It’s not just that UK police are clamping down and being heavy handed on photography in public places while wanting to take more pictures of their own, there seems to be more and more of a restriction on what the police like the media to do in public. The Register article above mentions a few cases and I’ve certainly seen it on PR and journalist jobs where cops have come over and asked what’s going on (because nothing says terrorist activity more than four people being very public and open about their activities instead of discretely).
But I’m hearing that databases being used by some forces across the UK are now starting to include pictures of media with the end result being that if a member of the public – or someone else – says a journalist has been to see them, then the police can whip out a PDA or picturebook and ask if they recognise the journalist.
Now no doubt some police will say this is to help legitimise the press in dealing with the public or media, but the NUJ card already does that I believe (or used to anyway) and while it’s one thing for PR companies to keep some details of key contacts, I think having a database is a step too far on civil liberty infringement and what some should remember is that while they may act with best interests to protect us, ultimately they are public servants (which ultimately the press are too).