Amateur Photographer Magazine

 Parliament debates amateur photography and terrorism - Page 1 Photographers' rights raised in House of Commons

Thursday 2nd April 2009

Chris Cheesman

Amateur Photographer magazine's campaign to defend photographers' rights reaches the dabating chamber of the House of Commons




The plight of innocent amateur photographers who continue to be stopped by police under counter-terrorism laws was debated at length in the House of Commons yesterday.

Amateur Photographer magazine's campaign to defend the rights of photographers to take picture in public places, unimpeded, was also mentioned in the House.

Conservative MP John Randall, a keen photographer, drew MPs attention to several incidents from his Uxbridge constituency, including the case of a man in his '70s who was stopped by a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) while taking pictures in Windsor.

Another involved a former member of the RAF who, said Randall, was stopped outside a shopping centre by a PCSO who ran a police check over the radio before confirming his innocence.

Andrew Pelling MP then added his own personal experience to the list of police stops when he recounted an incident in which he was stopped for taking pictures of roadworks near East Croydon station.

While Randall acknowledged the need for vigilance over terrorism, he added: 'Common sense seems to have escaped police officers - or, very often PCSOs - in some of the cases.'

Hugh Bayley, Labour MP for the City of York congratulated Randall on raising the debate. 'I strongly agree that the ability to document what happens in this country through writing and photography is a fundamental civil liberty.'

Randall supported the need for police to be issued with a photography code, as proposed by Austin Mitchell MP last year.

He also raised photographers' concerns over section 76 of the newly introduced Terrorism Act 2008 which makes it a potential offence to take a photo of a police officer.

'I understand that there is a fine balance to be struck between allowing people the right to take photographs and dealing with the other issues that we must consider… But there is a right for people to take photographs and we must ensure that it is not subsumed by hysteria and a state that has become too keen on surveillance,' said Randall.

The government acknowledged the importance of the debate, a topic which it said has attracted 'considerable interest'.

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