BBFRIEND. Well, perhaps you have reason to know more Police than I do. Certainly the ones I have met in East Anglia are well spoken, polite, and efficient. I saw the entrance exam some forty years ago, so perhaps it's changed somewhat. Important not to tar every officer with the same brush perhaps??????
Someone was trying to make the point that if you are carrying a large lens, then you couldn't be mistaken for a terrorist, but, of course, if you were a terrorist trying to obtain info, you wouldn't go around an airport perimeter dressed in a burkha or a habib now, would you???