WASHINGTON — A woman has been fined the equivalent of nearly $900 for a photo she posted on Facebook recently.
In the town of Petrer, in Alicante, southern Spain, a woman took a photo of a police car parked in a handicapped-only spot. She posted the photo to Facebook, saying (in a rough and slightly cleaned-up translation) “Park where you darn well please and you won’t even be fined.”
Within 48 hours, the police had tracked her down and fined her 800 euro (about $886).
She was fined under the seemingly ironically titled Citizen Security Law, which has been the subject of demonstrations in Spain and has been criticized by groups including Amnesty International, The Guardian reports. The law prohibits “the unauthorized use of images of police officers that might jeopardize their or their family’s safety or that of protected facilities or police operations.”
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.
OK, maybe so. But how, Portillo was asked, does the photo, which doesn’t include any images of officers but only a car, jeopardize anyone’s safety?
Portillo responded that by posting the photo, the woman had attacked the officers’ honor.
“We would have preferred a different solution but they have the legal right to impose the fine,” Portillo said.
