Since the original incident, I have been back and forth to Nottingham Magistrates Court over a dozen time [like 12 dates so far and we’re not there yet] . All this as they all try to get their ‘ducks-in-a-row’. I am charged with ‘Obstruction of a Constable’.
There is some discussion earlier on the background to all this, but put simply, I was taking photographs of an armed police operation, in a public place. Because the case is ongoing, [bloody hell, like for 15 months so far, with months to go 🙁 ] , I can’t tell to more about it till after the trial.
The National Union of Journalist [NUJ] , both the national organisation and the local branch, have been of much assistance to me in all this, and I want to thank them for holding my hand, through this whole laughable process. Cheers chaps.
Collected links about it all:
Photographer is arrested taking pictures of police
Press Gazette
Thursday, 6 April 2006
By Dominic Ponsford
Met sets new press guidelines
British Journal of Photography
Date: 5 April 2006
Press V the police: case adjourned
British Journal of Photography
Date: 10 May 2006
Defend the Nottingham One!
NUJ Freelance May 2006
NUJ backs photographer in press freedom case
National Union of Journalists
Journalists and police draw up new crime scene guidelines
Hold the Front Page
My terrorism act
Guardian [Friday April 28, 2006]
Guardian – Keep power and sewage plants secret, media told
Date set for photographer police ‘obstruction’ trial
Photographer faces trial for snapping police
Press Gazette
British Journal of Photography: Police guidelines adopted
Date: 30 May 2007
Guidelines designed to help improve relations between the police and press photographers will be rolled out nationwide in the next few months, but already sceptics are voicing concerns that they will have little effect.
British Journal of Photography: Watching the detectives
Date: 30 May 2007
Katie Scott, News Editor.
These links provide some of the background to my own legal adventures with Nottinghamshire Police, after agreeing these guidelines!
Nottingham photographer arrested by armed officers
Date set for photographer ‘obstruction’ trial for snapping armed police
Further to the consultation by the home office about yet more restrictions.
Home Office Consultation Papers 1
Home Office Consultation Papers 2
Government ministers and police chiefs are demanding new powers to allow the police to stop and search people in the streets if they suspect them of terrorism. These powers echo the notorious “sus laws” of the 1970s.
‘I took a picture of Tower Bridge and was arrested for terrorism’
Photographers’ vital role is being curtailed by privacy obsession
Warning: privacy law could jeopardise the iconic news pictures of the future
