An interesting short film about the legality of taking photographs on the streets in the UK. There’s a nice interaction between the photographer and a couple of Police Community Support Officers in Central London.
For those who are unfimilar with CSO’s, these are not Police Officers, though they are uniformed personnel working with the police in England and Wales. Their function it seems is:
‘…to provide a visible and reassuring presence on the streets and tackling the menace of anti-social behaviour.’
You can draw your own conclusions on that!
NB The bit about having to ask for permission before taking photographs in Railway Stations is somewhat misleading as you don’t have to have prior permission – not at the moment anyway
Link to a letter written by Home Office Minister Tony McNaulty confirming that there are no legal restrictions on taking photographs in public places:
Here’s a link to a recent Guardian article about terrorist not bothering to photograph their ‘targets’.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/05/news.terrorism
Duration : 0:6:9
Tags: Civil, Community, Liberties, London, Metropolitan, Officers, on, Oxford, photography, police, street, Support, Terror, war
25 Responses to “‘Authority’ paranoia over photography in London”
I’m not a …
I’m not a criminologist but I’d have thought better rehabilitation of offenders might be a good place to start. If you look at the systems in Denmark and Sweden that’s where they put a lot of effort. Most of the people we send to prison reoffend most of the people they send don’t.
give me areas where …
give me areas where it could be spent more effectivly.
Haven’t we people …
Haven’t we people been warned? Like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley did? What path, what way are we going now?
But its not much of …
But its not much of a success rate considering the billions spent on the CCTV systems which could be spent far more effectively.
Savour the taste of …
Savour the taste of the big dick of the law, citizen.
Man, SUCKS to be …
Man, SUCKS to be you.
hahahaa are you …
hahahaa are you serious
what idiots
what a tosser, that …
what a tosser, that pcso was very aggressive and has no people skills what so ever. I’d like to see him try that up here in liverpool, he’d have got his face smashed in…..haha.
Keep it up …
Keep it up boys.Those officers were idiots.
x
The two guys in the …
The two guys in the film were Community Support Officers not police officers, and it looks as though the power has gone to their heads a bit
This apparent …
This apparent officer is a cunt, hes not even british! He should off to where he came from, now.
you are right it is …
you are right it is a deep issue, i try to ignore it though, because ever since a young age i have had family members constantly predicting the dark gloomy future where we will be living in a 1984″ society, of course this really gave me no motivation to achieve anything in my life full knowing that i either have to become a “freedom” fighter and constantly harass people what the truth is or just become another drone.
“I don’t blame”
…
“I don’t blame”
You don’t blame? That’s nice. Or:
“I don’t blame i”
You don’t blame you? What?
The thing is, if you’re unable to appreciate the extent of these issues and why they’re important, you’re making it that much easier for the rest of us to find ourselves without the basic rights and freedoms of man. Your apathy, your ignorance, is as much a threat to society as those that would exploit it because apathy and ignorance are all too easy to exploit.
I don’t blame i …
I don’t blame i would get off if i was being filmed by someone who was going to put on youtube, and loads of were going to leave abusive messages.
So you think that …
So you think that CSOs (who aren’t police) should continue to stop people who are doing no wrong, just as a visual deterent for terrorists?
To all of you who …
To all of you who voted Labour in 1997 and 2001(?), well done. I hope that you are proud of yourselves.
We now live in a police state. A state were the police pick on those who would otherwise be law abiding citizens, whilst ignoring the sort of ferral scum who cause 99% of the crime, just because the otherwise law abiding citizens are easier pickings.
And the police wonder why they have so little support of the good people in this country.
FFS, this is just another form of communism.
Hi snipboy, There …
Hi snipboy, There is a recently introduced restriction on the use of tripods in NYC, though this seems to be aimed more at film crews or commercial photo shots not individual photographers. Google for “New York City Tripod Permit” and you’ll find the legislation – that’s all I can find.
Hi kalorius,
In …
Hi kalorius,
In the UK you have no general right to privacy and taking a photograph of someone in a public place would not normally be considered an invasion of privacy. However if the picture was used commercially, for example in an advertisement, without the photographer getting a model release, then the person could bring a civil legal action against the photographer.
Hi storinge,
I …
Hi storinge,
I totally agree with you especially your point about ID cards. If they are introduce you can see that every jumped up jobs worth will demand to see one.
Hi snipboy, Do you …
Hi snipboy, Do you have a reference or link to this legislation that I can look at?
Thanks,
Peter
A very good film.
…
A very good film.
Thanks for making it!
What if someone …
What if someone takes a photo of you without your permission?
You cannot take …
You cannot take photographs or motion picture in new york city without permission. This is law.
Conditioned, no. …
Conditioned, no. You said it yourself it has solved a few high profile cases, so that means without those camrers the cases would never have been solved. You talk alot of shit
It’s interesting to …
It’s interesting to note that the Community Support Officer goes wading in without actually knowing what the law is. This is why it’s better to have more ‘real’ police officers, rather than poorly trained Support Officers. It’s also interesting to note that the CSO demands to see some ID. This shows why compulsory ID cards are not a good idea.