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Friday 27 May 2011

Another case of a photographer being mistreated by 'officials'

The British Journal of Photography report an interesting case.
'"Last night I had the “pleasure” of being detained against my will not by the police but by Rail Enforcement Officers who operate on the South Eastern rail services. What did I do wrong? I took a picture of these Rail Enforcement Officers and when they asked me to see and then remove the pictures from my phone I refused."
With these words, Olly, a blogger for the You've Been Cromwelled blog, starts the account of another abuse of power by rail staffers, who questionned Olly's motives for taking photos of them. "While he was asking me these questions his colleague came to join him and he too was asking me similar questions. Each time I told them they had no authority over me, and that I hadn’t committed any crime, nor was I unruly, and I had a perfectly legitimate ticket which entitled me to be on the train. The younger of the two officers explained he had seen me taking pictures of them on the platform and they had the right to see those pictures because of their safety. I refused. The older one then said they did have the authority to do so because of the terrorism act. I asked which terrorism act and why were they enforcing that act if they were not police officers? They informed us they did have those powers."
After being detaine for 30 minutes, British Police officers showed up, confirming that Olly had done anything wrong and should not have been detained.'
I know the tale is from last year but it is one that I was not previously aware of.

1 comment:

Grant said...

"Rail Enforcement Officers" sends a chill down my spine.
Even "Traffic Wardens" look like Gestapo these days.
The UK is truly doomed.