Photographing police
Hint: taking a photograph of a police officer may lead to you be arrested on trumped up charges or bashed. It's a good idea to take photos when there are others around, or others around who can film you in case of you being assaulted. If at a protest, stay in the middle of the group, and be aware that you may be assaulted at the end of the protest. If you have film of police misbehaviour, it may be an idea to give it to another person so that it will not be taken off you.
A picture paints a thousand words and can play an important role at protests.
Good photos or video can
- support the defence case for a person charged with a criminal offence.
- provide evidence to support a complaint.
- be given to the media for publicity.
- to be used to help bring claims for compensation.
- encourage the police to behave properly.
For the above reasons, many police officers do not like being photographed. However, you are within your rights to film or video police at protests. Copwatchers and others have been threatened with arrest for taking photos and on one occasion a police officer tried to snatch a camera away from a Copwatcher's hands. Another police officer has requested that film be deleted and not publicised. The police have no powers to do this.
This issue was referred to in the Ombudsman's Report 2007-2008. Case study 40 on page 103 of the Report dealt with a situation where a young man was detained by police till he deleted a photograph from his phone camera. The Ombudsman identified "an error of law" and "as a result, a memo was distributed throughout the command involved reminding police that it is not an offence to take photographs of police in the execution of their duties." Copwatch maintains that such abuses will occur providing that police officers are subject to nothing more than "a memo."
See Street Photographers' Rights at the Arts Law Centre of Australia website for more information.
A few legal points
It is sometimes an offence to audio record a conversation without the other person's consent under s7 Surveillance Devices Act. Many videos have audio facilities.
Also, it is an offence under s60C Crimes Act to collect information about an officer (a photograph?) with the intention of using that information to assault, stalk, harass, intimidate or otherwise harm that person. Clearly, collecting information like a photo of misbehaviour to pass on to the proper authorities would not be an offence.
It's also worth bearing in mind that there are special restrictions on even having a camera with some defence force facilities (see s17 Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952 Cth)) and official secrets (ss75-85D Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)).
Police officers in Australia and similar countries have used force against those photographing them. Members of Sydney Copwatch have been threatened with arrest on many occasions for taking photos, with one police officer attempting to snatch a camera from someone's hands.
G20 protests London April 2009
The G20 protests in London in April 2009 have now become a modern case study on police-protester interaction and the role of the police. The Guardian newspaper has been the main media outlet for collecting material on police misbehavior. In many ways, the protest was not unusual, except for the death of Ian Tomlinson following an assault by police, which focused attention on the initial media spin that police denied any earlier “contact” with the victim. The protest also showed the important role of new technology in the form of mobile phone cameras.
Important video clips taken at the protest include
- the police attack on Tomlinson just prior to his death
- the attempted resuscitation of Ian Tomlinson showing as false earlier police claims that officers were attacked
while were trying to save Tomlinson's life.
- the police baton charge against press photographers
- a plain clothes officer using a baton
- police threatening photographers with arrest
For background reading on the G20 protests, see the article on the use of anti-terrorism laws against protesters and police media spin