{"id":2222,"date":"2017-05-05T13:59:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T13:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tashuk.wordpress.com\/?p=2222"},"modified":"2017-05-05T13:59:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-05T13:59:58","slug":"2222","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/archives\/2222","title":{"rendered":"Photographer held after taking pictures of Hove town hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Mitchell was detained by Sussex police for an hour under anti-terror laws while checks were carried out on his photographs
\nHove town hall
\nThe picture of Hove town hall that Eddie Mitchell was taking when police intervened. Photograph: Eddie Mitchell<\/p>\n

Kevin Rawlinson<\/p>\n

Thursday 4 May 2017 22.40 BST
\nLast modified on Friday 5 May 2017 00.30 BST<\/p>\n

Police have been accused of abusing their powers by a professional photographer who was detained under anti-terror laws after he was seen taking pictures of Hove town hall on Thursday. Eddie Mitchell was held for about an hour while police checked his camera.<\/p>\n

It was eventually decided that there was no reason to believe that the press photographer, who works for outlets including the BBC, was a terrorist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect wholeheartedly that the police have a job to do,\u201d Mitchell said, \u201cbut there should be clarity on people taking pictures in a public place \u2013 it is not a crime \u2026 As far as I am concerned, it is a total misuse and abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell declined to explain who he was or what he was doing to a passing member of police staff on the grounds that he was not breaking any laws. Both he and Sussex police agreed that the conversation was not antagonistic.<\/p>\n

After he followed an instruction to go to the police station to give a statement, two officers detained him under anti-terror laws. \u201cThe police didn\u2019t want to back down and neither did I. I just wanted to stand my ground,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

He was detained under section 43 of the Terrorism Act, which gives officers the power to stop and search anyone \u201che reasonably suspects to be a terrorist\u201d. Sussex police confirmed that Mitchell was approached while taking the pictures and searched under the Terrorism Act because he refused to \u201cprovide information or identification\u201d.<\/p>\n

A statement read: \u201cAs a result of the search, which included the camera equipment he was using, it was established that his activity was not suspicious and he was allowed to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chief superintendent of Sussex police, Lisa Bell, defended her officers, saying their actions were \u201ccompletely appropriate when the threat level is at severe\u201d. She added: \u201cIf the man had identified himself, then the matter could have been resolved in minutes.\u201d Mitchell claimed his identity was established quickly from his BBC pass and a credit card.<\/p>\n

Sussex police were unable to answer questions on what, specifically, about Mitchell\u2019s actions had provoked a reasonable suspicion that he was a terrorist and under what powers a member of its civilian staff had demanded an explanation and a statement from him.<\/p>\n

National Police Chiefs Council guidance states: \u201cPolice should not prevent anyone from taking photographs in public. This applies equally to members of the media and public seeking to record images, who do not need a permit to photograph or film in public places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who says he usually has a good relationship with Sussex police, has not yet decided whether or not to make a complaint. In 2014, he was arrested by another force while operating a drone professionally.<\/p>\n

The trained drone pilot, who had approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to commercially operate drones, was released, and no further action was taken against him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

via Photographer held after taking pictures of Hove town hall | UK news | The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eddie Mitchell was detained by Sussex police for an hour under anti-terror laws while checks were carried out on his photographs Hove town hall The picture of Hove town hall that Eddie Mitchell was taking when police intervened. Photograph: Eddie … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}