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Terrorism Act Affects Photographers

repost | 07.03.2005 17:20 | Repression | Terror War

Landscape photographer detained in Lancashire.

A photographer working at Heysham Port, near Lancaster, who was detained under the Terrorism Act, is urging others to be aware of new legal restrictions on photographers.

Jack Lloyd, Redeye subscriber and landscape and fine art photographer, describes arriving last Sunday (23rd Jan 05) to meet his grandmother off the Isle of Man Ferry; as he was early he began to take photographs of decaying tracks, fences and walls at the old port and train station for an exhibition he is planning. He was warned by a security guard that one area was "restricted", so moved to a different area, a train platform, from where he was subsequently removed by three men he believes were police officers.

He writes: "three fluorescent-coat wearing individuals approached me and physically frog-marched me back through the lounge having already relieved me of my coffee cup and equipment, and led me through to an internal interogation room, where I was told that under the terrorism act I had no right to silence and no right to a solicitor and that if I didn't co-operate then they had the right to detain me for a minimum of nine hours. They then took all my details (name, address, tel number, occupation, partners details and address, car details, mobile phone ID numbers, marital status, previous address, etc...) then they went through my camara and looked at the photos, then they took my car keys and searched my car.

See redeye news for full story.

repost
- Homepage: http://www.redeye.org.uk/redeye/newsdetail.asp?uvarNewsid=95

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

cops trying to impress - or actually that stupid

07.03.2005 21:34

Looking at the article on Redeye, you can see why the law is written the way it is - by having a wide definition of who the cops can grip, they can avoid loads of legal actions for wrongful arrest.

As your photographer could probably have told the cops, a serious attempt to get info to attack a site need not involve risking attracting the attention of dibble:
At the low tech end, you could walk past the site and then sketch a drawing from memory later, comparing the heights of fences to your own height for diagramming if needed.

Alternatively, the well funded terrorist could use laser rangefinders and sextants at considerable distance, or concealed cameras (pretty cheap, those).

Good luck with the complaint against these knobs.

bobby


confused

08.03.2005 08:49

I don't understand from this article why this person was arrested. Was he arrested on suspicion of terrorist offence. Does the Terrorism Act claim to take away right to silence for any offence even if not terrorist related?

Brian B


Don't give in to them

08.03.2005 15:33

The photographer should not have believed what the police told him, but should instead have insisted on being treated properly. One can of course say nothing and ask to see a solicitor. Standing up to these bods does cause one inconvenience though.

As for terrorists planning to attack Heysham, well they might be. However,  http://www.multimap.com/map/places.cgi?client=public〈=&advanced=&quicksearch=heysham+port is a good place to start and if they were to click on the "Aerial Photos" link they could probably get a useful photograph.


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