TL;DR: A door security guard at a local venue harassed me, negged me, and asked for my number, which I refused. In retaliation, he banned me from entry and admitted to saving, showing, and sharing CCTV footage of me from a night I was intoxicated to venue staff and other local security teams. I have reported this to venue management (currently waiting on the Operations Director), the SIA, and the police (who closed the case due to lack of physical proof, though I am challenging their investigation). Seeking strategic advice on next steps, GDPR/ICO complaints for CCTV misuse, and how to pressure management to take action.

I am facing an ongoing situation involving abuse of power and targeted retaliation by a door security guard at a local venue I regularly visit, and I am looking for strategic advice on how best to navigate this. To be entirely clear, I have committed no wrongdoing whatsoever; this whole situation stems from me repeatedly rejecting a security guard’s improper advances and calling out his unprofessional behavior, which he has now responded to with retaliatory action.

The misconduct started back in May when I had too much to drink on a night out. While I was in a vulnerable state, a male security officer on duty pulled me into an alcove off public view, where he made inappropriate remarks, negged me to lower my confidence, and adjusted his trousers around his genital area. Weeks later, when I returned, the same guard targeted me again by asking for my personal phone number, which I firmly refused to give him. Fast forward to September, when I attempted to enter the venue, this guard refused me entry at the door purely as a form of retaliation. During that interaction, he explicitly admitted that he had retained CCTV footage of me from that night in May, had shown it to the entire venue staff to justify banning me, and had even saved and shared that footage with staff at neighboring venues and security teams at other places where he works.

I have taken extensive formal action to address this clear misuse of CCTV and power. I immediately escalated the matter internally to the General Manager, and after contacting executive management, I was informed that my complaint is being passed directly to the Operations Director, whose response I am currently waiting to hear back from. Externally, I have filed a formal complaint with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) regarding his professional conduct, as well as reporting the unauthorized retention and sharing of footage to the Metropolitan Police.

The police recently closed their file citing a lack of independent, physical evidence showing the footage left the internal system, but I have already followed up with them challenging whether they adequately audited the venue’s CCTV access logs, retention policies, and data handling practices.

Given that the police are reluctant to act without explicit physical proof of data exfiltration and the venue’s internal review is still underway with the Operations Director, I would really appreciate strategic advice on my next steps. Has anyone successfully dealt with GDPR or ICO complaints regarding security staff holding onto and sharing CCTV footage for personal vendettas, and what is the best way to push the management to take immediate action against this rogue guard?

Our community is living in fear instead of feeling safe. Officer Rhoades has a documented pattern of excessive force and harassment—complaints from multiple people have been ignored, and nothing has changed.

I started a petition calling for a transparent, independent investigation into these allegations. This isn't about destroying someone's career. It's about accountability. When complaints pile up and nothing happens, it sends a message that the rules don't apply equally to everyone—and that erodes trust in the whole department.

Our neighborhoods deserve officers who protect, not harm. De-escalation training, real oversight, and transparency matter. If this resonates with you—if you've seen something similar or believe accountability should be standard—consider signing and sharing. What would you want if this was affecting your community?

Was in my man-cave garage watching a YT vid,typin email.  Wife runs out and exclaims what's with all the police cars?  That was at 3pm.  My wife, with a frowny face, had to drive 20 miles (one way) to pick me up from jail -- at about midnight.

Now the backstory:   

About me:  

I'm in my 7th decade of life.  I've had a concealed carry permit for ~25 years.  I have no criminal record.  I have never brandished.  Never even hinted that the umbilical hernia belt I was told to wear for life, may also have a gun.   I have multiple belts.  My fave is the one that was most expensive.  The one with a pocket for my CC permit, and my tiny 380 ACP Ruger. I was wearing my hernia/380 holster.

About the Floor Guy

We are working to get our home ready for sale.  We contracted with a person to clean a floor and make the grout sparkle.  In our neck of woods, that service runs about $4.50/sf.  He wanted $14/sf. He seemed very capable, showed me pics of his other work. 

Floor guy offers to remove washer/dryer so to grout underneath.  Seemed like a reasonable request.  He begins to move them, realizes the shutoff valves are not working.

Keep in mind, he did not move something 8 feet away that had nothing to do with water.  Also note, I never asked him to move applicances.

He pulls out the washer, realizes it's a problem. He should have treated the appliance like the furniture.  Grout up to, but not under. 

For reasons not clear, he disconnects the water fill hose, water gushes.  On floor below, in the finished basement, it's raining. 

He and his one worker finished and told us to stay off of floor until sealant cures.  A full 24 hrs. 

First Impression 

After 24 hours we had a look. Whoa. How does one get grout on walls?  Doorway thresholds. Not moving movable objects. Imagine hiring finger painters to make grout sparkle.  For more reasons unknown, he didn't appear to use any masking tape.

