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Tuesday 14 July 2009

The Police and photographers

I have covered the subject of Police harassment of photographers on many occasions, most recently here, so I was relieved to read this in The Register:
"The Metropolitan Police has issued guidance to its officers to remind them that using a camera in public is not in itself a terrorist offence.

...

The guidance reminds officers that the public do not need a licence to take photographs in the street and the police have no power to stop people taking pictures of anything they like, including police officers.

The over-used Terrorism Act of 2000 does not ban photography either, although it does allow police to look at images on phones or cameras during a search to see if they could be useful to a terrorist.

Section 58 of the Act covers the offence of eliciting, publishing or communicating information about any member of the armed forces, spying agencies or the police. But officers must show a reasonable suspicion that the person is involved in terrorism - it is not a blanket ban on photographing working police officers."
Finally some common sense on this subject. Now where can I get hold of this "guidance"?

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