Paparazzi menace melts away as stars sober up

Published on 31/07/2008 22:16

LOS Angeles has had fewer problems with misbehaving photographers since Britney Spears "started wearing clothes" and other celebrities toned down their partying, city police chief William Bratton yesterday.

"Since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving, Paris Hilton is out of town not bothering anybody, thank God, and evidently Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don't seem to have much of an issue," he said.

Singer Spears has had to behave herself to gain and retain visitation rights with her children. The other references are to Hilton, the heiress known for her partying, and Lohan, the actress and pop singer, who has had trouble with drugs and men.

Mr Bratton said the altered behaviour makes a proposed crackdown on star-chasing paparazzi an unnecessary "farce" because photographers have been losing interest in stars in trouble.

"If the ones that attract the paparazzi behave in the first place, that solves 90 per cent of the problem. The rest we can deal with," he said.

Mr Bratton spoke after hearing city councillor Dennis Zine discussing possible new restrictions on freelance photographers.

Mr Zine was to lead a meeting to discuss how to restrict aggressive paparazzi. Officials from celebrity enclaves such as Beverly Hills and Malibu were to take part.

Mr Bratton called the hearing "foolishness" and said he would not join in. There were "sufficient laws" to deal with aggressive paparazzi.