[Infowarrior] - UK police U-turn on photographers and anti-terror laws

[Richard Forno]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-uturn-on-photographers-and-antiterror-laws-1834626.html

December 5, 2009
Police U-turn on photographers and anti-terror laws
By Jerome Taylor and Mark Hughes

Don't use anti-terror laws to prevent pictures being taken, officers  
told
Police forces across the country have been warned to stop using anti- 
terror laws to question and search innocent photographers after The  
Independent forced senior officers to admit that the controversial  
legislation is being widely misused.

The strongly worded warning was circulated by the Association of Chief  
Police Officers (Acpo) last night. In an email sent to the chief  
constables of England and Wales's 43 police forces, officers were  
advised that Section 44 powers should not be used unnecessarily  
against photographers. The message says: "Officers and community  
support officers are reminded that we should not be stopping and  
searching people for taking photos. Unnecessarily restricting  
photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional, is  
unacceptable."

Chief Constable Andy Trotter, chairman of Acpo's media advisory group,  
took the decision to send the warning after growing criticism of the  
police's treatment of photographers.

Writing in today's Independent, he says: "Everyone... has a right to  
take photographs and film in public places. Taking photographs... is  
not normally cause for suspicion and there are no powers prohibiting  
the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place."

He added: "We need to make sure that our officers and Police Community  
Support Officers [PCSOs] are not unnecessarily targeting photographers  
just because they are going about their business. The last thing in  
the world we want to do is give photographers a hard time or alienate  
the public. We need the public to help us.

"Photographers should be left alone to get on with what they are  
doing. If an officer is suspicious of them for some reason they can  
just go up to them and have a chat with them - use old-fashioned  
policing skills to be frank - rather than using these powers, which we  
don't want to over-use at all."

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act allows the police to stop and search  
anyone they want, without need for suspicion, in a designated area.  
The exact locations of many of these areas are kept secret from the  
public, but are thought to include every railway station in and well- 
known tourist landmarks thought to be at risk of terrorist attacks.

Many photographers have complained that officers are stopping them in  
the mistaken belief that the legislation prohibits photographs in  
those areas. Forces who use Section 44, most commonly London's  
Metropolitan Police, have repeatedly briefed and guided frontline  
officers on how to use the powers without offending the public.

But privately senior officers are "exasperated, depressed and  
embarrassed" by the actions of junior officers and, particularly,  
PCSOs who routinely misuse the legislation. One source said that an  
"internal urban myth" had built up around police officers who believe  
that photography in Section 44 areas is not allowed.

The aberrations have resulted in nearly 100 complaints to the police  
watchdog. Since April 2008 every complaint made by a member of the  
public about the use of Section 44 powers, unlike other complaints,  
must be forwarded to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. In  
the past 18 months there have been 94 complaints. Eight of these  
specifically mentioned the fact that the issue arose around  
photography. Acpo's communiqué has been welcomed by rank-and-file  
police officers and photographers alike.

Simon Reed, the chairman of the Police Federation, which represents  
England and Wales's 140,000 rank-and-file officers, said: "I think  
some new guidance will be welcome."

New orders: The message to officers

This is the message circulated by Andy Trotter, of the Association of  
Chief Police Officers, to police forces in England and Wales.

"Officers and PCSOs are reminded that we should not be stopping and  
searching people for taking photos.

"There are very clear rules around how stop-and-search powers can be  
used. However, there are no powers prohibiting the taking of  
photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore  
members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so.

"We need to co-operate with the media and amateur photographers. They  
play a vital role as their images help us identify criminals.

"We must acknowledge that citizen journalism is a feature of modern  
life and police officers are now photographed and filmed more than ever.

"However, unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the  
casual tourist or professional is unacceptable and worse still, it  
undermines public confidence in the police service."

A personal viewpoint: 'I was reminded why I left the police'

I spent 27 years as a PC in the Met, but it was during a trip to my  
old police station with a friend late last year that I was starkly  
reminded why I eventually decided to leave.

Since 2003 I have been living in France, where I coach a children's  
rugby team not far from Toulouse. But last December my sister needed  
to see a specialist in Harley Street so I went with her and a rugby  
friend of mine back to London for the week.

While my sister went to the doctors I suggested to my friend, Will,  
that we should go and take a look at Albany Street police station near  
Regent's Park, which was where I spent my first eight years as a copper.

It's the kind of station that looks like something out of Dixon of  
Dock Green, it has a lovely little blue police light outside the  
entrance and I asked Will whether he'd take a picture of me standing  
underneath it. Within seconds we found ourselves approached by two  
PCSOs who told us that we were not allowed to take photographs of  
police stations.

I didn't want to be a sad old git by telling stories of my past and  
the nostalgia I felt for the place. So instead I said: "We're  
tourists. We want a picture of that Blue lamp, it's iconic and it  
represents London bobbies." But they didn't want any of it and ordered  
us to stop taking photographs. The second PCSO started asking Will for  
his details which he began to give before I informed him that he was  
under no obligation to do so.

I'd clearly failed what the police call "the attitude test" because  
they radioed for back-up from inside the police station and we were  
soon joined by a police constable. Often during my time as a policeman  
I would hear this policy. If someone was bolshy, argumentative or  
challenging in any manner, refusing to play by the police rules and  
not willing to show deference, then they had failed the "attitude test".

I guess I hoped the PC would show more common sense but he repeated  
the same line, that the police station was in a "sensitive zone" and  
that we had to stop taking photographs. Eventually we gave up and  
walked away.