Labour Member of Parliament Austin Mitchell, a photographer himself, has tabled an early day motion supporting the rights of people who take pictures in public places.
You may remember back in 2005, at the Labour Conference in Brighton, an over-zealous police officer deleted photographs from Austin Mitchell’s camera memory card.
If MPs face this kind of harrassment at their own party conference, what hope for the rest of us?
Here’s what happened when filmmaker Rajesh Thind took some shots on a London Street:
I have blogged on exactly the same issue today, following an unsavoury incident when I too was detained in a police car simply for taking photographs.
I trust that all photographers will do something to back Mr. Mitchell’s campaign
Comment by Curly — Monday 14 April 2008 @ 10:20 am
The police must be alienating tens of thousands of people each year by doing this. Many will end up feeling aggrieved for a long time.
They should balance the very great harm they are doing, with the likelihood of finding some indecent images on the photographer’s camera.
Personally I avoid getting children in shot at all if I can, but with wide views of places and events that isn’t always possible.
A friend in Manchester who is suffering harrassment from his neighbours went to the police recently. He suggested that he might fit a CCTV camera in his window to capture evidence. The police warned him against this as it might mean he would record (extreme wide-angle) footage of any children who happened to walk past. He left the police station feeling that, instead of being the victim of very bad harrassment, he was actually a potential paedophile suspect.
Comment by gary — Monday 14 April 2008 @ 11:27 am
Shocking behaviour by the jobsworth street warden who obviously doesn’t know what is legal and what isn’t.
Comment by Aniseed — Sunday 22 June 2008 @ 12:58 am