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Society chief: Police should not delete press pics

Society of Editors boss Bob Satchwell has hit out at police after a freelance photographer was forced to delete images from her camera.

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

Now Bob has said he will raise his concerns about the issue when he meets the Association of Chief Police Officers next week.

The National Union of Journalists has already thrown its weight behind Carmen, saying the police should not abuse the law.

Bob said: “It is outrageous that the message from government ministers and the Association of Chief Police Officers itself is not getting through to officers on the streets.

“It’s not for them to tell the media what they can and cannot photograph and it must be stopped.

“I’m confident that Andy Trotter, Chairman of the ACPO Media Advisory Group, will take this on board when I meet him next week.”

It is understood Carmen identified herself as a press photographer at the scene of the shooting but a police sergeant asked her to hand over her camera.

She protested against this but he grabbed her wrist and pulled out handcuffs, before she handed her camera over.

The officer returned five minutes later, asking Carmen to show him the images and delete them.

A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman told HTFP earlier this week Hackney Police were aware of the incident and were looking into the circumstances.

Comments

Paul (06/08/2010 11:06:13)
Good to see police treating us all as guilty until proven innocent. Deleting the photos almost sounds akin to criminal damage.