Photographer (UK) detained for taking a photo of Hove Town Hall

A Sussex photographer was detained by police under the Terrorism Act after taking photographs of a civic building in Hove this afternoon (May 4).
Here’s the story. He probably didn’t help himself by declining to say who he was but not sure I would to a civilian employee. Hove police station is housed in the town hall. a really ugly building.

Eddie Mitchell, a freelance photographer from Worthing, said he was taking general shots of the Hove Town Hall when he was asked by a member of police staff what he was doing.
Mr Mitchell said he told the woman: “I am a photographer taking pictures.”

But because he would not give his name or tell her why he was taking the pictures, he was asked to enter the police station at Hove Town Hall to make a statement.

It was then that two officers detained Mr Mitchell, searched him, and seized his camera under section 43 of the Terrorism Act.

Section 43 of the Terrorism Act says: “A constable may stop and search a person whom he reasonably suspects to be a terrorist to discover whether he has in his possession anything which may constitute evidence that he is a terrorist.”

Mr Mitchell said: “What is going on? Any member of the public can take a picture anywhere at anytime, and 99 per cent of police officers know that, and are very good.

“A member of staff in civilian clothing took it upon herself to ask me what I was doing. Then I have to go in and make a statement that I’m taking a general view of a public building,”

Sussex Police has been approached for a comment.

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I hate to sound too American here, but surely a lawsuit can help mitigate this? :angry:

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Against whom?

The County? The Police? Can you not bring suit against them?

You could bring a suit against the police, but I would think little chance of winning.

I was just thinking that a deterrent in some of these cases is a combination of fiscal (awards from civil suits) and the negative publicity to possibly elected officials. Hopefully.

I hate to be all German about it … but your country is just charging a woman for laughing and has detained photographer documenting protests e.g.

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I don’t want to “Like” your post as much as show a sign of agreement with you (not the content). :slight_smile:

The detainment of those journalists/PJ’s is another reason to sue. If what they did was not illegal, and they were detained (illegally) anyway, they should be open to civil lawsuits the same as anyone else. Accountability!

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Based on this incident, there are clearly certain buildings that the state considers to be potential terrorist targets. Of course, they won’t provide a list of those buildings, as that would highlight the “sensitive” buildings for actual terrorists. That makes it a guessing game as to what is risky to photograph.

Ehhmmmm. heard of the thing called “Google Maps” or searched on Google images for “Hove Town Hall” ?

Ehhmmmm. I think the guy knew where Hove Town Hall is. After all, he was there photographing it, and one of his photos was used for the artivle.

That was not to illustrate how the photographer found the town hall but how ridiculous it was to arrest him for making photos of it, seeing a gazillion images of it are already available to the public and one can use streetview to plan any imaginary attack.

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OK, it would appear that I misinterpreted your first post based on the fact that you replied to my post as opposed to the thread. I thought it was directed at me. My mistake.

I was once detained for taking a photo of a tree trunk. People eager to impress authorities do strange things … article - detained for tree photo

It sounds like if he’d just showed some common courtesy to the police, he could have saved himself some time.

…runs and hides…