Hi and welcome to the forum
It sounds like youve had a very positive experience, and while I completely agree with you in that the police need to do their jobs, and that may involve checking with people what they are up to.
I'd also like to ask this
Why does having a camera mean you *might* be up to no good, and therefore need to be spoken to?
Do they randomly ask people to check their shopping bags incase they contain knives?
By the very nature of checking what a photographer is up to, means that they are doing so purely because they have a camera. Common sense dictates that if a paedophile is going to take pictures of children, they are going to do it behind closed doors. Same with terrorists...theyre hardly likely to use a whopping great DSLR on a tripod, and take time composing their shots are they?
No, theyre likely to walk past with a point n shoot or mobile and get it over with as discreetly as possible.
So why does having a camera mean there is an element of suspicion?
Secondly, while your experience is a positive one. You were simply spoken to and searched under s44 (I assume?), there are many out there who are not just asked what they are doing. There are many out there incorrectly moved on under the guise of laws that are wrongly applied or in some cases, completely made up. Not just by police, but security guards.
This is about re-educating everyone that photography is NOT illegal, to stop restricting a perfectly legitimate activity under such misapplied or made-up laws, rules and reasons, and to stop assuming that just because we have a camera, we *might* be up to no good
Again, welcome to the forum. Apologies to be quite blunt in my reply, I assure you it's made with the best of intentions