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Police forces to get reminder on dealing with media

Police forces across the country will be reminded they have no power to delete press photographer images without a court order – following an incident which took place last month.

Freelance photographer Carmen Valino was taking photos at the scene of a shooting in London for the Hackney Gazette when she was threatened with arrest and forced to delete pictures.

Society of Editors boss Bob Satchwell raised his concerns about the issue at a pre-arranged meeting with Andy Trotter, chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ media advisory group.

And it was agreed all police forces would be sent reminders of the guidance to try to prevent future incidents.

Bob said: “I was confident that Andy Trotter would understand the position and what he said was that he was just as concerned as we are that these things still seem to happen from time to time.

“He is putting out a reminder about the guidelines to all police forces and basically he says that he agrees that if a photographer is ever stopped by any police officer they should challenge them and say ‘On what grounds are you asking for my camera?’

“I think there will still be the odd one that happens now and then. It is important that journalists, if ever faced with a situation like that, should not be brow-beaten but just ask on what ground they are doing it.

“It was a very positive meeting. Neither of us want police officers trying to use powers which don’t exist.”

Guidance from the ACPO says once images are recorded, officers have no power to delete or confiscate them without a court order.

The National Union of Journalists also backed Carmen following the incident and said police officers should not abuse the law.

Comments

septic (17/08/2010 11:47:07)
Judging by the non-reporting of crime in most local papers there is hardly any crime at all in Britain.
Amazing how the cops press offices have managed to snuff out local news sources and sanitise the stuff that does get out.
Shortage of reporters on just about every paper in the country doesn’t help combat this central control.
But well done Satchwell.

Kevin Duffy (17/08/2010 12:30:15)
This is excellent news and thanks to Bob. Have a look at the guidance given to Met police officers at this link:
http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm
Key points include:
1 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.
2 Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search. Deletion or destruction may only take place following seizure if there is a lawful power (such as a court order) that permits such deletion or destruction.