Careful if taking photos of public buildings in Sussex

[happypig]

Police take a rather heavy handed approach and the Chief Constable defends them.

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/...error-law-for-taking-photo-of-hove-town-hall/

 

[BBassic]

Mental. Bloke doesn't even have a big beard for a start.

 

[Chinman3000]

Police take a rather heavy handed approach and the Chief Constable defends them.

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/...error-law-for-taking-photo-of-hove-town-hall/

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

 

[Official Old Man]

Sorry, with the Police on this.
A simple "I'm with the BBC and taking photos because....." would be the end of it. Instead he refused to give any details, as is his right, and the coppers needed to find out who he was.
Quote “If the man had identified himself, then the matter could have been resolved in minutes.” “Almost everyone in Sussex Police knows Eddie." So again, tell them who you are and the would verify it in seconds.
Keep up the good work protecting us from a terror attack, you have my support.

 

[BBassic]

Sorry, with the Police on this.
A simple "I'm with the BBC and taking photos because....." would be the end of it. Instead he refused to give any details, as is his right, and the coppers needed to find out who he was.
Quote “If the man had identified himself, then the matter could have been resolved in minutes.”
Keep up the good work protecting us from a terror attack.

Following this line of thinking to a possibly slightly illogical conclusion: do we really want to have police spending their time questioning 30 Chinese tourists about why they're taking photos of the Pavilion?

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

Thank goodness for that. I thought the EPL & EFL had found another source of income to protect.

 

[pasty]

Cameraman is an arse. Simple.

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

Cameraman is an arse. Simple.

Agree with this - he doesn't use capitals for his name on twitter along with the attitude of his colleagues that surely the Police knew who he was, he works for the BBC for goodness sake

 

[Triggaaar]

Sorry, with the Police on this.
A simple "I'm with the BBC and taking photos because....." would be the end of it.

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?

 

[Official Old Man]

Following this line of thinking to a possibly slightly illogical conclusion: do we really want to have police spending their time questioning 30 Chinese tourists about why they're taking photos of the Pavilion?

They're French and there are 100's of them so it could take a while. No, had he simply explained himself he would have been allowed to carry on.

 

[Collingburnian]

Ask the Police Officer to state what reasonable grounds he has to suspect that one is a terrorist

 

[timco]

TBF Eddie has a history of run ins with the constabulary last time it was his drone they crash landed!

 

[studio150]

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?

So if like previous occasions and the victory parade ends up at Hove Town Hall, and there are 1000s of Albion fans taking photos and videos of Hove Town Hall are we all terrorists according to the Police threshold?

I suspect they will shortly start placing officers next to the i360 and every time the pod comes down and the visitors exit they will all be arrested for taking photos of Brighton and Hove that could be used by a terrorist group.

So it seems we now have a very low threshold for the Police to believe someone may be a tourist, taking a photo of a public building.

Train spotters beware not only will you be arrested for taking photos and videos of trains, but that notebook detailing the time location and train details is a goldmine for terrorists and you will be locked up.

It's virtually coming to the stage where if a Police Officer doesn't like your look, then you will be arrested as the Police Officer believes that just by walking in the street you may be collecting terrorist information.

Isn't this type of action one that we would condemn if a UK citizen was arrested abroad while taking holiday snaps.

Sleep walking into a dictatorship in the UK.

 

[BNthree]

The Google Streetview car driver better watch out if Sussex Police get hold of him!

 

[perseus]

Who are the terrorists?

View attachment CivicCentre_4246.JPG

 

[BBassic]

They're French and there are 100's of them so it could take a while. No, had he simply explained himself he would have been allowed to carry on.

I don't know why he should have to explain himself. People take photos of buildings all the time. If the police are going to be moving into this course of action with every bugger wanting a holiday snap they're going to need those £30 officers Abbott has promised.

 

[Official Old Man]

So if like previous occasions and the victory parade ends up at Hove Town Hall, and there are 1000s of Albion fans taking photos and videos of Hove Town Hall are we all terrorists according to the Police threshold?

OR
Terrorist bombs Hove Town Hall whilst 20,000 fans cheer team. CCTV shows man taking pictures to plot bomb hiding place.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

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.

 

[pasty]

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.

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.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

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.

Exactly, and a colleague of the photographer said (in the article)

'“Almost everyone in Sussex Police knows Eddie. They’ve used his photographs in official documents like annual reports – and so has the fire brigade. And he regularly helps them by sharing pictures of people who are wanted or missing."