Police Crackdown on London Photographers

Kind of like the dreaded "africanized" bees that have been threatening to swarm homicidally over the US any decade now, I'm concerned that UK cops have been getting "americanized". The image of the mild-mannered police who actually walk around and talk to people, neighborly-like, is largely being replaced by that of militarized guys covered with gear and weapons and carrying a chip on the shoulder. Everybody wants to be a hard-ass I guess. The power-grab masquerading as protection from terror has made things a lot worse. There have been disturbing reports of photographers getting hassled. Yes, section 44 of the Terrorism Act sucks, but a few police are acting like it invests them with powers far beyond the letter of that law. Watch this video if you want to be depressed by an example.

To the credit of the police, the Met actually publishes a useful sheet on advice to photographers. It would be great if the police in the streets actually read this as well. A few key quotes that not all of them seem to be up on:

Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.

The Terrorism Act 2000 does not prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place.

Officers have the power to view digital images contained in mobile telephones or cameras carried by a person searched under S44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, provided that the viewing is to determine whether the images contained in the camera or mobile telephone are of a kind, which could be used in connection with terrorism.

Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search.