We have all heard the horror stories whereby photographers have been stopped, accused of being terrorists, accused of taking photographs of protected subjects and other such offences, of being told to delete images etc….. There does not seem to be a general awareness of photography and the Law from Police officers.
However, things may be changing, the Metropolitan Police have published guidelines for it’s officers – and hopefully other forces will follow.
The guidelines can be found here : http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm
Feel free to download and keep a copy in your camera bag for reference – but please also beware, Scottish Law differs from English Law.
We also have the following document : http://www.sirimo.co.uk/2009/05/14/uk-photographers-rights-v2/ a guide to the rights of Photographers in the UK, written by Linda Macpherson, a freelance legal consultant specialising in Media Law and Intellectual Property Law. Again feel free to download the PDF and stick a copy in your camera bag.