With all of the recent and persistent headlines concerning the violation of photographers’ rights all over the world comes another story of an infringed photographer’s rights out in London.
After capturing some photographs of a police car and a police van collision, a local photographer was confronted by police officers and told to quit taking pictures and leave the scene immediately. When approached, the man was on a public street, bringing to the light the fact that he was not interfering with police operations and in the legal realm of the law.
The photographer, who did not want his name released, stated that it was evident that the law enforcement officers did not want what happened, a police error on their part, to be released to the public. The man left the scene for a moment to grab another camera.
Upon returning to the scene, the same officer, who approached the man primarily, told the photographer again to stop taking photos. Another office chimed in and stated, “I could seize your camera as part of evidence to be used in the crash investigation.”
An interview with Amateur Photographer (AP) and the photographer himself revealed the aggressive force one officer took with him. AP made it a point, in turn, to contact the Metropolitan Police immediately.
The Metropolitan Police, on the recognizance of their officers’ misuse of power, has apologized to the photographer and released a statement:
We will ensure that a message goes out to our officers. Aside from having regard to the privacy of people possibly injured in accidents, police should not be advising bystanders not to take photos. Police have some restricted powers to request or seize photographs as evidence, or to investigate regarding offences under anti-terrorism legislation, but neither of these would have been appropriate on this occasion. Our apologies to your reader if they were inconvenienced.
Although the officer became hostile toward the photographer, he has decided not to press any complaints toward the police department – an apology is sufficient enough.
Via: Amateur Photographer
