England fast becoming a police state.
London has more surveillance cameras than any other major metropolitan city in the world. There are probably few public places in London where you are not being watched by the network of surveillance cameras that monitor the entire city. Now the London Metropolitan police have launched a new counter-terrorism public relations campaign. Complete with anti-photography propaganda, the campaign is meant to encourage people to turn in ‘odd’ seeming people that they see taking photographs. As an avid photographer myself, I have personally been subjected to this post 9/11 police harassment of photographers. It seems the police make up laws to quote to you when they are telling you that it is illegal to photograph public places. I had a rent-a-cop come out of one federal building I was taking a snapshot of due to its architectural design and tell me that it was illegal to photograph the building. I asked him what law said I could not take a picture of a public building from a public sidewalk. He just blustered and told me it was illegal. I just walked away and ignored his demands that I erase the photos I had just taken. I have since taken to carrying a ‘photographers bill of rights’ pamphlet in my wallet that outlines my legal rights to take photos. Needless to say, there has been a tremendous backlash against this ridiculous campaign. Follow this link to some of the redesigned anti-photography posters people have been posting to Flickr and other sites.
Comments
By Pablo on March 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
You are absolutely right … I have been harrassed … a friend of mine has also been threatened and harrassed by a shaven headed thug in a flourescent yellow jacket who threatened to take her expensive camera off her even though she was standing in the street …. Steve Carroll an amateur photographer was stopped and questioned by police in Hull for taking pictures of streets and buildings … they seized his camera and processedd his film without his consent ( see bbc.co.uk website … ) it was six weeks before he got his gear back and then the police refused to apologize saying they would do it to anyone when they deemed it necessary and another person I know was harrassed for trying to photograph his disabled wife. And all he time the events were watched on surveillance cameras. The situation is quite intolerable and deeply concerning. Pablo.
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