LA's top cop rejects call for law to curb paparazzi

Melbourne, Aug 2 : A top-notch police official in Los Angeles has rejected anti-paparazzi laws, calling them a complete waste of time.

After months of rising tensions between celebrities and the paparazzi -city officials in LA had suggested some plan in a bid to fight reporters who follow Hollywood stars like "a pack of wolves, stalking their prey".

Also, some officials outlined proposals for creating an emergency telephone line devoted to celebrities and licensing the paparazzi.

But, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton criticized the ideas, insisting that they were unenforceable.

Bratton said that with tabloid sensations such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan out of the headlines for now, there was no need for extra control.

Still, the celebrity photographers known as "paps" have become more aggressive in recent years and in some cases, their tactics have led to violence.

Earlier this year, Malibu residents fought with paparazzi who were trying to snap photos of actor Matthew McConaughey swimming in the Pacific Ocean, and last week bodyguards for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt beat up two paps who sneaked onto the grounds of their chateau in the south of France.

Bratton criticized the idea of issuing paparazzi credentials, argued it was unnecessary to spend city money on extra protection and scoffed at a plan to create personal safety zones around stars.

"What is this protected space that they are entitled to that the rest of us are not entitled to?" the Herald Sun quoted him, as saying.

He also believes the paps have cooled their ways.

"Paris Hilton's out of town, things are quiet; Lindsay Lohan's got a new girlfriend, that's keeping things quiet; and evidently Britney (Spears) has gone straight now in terms of cleaning her act up, so basically paparazzi are losing interest," he said.

ANI