Your Rights as a Photographer

Your Rights as a Photographer

There has been a lot of press coverage recently of incidents involving people taking pictures in public places being challenged by the police. Whilst this has been in part due to a misunderstanding of the law (on the part of the police in particular), we thought it would be helpful to summarise what your rights are and offer some advice if you should find yourself in this situation.
Police stop & search rights under the Terrorism Act:

• Every person has a right to photograph in a public place
• It is not against the law to photograph a police officer undertaking normal duties
• The police do have a duty to investigate incidents that may give rise to suspicion
• If approached by a police officer remain calm and polite
• You are not required to give any personal details unless driving a car or are arrested.
• Officers may stop and search and view images if they believe they could be used in connection with terrorism
• Officers have no powers to delete images
• PCSOs may not search without a police officer present
• You must be provided with a copy of the Stop and Search slip which will include the officer’s identity

We all need to be vigilant against terrorism and support the police where possible as well as protect our rights to photograph in a public place.