An image taken by the student when he was stopped by plain-clothes officers
Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 was an ongoing problem for photographers and journalists using mobile phones who would find themselves stopped, searched, and sometimes arrested by police. After ongoing pressure and a judgement in the European Court of Human Rights, the section was finally suspended last July.
Now Amateur Photographer reports on the Metropolitan Police defending officers’ decision to stop and search a student for merely taking photographs near a school (the image above was being taken when he was approached by police). The search was done under Section 43, which “can only be enforced if a police officer ‘reasonably suspects’ a person to be a terrorist.”
Meanwhile, police are seeking new powers to replace those given under Section 44.
If you use mobile technology in your journalism, it’s worth keeping the stop and search bust card about you.
Online Journalism Blog 