The Trigger

Being reasonable guy, I email him with pics, facts, timelines... and an offer to settle in direction of win-win.

He views offer as insult and becomes irate.  I speak with him on the phone for 6m 33s and he vehemently denies EVERYHING in the pdf i had sent him.

The Reason for this post:

Days later, the SWAT team arrives with the floor guy in the parade. 

He had gone to the police station, the one a few blocks from the home where i have lived for decades.  He reported (and I'm speaking from the 32 FOIA pages... he requested an escort because i had gun and was behaving in a manner that caused to fear his life.

I step out from my garage. I'm cuffed and detained and treated like a member of a terroist cell for the next 7 hours.

Here's my binary tree. Kinda feels like police made a mistake.

1) Instead of verifying who was who, they took him at his word that I was nearly an active shooter threat.  Making a false police report is a criminal act.

2) I had sent floor guy an email and via certified USPS -- he was not allowed to be on my property for any reason.  ALL comms must be done via USPS. 

Had the cops asked, "describe how is is a threat to you, right now?"  They would have heard an answer that could only have been 100% fabricated. At best this was a civil matter. But for gosh sake, the customer is trying to settle.

That didn't happen .  They hit the DEFCON holy-shit button and sped 8 blocks to thwart, what they hastily concluded, a deadly intent.

As by the subpoena I recvd 2 days ago, I am expected to be in court for pre-sentencing in 6 days.  If they toss the entire book at me, I'll be offline for 9 months and may have a $10K fine to pay.

Lucky for me, I'm a tech guy.  Cams on my property.  When I spoke with him on my patio, speaker phone ON, I have a recording of him screaming at me that he will do harm in whatever it takes to kill the sale of my home. Ring recorded the entire conversation.

So, no real question here.  Just tossing it out here to see if perhaps I'm the one that's crazy.

ps. I don't think all cops are bastards. My family is ex-military, ex-LEOs. This is not about "cops" but more about those who are given uniforms that appear to be military. In my neighborhood where the average home price is north of $600K, military gear seems absurd. what you see upon entering my street: Private property. No access without permission from an owner.

I have a genuine question that has been running through my mind since yesterday, and I would really appreciate it if someone could help me understand the mindset of the police in such situations.

At the end of the day, police officers are human beings too. Without their uniforms, they are ordinary citizens like the rest of us. They have families, children, emotions, and responsibilities. So, how do they justify beating students and suppressing citizens who are fighting for their basic rights? Aren’t the police supposed to protect and support the very people they are hurting? Why do some officers seem willing to go to such extremes in support of a political party?

Let me give you an example. Imagine a police officer loses his life, and his family struggles to receive the pension or benefits they are entitled to. They are forced to visit government offices repeatedly or seek help from politicians just to get what is rightfully theirs. Now, imagine that the same officer had once detained or arrested people who were protesting against this very system. Eventually, his own family finds itself suffering because of that system.

**Doesn’t this possibility ever cross a police officer’s mind?** Do they genuinely believe that politicians will stand by them and their families when they need help the most? Don’t they realise that political power is temporary, but the consequences of their actions can affect ordinary people for years?

I understand that police officers have duties to perform and may face pressure from their superiors. Some may even fear suspension, transfers, or losing their jobs if they refuse to follow orders. Others might be afraid because they had to pay bribes to secure their positions. But where do we draw the line between following orders and standing up for what is right? Does fear justify suppressing the rights of fellow citizens?

I am not trying to generalise or blame every police officer. I know there are honest officers who genuinely serve the public. But it is heartbreaking to see students being beaten, peaceful protesters being detained, and the very people entrusted with protecting citizens being used against them.

What troubles me even more is seeing reports of army personnel being involved in such situations.

**I genuinely want to understand what goes through a police officer’s mind in these moments.** Do they stop thinking about right and wrong because they are in uniform? Are they afraid of the consequences of refusing orders? Do they believe they are doing the right thing? Or have political pressure, fear, and personal interests become more important than their conscience?

These questions have been bothering me since yesterday. I am not looking for arguments or political blame. I genuinely want to understand the psychology behind these actions.

Can someone who understands the police system or has experience with it explain this to me? I would really appreciate an honest answer.

(i'm french) (TW: description of violence) we got ≈6000 minors arrested by our cops in less than a month, some of us call the cops 'the terminators', they use military weapons on teenagers protesting to get chairs, teachers and Ceilings in classrooms, a 16 years old lost an eye cause of them, another 16 years old lost a hand cause they threw a grenade at him, a 14 years old got Strangled by a cop, a 16 years old got gassed and had a seizure cause of it then got arrested, the cops control which Cardboard sign they allow in protests and which they not (they're not allowed to do that)

This is more proof that cops get away with everything.

🤬🤬🤬