Not-a-crime: Police U-Turn

This following message was circulated by Andy Trotter (Association of Chief Police Officers) to police forces in England and Wales (quoted from the Independent, 5 December 2009):


"Officers and PCSOs are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos.

There are very clear rules around how stop-and-search powers can be used. However, there are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so.

We need to co-operate with the media and amateur photographers. They play a vital role as their images help us identify criminals.

We must acknowledge that citizen journalism is a feature of modern life and police officers are now photographed and filmed more than ever.

However, unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional is unacceptable and worse still, it undermines public confidence in the police service."

Read the full Independent article here.

"Getty Images Call for Artists" Flickr Group Announced

Some interesting developments are taking place on flickr. Getty Images created the Getty Images Call for Artists group, giving Flickr members the chance to join and submit a portfolio of 10 images for consideration.

If Getty like what you submit, they might invite you to become a contributor to their Flickr Collection on Getty Images. Up to now one had to be invited along to the Getty Images on Flickr group to get your Flickr images onto Getty Images.