Photographer films his own wrongful arrest

Dylan has written before about the absurd use of anti-terror powers to interfere with the activities of photographers (and I was interviewed on the subject before Christmas) which has led to a number of protests. The Guardian had a further piece on this front over the weekend, and the story there is complete with footage of the (unsurprisingly unimpressive, self-important, overbearing) police behaviour in stopping a law-abiding amateur photographer doing precisely nothing wrong. The page is also adorned with footage from other such photographer-bothering incidents.

We want to trust the police. We all want to feel that the police are on our side, on the side of law-abiding people and against criminals. Increasingly, polling - and the experiences we all have from day to day - show that the public does not feel like that. For my part, I increasingly feel that they pursue a political agenda and persecute normal people in order to meet objectively unimportant targets. Stories like this one reinforce that.

Take a look at the footage and read the account given by the - well, it's not going too far to say the "victims", is it? You can plainly see that the officers had to think for a while before drafting in a more senior officer who came up with the idea of using powers against "antisocial" behaviour to coerce the photographers to give their names (really nothing more than a cheap way around ruling against stop and search without just cause). When one quite rightly refused, he got to spend eight hours in custody - for no proper reason.

This is why the fight being fought by photographers, whilst important for freedom in and of itself, also has much wider implications for all of us in our relationship with the state. Because what this really adds up to is, "I don't like you, sunshine - you think you can assert your rights and walk away from me without justifying yourself to me - well, you can't."

I don't want to live in a country in which a policeman can stop you in the street and demand "your papers" without due cause.

Do you?

By Alex Deane

Comments

[Sandy Stone]

'Trust me I am a Policeman' has a very hollow ring. I think we have to accept the fact that there are not many 'Good cops' but there are plenty of 'Bad Cops' The 'Good Cops ' are leaving the force because they are sick of the corruption within...So, what will we be left with? I left England long ago for the very problems you now describe on this forum Alex. I am sad that England is no more.

[LeChiffre]

Britain is broken. Time to get out.

[Lee]

" . . . I was interviewed on the subject before Christmas, which has led to a number of protests."

I wouldn't say your interview was that bad.

[Lee]

" . . . We all want to feel that the police is on our side . . . "

Who rights this stuff !?

: )

[Alex Deane]

Oopsie.

[Lee]

I am a photographer / videographer and amongst those of us who engage in street photography there is an understanding that you need to be aware of the dangers of shooting in public, which is almost entirely the threat of having your gear stolen - perhaps not a concern for someone taking snaps on their phone, but when hauling two or three grands worth of bodies and lenses around in your back pack something to remain alive to. (I once had someone literally run by and attempt to wrench a video camera out of my hands).

I can say without a shadow of doubt, that this has changed in the last few years (maybe as few as 4 or 5 years) - I was recently shooting with a good friend and we had not discussed the issue at all, but as soon as he spotted a couple of PCSOs in the far distance he quipped "watch out here comes trouble." - we both packed up our gear and disappeared.

Like I say this is not something we had previously ever discussed, but innately knew to move on rather than be 'caught' by the PCSOs and become embroiled in an hour long 'fishing exercise'. Discussing this we agreed that it is no longer the (very) rare opportunist thief who you need to keep most vigilante for, but being detained by PCSOs, police officers, council enforcement officers (etc) engorged on profoundly authoritarian legislation.

My own experiences of these people are mixed, many are perfectly polite, reasonable and simply enquire as to what I am up to before allowing me to get on with my day - but increasingly I find the aggressive, camera grabbing, 'in your face' sort to be becoming more commonplace.

I also agreed with my friend on a fair few other points, carrying a tripod was a complete 'no-no' and any attempts to assert your rights, as far as you are aware of them, is pretty much the quickest route to the back of the van.

These days I keep my camera out of sight in a shoulder bag and not a camera bag, I never take a tripod with me and can be packed up and gone within a few seconds if I spot trouble.

[Alex Deane]

That is so depressing, Lee... completely understood, but very depressing indeed.

[Purlieu]

I'm tempted to go down the middle of Nottingham on saturday with just a tripod.

[Lest we forget]

as Adolph Eichmann waited in his cell just before he was about to be hung a prison guard asked him how was it possible for so many Jews to be rounded up shortly before Germany surrendered Eichmann replied "we could not have rounded up so many Jews if it were not for the help of the POLICE!!"

[Catch22]

Lee, i am in total agreement with you.

Unfortunately, changing your behavour to a more covert one will only make you more of a target, think of the heart rate of a PCSO, he/she sees you in the distant and notices you making your escape, omg, that guy with the camera, as soon as he saw me he packed up and tried to evade me, he must be up to no good.

[Redacted]

A common fantasy of police officers is of themselves as members of some sort of paramilitary gendarmerie, and those who have this fantasy will gladly grasp any opportunity to act it out. This was ever true and ever will be I suppose. It becomes a problem when there is a goverment that condones and encourages them.

This sort of police action penalises the innocent majority, for the actions of a very tiny minority. That's how the concentration camps were run, incidentally.