Careful if taking photos of public buildings in Sussex

[shingle]

Or just dont be a dick and tell the police why you're taking them?

He's not being a dick, why should he give his name when he's not doing anything wrong, only to end up on a police data base. This is just another case of police/security guards using section 43 to harass an ordinary photographer going about his business, f**king makes my blood boil. I am a pro photographer and encounter these idiots on a weekly basis.

 

[happypig]

Oh FFS! Does it really matter. Somebody was taking photos of an official building and got asked what he was doing. All he had to do was say I'm from the BBC doing whatever it was he was doing, and that would have been it. Complete non story.

Of course it matters.
Whilst the off-duty civilian employee had every right to ask him who he was and what he was doing, he had every right to tell her to mind her own business. The police who got involved should have know how section 43 should be applied with regard to "reasonable grounds to suspect".

 

[shingle]

And what if he didn't work for the BBC, what if it was one of us taking photos of the Town Hall because we like taking photos? What evidence was there that he was a terrorist?

this with bells on

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Oh FFS! Does it really matter. Somebody was taking photos of an official building and got asked what he was doing. All he had to do was say I'm from the BBC doing whatever it was he was doing, and that would have been it. Complete non story.

There are very good reasons why "being from the BBC" (or whatever) shouldn't mean that you run the risk of arrest and having your expensive camera equipment confiscated. Particularly when the process is initiated by someone who has no power whatsoever to question the individual.

And one further, albeit minor point, does anybody really imagine that a terrorist would use the sort of equipment that a professional photographer lugs around when going about his business?

 

[shingle]

It wasn't "the Police" who intervened to question Eddie Mitchell about the work that he was doing at Hove Town Hall. It was an off-duty civilian employee, who flashed an ID badge at him and, when he refused to answer her question, called for "back up".

Civilian police employees have no right to act like that and Eddie Mitchell was quite right to refuse her demand for information. There are clear guidelines about the rights of photographers that have been published by ACPO and the action of Sussex Police in this instance was in breach of those guidelines.

This again with bells on

 

[Del Boy]

This fella has a lot of bad luck / disputes...

POLICE DRONE
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11695624.Photographer_arrested_for_flying_drone/

FORMER POLICEMAN
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/6811269.No_case_over_car_incidents/

PARKING WARDENS
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5127228.Bizarre_parking_loophole/

COUNCIL TAX
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5126688.Tax_blunder_raises_security_alarm/

TESCO
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/954144._Farce__as_Tesco_store_ignores_rules/

COUNCIL BINS
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/6812481.Angry_residents_don_t_want_wheelie_bins/

 

[BBassic]

If only flash mobs were still a thing. A nice flash mob of photographers outside Hove Town Hall would be a laugh.

 

[Chinman3000]

He's not being a dick, why should he give his name when he's not doing anything wrong, only to end up on a police data base. This is just another case of police/security guards using section 43 to harass an ordinary photographer going about his business, f**king makes my blood boil. I am a pro photographer and encounter these idiots on a weekly basis.

The police and security services in the country are our front line against the very real threat of terrorism we face daily and if some 2 bob jurno gets his nose put out of joint so they can do that, I couldnt give a shit.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Or just dont be a dick and tell the police why you're taking them?

This.
I stopped reading the link when that was mentioned.

 

[shingle]

Yeah, well I could. You'd soon change your tune if you were regularly harassed when going about your business for no good reason other than security guards/ police using the old chestnut of 'section 43'

and as LB says 'does anybody really imagine that a terrorist would use the sort of equipment that a professional photographer lugs around when going about his business'

 

[shingle]

If anyone's got a couple of minutes spare. I give you the legendary you tube video of an amateur photographer being hassled by security at the Golden Wonder factory in Scunthorpe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjTBYdJwQ4I it's a classic

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The police and security services in the country are our front line against the very real threat of terrorism we face daily and if some 2 bob jurno gets his nose put out of joint so they can do that, I couldnt give a shit.

It wasn't the police, it was a civilian police worker.

 

[shingle]

Or on a more serious note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJH9F7Hcluo

 

[Brok]

The police and security services in the country are our front line against the very real threat of terrorism we face daily and if some 2 bob jurno gets his nose put out of joint so they can do that, I couldnt give a shit.

This. Sums it up perfectly.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

This fella has a lot of bad luck / disputes...FORMER POLICEMAN
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/6811269.No_case_over_car_incidents/

Blimey! That takes me back. Anne de Vecchi wasn't just getting into spats with Eddie Mitchell. She was at the centre of the harassment that Lewes District Council was directing at Lady Bracknell over the poster that Lady B had designed as part of the Falmer Stadium campaign. It took the best part of a year for the police to back down over that. It came as no surprise to me that the police took no action when Eddie Mitchell was assaulted when he was covering the story.

 

[The Oldman]

Blimey! That takes me back. Anne de Vecchi wasn't just getting into spats with Eddie Mitchell. She was at the centre of the harassment that Lewes District Council was directing at Lady Bracknell over the poster that Lady B had designed as part of the Falmer Stadium campaign. It took the best part of a year for the police to back down over that. It came as no surprise to me that the police took no action when Eddie Mitchell was assaulted when he was covering the story.

Those were the days. You Bracknells have a lot to answer for!!! Thank you.

 

[Chinman3000]

It wasn't the police, it was a civilian police worker.

If we're being pedantic, I never actually said it was

 

[Whitechapel]

Who are the terrorists?

View attachment 85043

Are you claiming the people knocking down the old Civic Centre in Shoreham are terrosits?

 

[Lady Bracknell]

The police and security services in the country are our front line against the very real threat of terrorism we face daily and if some 2 bob jurno gets his nose put out of joint so they can do that, I couldnt give a shit.

So, you think it is just fine when a '2 bob journo' can't go about his business without being harassed. How about the next stage down the line when you discover that you've got no right to move around innocently without heavy-handed police intervention? Because that's what's going to happen if this sort of thing goes unchallenged.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Or on a more serious note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJH9F7Hcluo

The police officers who appear in this video understand the law perfectly. There is no case for stopping photography from a public street and, provided there is no suspicion of wrongdoing, the police have no right to demand information about why the photographs are being taken.