This is getting bloody ridiculous!
Here is the latest example of policemen, using law in a silly way. Sometime this is done thoughtlessly, sometimes it is done with the agenda of what some of us have taken to call “Media Management”.
At the end of this latest report, I have included a great pile of links, that i’ve just scared up in less that five mins, from my bookmarks. I have hundreds like this!
It is for this reason, that I’ve been pressuring the NUJ and various police forces, to adopt what have become know as the “Staffordshire Guidelines” [with ammendments] , to clue police officers and photographers as to what each can reasonable do, in this country now.
Years go by, meeting are being had, apparently. But things remain the same.
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Terror laws used on photographer
Sunday, 1 May, 2005, 13:41 GMT 14:41 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4503711.stm
A freelance photographer has said he was stopped and searched under anti-terrorism laws after taking pictures of the Houses of Parliament.
Lawrence White, from Notting Hill, west London, was told to move on or face arrest after the police officers searched his pockets and camera bag.
Civil liberties campaigners said it shows anti-terrorism powers are being used to intimidate the public.
People may be asked to move as part of security patrols, Scotland Yard said.
Mr White has written a letter of complaint about the matter to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
Police powers
He said: “I was taking a few shots of the Houses of Parliament from the Albert Embankment on the other side of the Thames.”
“I asked four officers if I could photograph them in front of the Houses of Parliament, but they said ‘No, we’re on anti-terrorist duty’.”
He said as he walked away and took a few more shots one of the officers walked up to him and said “I want to search you under suspicion of being a terrorist”.
Mr White said the officer cited Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which gives police powers to stop and search anyone if they suspect them of being involved in terrorism.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said the act was “overly-broad” and one of the worst examples of “blank cheque” police powers.
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some previous examples
Terrorism fear derails train-spotters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2943304.stm
Redeye – Terrorism Act affects photographers [Heysham Port]
http://www.redeye.org.uk/redeye/newsdetail.asp?uvarNewsid=95
An encounter with the police, again [what are you taking pictures of then
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=3902
Photography, Security and Jumpin Jaks 16May04
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=110150
Guardian – Keep power and sewage plants secret, media told
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1312489,00.html
Ladders and Shadows, Colwick Oil Instalation
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=228563
Police own up to snappers’ wrongful arrest
http://media.gn.apc.org/fl/0201r2r.html
Police Harrasment & Censorship Obstruct Reporting – Paul Stewart pdf [page12]
http://www.ioj.co.uk/documents/Journal10.pdf
BJP – Crash Scene Report [Berkshire Train Crash]
http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=201186
http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=199377
Photo-Journalist ‘Hassle’ list
http://tash.gn.apc.org/journo_hassle.htm
A Right to Report?
http://media.gn.apc.org/fl/r2r.html
But onwards, with a smile!
[but with ever gritted teeth]
