Downing Street Petition

A link to the reply from the PM's office re the petition on Photography Law.

Howard

'Fence' and 'Sitting' are two of the polite words I think of when reading that.

I don't know why I bother to sign these petitions as the government don't really care what we think anyway ...

Ditto.......

did they actually read the petition? the answer doesn't seem to have a lot to do with the original query.

pah!

???.... very poor reply from the Government. The bit about:..

"Additionally, the police may require a person to move on in order to prevent a breach of the peace, to avoid a public order situation, or for the person’s own safety or welfare, or for the safety and welfare of others."

... was totally unnecessary in connection with this petition. Non of the above apply to someone merely taking a photograph.

shim

Lame
So now the police can move any photographer on under the guise of preventing a breach of the police.

This would not help our tourism industry.

This is a subject I feel very strongly about, having been accosted myself by over zealous security officers whilst taking photos on a public footpath close to my office.
There seems to be a complete lack of knowledge of the law on the part of both the police and private security officers, going by some of the stories I have read in the press.

It also appears, from the statement mentioned earlier, that one may be arrested for even arguing the point with a police officer under a breach of the peace offence. Ok, that may be a bit extreme but the attitude I have come across from some police these days is that they are to be obeyed and not questioned, even if they are in the wrong.

I just see more bad times ahead on this topic.

Breach of the peace and anti terror laws seem to be the Armour pulled out of the bag when no other piece of legislation or statute law fits. However this is widely miss used; as for a breach of the peace to occur harm has to be done or likely be done to a person or property under various circumstances. Now my camera and old zenit lenses my be heavy, but I do not think they are liable to cause damage to property whilst sat on a tripod! and I am not going to assault any one with it or cause a riot.Unless there is a big anti-pentax assembly with a vendetta nearby and they take a dislike to a pentax user . Also do they really think the next terror attack will be plotted by a DSLR wielding person in broad daylight when Google earth and mobile phones are a little more discrete or maybe we are all double bluffing!

Sorry did some one strike a cord

I think the petition was very unwise. Never ask authority for "clarification" of our rights, they will then start to look into it and we won't like the answer.

It would have been better to let them try to go to court every time and after the cases were thrown out the message would have got across. Especially after a few compensation payouts.

I was discussing this on another photography forum yesterday, and below is pretty much what I said there;

The first thing is that photographers don't have any more or less right to do anything than anybody else, and I think that's all the government response is saying.

The thing that needs to happen is that Police/PCSO's/Private Security Guards are educated in photographers rights. Some of them mistakenly believe taking photographs is a crime. The practice advice for the police produced by the National Police Improvement Agency link is an attempt to do that.

Unfortunately, due to terrorist attrocities we live in a country where stop and/or search is allowed, and many argue is necessary, but again, educate yourself as to what the police/pcso's are allowed to do in such circumstances, and you'll be fine. You should not be inconvenienced for more than a few minutes.

There is some very helpful advice on the Metropolitan Police website around stop and search link. It sets out clearly what should happen, and what information you are required to give the officer/pcso. It is surprisingly little, unless you are going to be reported for an offence, in which case you have already probably done something wrong in the eyes of the law, and will have been told what that is. Yes, this could include a breach of the peace if your presence is inflaming a situation for example. The law is the same all over England and Wales (Scotland is different), but the Met Police do the most stops and searches and the information is good for everywhere else.

In some cases of course, ie taking pictures of military establishments/prisons/other sensitive sites where photography is prohibited, it is a crime, and nothing is going to change that.

I don't think many people are going to fall foul of the law doing what most of us do on here though.

It's not a Police state we live in, far from it.

The Goverments response is clearly a copout!

Anyway, dont blame me as I voted for the other guys