Police photographers at the Sack Parliament protest, London, 2006 (where the police ridiculously outnumbered the handful of protesters!)
Ever since the 2005 G8 protests in Scotland (where I witnessed at first hand some quite abominable behaviour on the part of the police Forward Intelligence Teams) it has become increasingly obvious to me that this tactic (of photographing all those attending lawful protests) is being used by the police principally as a means of psychological intimidation, and thus clearly serves a political rather than a legitimate “law & order” agenda.
Interestingly, in a document prepared by Linda Macpherson LL.B., Dip.LP., LL.M., written as an informal guide to the legal rights of photographers in the UK (available at www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php ) she says:
“It is illegal to harass another person and taking photographs could amount to harassment… Harassment is esentially behaviour that causes another person alarm or distress and it refers to a course of conduct, not a single incident… If a photographer stalks a subject in order to get a photograph of them, or repeatedly thrusts a camera in someone’s face, this might be harassment.”
Now that accurately describes how I’ve witnessed the police FIT behaving on occasion. The official explanation for what their photographers do seems to be “evidence gathering”, yet surely that rests on a presupposition on their part that an offence is about to be committed?
Undoubtedly they would argue that they have “reasonable cause” to believe that an offence is about to be committed, but quite how that justifies photographing or videoing all and sundry at (for example) peaceful demonstrations and protest marches is something of a mystery to me. Is the inference therefore that they have reasonable cause to believe everyone attending such an event is about to commit an offence?
Surely this turns the long-established principle in English common law of “innocent till proven guilty” on its head? Apparently even toddlers are not exempted (see the clip below)!
The entire issue seems to me to be somewhat debatable and should really be tested in a court of law.
Meanwhile, and until such time as the legal position is satisfactorily clarified, it seems eminently fair and reasonable to me that the policing of protests and demonstrations, and the attendence thereof by the police FIT, should itself be recorded with photography and video by persons unconnected to the various police organisations.
In fact, such a task could almost be perceived as a moral duty in order to safeguard the interests of the assembled public.
[Update/edit 30th May ‘08: At last, and inevitably perhaps, such a legal challenge has indeed been mounted (see this post) and it would appear that the Court upholds in principle the photographing, by police FIT or whomever, of protesters, demonstrators, and those attending public meetings etc. In a sense this decision is perfectly understandable, and indeed reinforces the rights afforded to photographers in general to practise their craft in public places without hindrance. There is however a clear distinction between innocently photographing public assemblies and deliberately, consistently, and repeatedly targetting specific individuals, which could surely be construed as unwarranted harassment.]
As a consequence of which I decided to start investing in camera gear and focus upon these intrusive attempts on the part of the State to interfere with, and in some cases impede (by deterring otherwise interested parties from attending protests and meetings), the legitimate right to protest.
Thus I started to participate in the recently-established “fitwatch” initiative, and in fact devoted a page at Tilting at Windmills to the project.
However, as I’ve gradually amassed various material and information in the course of engaging in this particular project it has seemed to warrant a section of the website all its own. So I set up this subdomain to focus exclusively upon FIT, FitWatch, and related matters.
This site is in no way intended to be an alternative to the main fitwatch site (fitwatch.blogspot.com) but should if anything be regarded as complementary to it.
And remember, if you’re filmed by the police at a demo or protest you have the right to obtain a copy of the photographs/footage they took. A good initial approach would be to www.dataprotection.gov.uk for if you contact a police station directly they may prove less than helpful.
Having said all that, this site is not anti-police per se. Rather, it would question:
a) some of the tactics that appear to be increasingly employed by various police forces when in attendance at legitimate protests, demonstrations etc;
b) much of the legislation that has been enacted by successive governments giving the police greater powers to interfere with legitimate protests and demonstrations, which can only be seen as tools for suppressing political dissent;
c) the agenda being served by the various police forces in this country, which appears to be more politically motivated than intent upon combating activities traditionally perceived as “criminal”.
fitwatch blog
