Photography Is Not a Crime

Following my post a few months ago about the treatment of photographers by the Metropolitan police force, there has been an increase in the number of incidents in which photographers have been stopped by the police, and in some cases, searched. The British Journal of Photography has started a campaign to assert the rights of photographers and photography in public. The following is an extract from the site www.not-a-crime.com

Police routinely invoke anti-terror legislation to prevent photographers from carrying out their work, and photojournalists are constantly filmed at public gatherings and their details kept on an ever-growing database. Tourists, particularly foreign tourists, are also targeted by police, as was the case with an Austrian father and son recently who made the mistake of photographing a building of an extremely sensitive nature—Walthamstow bus station.
Put simply, Britain has become a no-photo zone, and so if you fail to comply, you may find yourself liable to attack, arrest or harassment. Recognising that Britain is not the only country where such a draconian anti-photographer culture is developing, the British Journal of Photography is beginning an international visual campaign to raise awareness.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.