solace in the fact that the Medical Examiner said that he most likely never came to, during the fire. I think that MEs often spare the feelings of families, when there's nothing to be gained by the horrific truth.

He had passed out from a seizure, as he was diabetic. Witnesses said that his car careened towards the rotary and slammed into a pole, and that it looked like a driverless car. As I said, before it exploded, they were trying to get him out of the car, but those f'kn automatic door locks. He was slumped over the wheel, but he wasn't dead. The entire car then became a raging inferno. I wonder, did anybody have a crowbow handy? If he had been taken out of the car, he would have lived. The fire killed him, not the seizure. We had a closed casket at the funeral, of course.

I've considered that the fire woke him up, but I have to shut it out of my mind. I've chosen to believe that he remained passed out, during the fire. Denial definitely has its advantages.