S44 is dead - or is it?
11th July 2010
In: Occasional Blogs
The new Home Secretary, Teresa May, announced in the House of Commons that the use of S44 of the Anti-Terrorism Bill is suspended except in relation to motor vehicles. This should mean that photographers should no longer be hassled by officious police officers or PCSOs.
However,....... S43 still remains in place. This requires "reasonable suspicion" on the part of the officer doing the stop that the person stopped is doing something related to terrorism. Like taking a reconnaisance photograph perhaps? The only bright spark here is that the stop will, if challenged later, have to be justified in Court.
Excuse my cynicism, but apart from the fact that most police forces will I assume not bother to inform their plods on the ground, we'll still get harassed under S43 - it's already happened to one young photojournalist.
And what about Project Griffin, the City of London suspicious activity initiative involving building security guards?
Oh well, we wait, we see!
However,....... S43 still remains in place. This requires "reasonable suspicion" on the part of the officer doing the stop that the person stopped is doing something related to terrorism. Like taking a reconnaisance photograph perhaps? The only bright spark here is that the stop will, if challenged later, have to be justified in Court.
Excuse my cynicism, but apart from the fact that most police forces will I assume not bother to inform their plods on the ground, we'll still get harassed under S43 - it's already happened to one young photojournalist.
And what about Project Griffin, the City of London suspicious activity initiative involving building security guards?
Oh well, we wait, we see!
