‘Arrest is the first option’
THE NEW LAWS that allow police the discretion to abuse protesters and journalists covering their activities include
SECTION 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows stop and search without suspicion in a designated area. This was introduced as “an exceptional power”. In reality, says Isabella Sankey of Liberty, “since 2001 large parts of central London and indeed whole counties have been designated on a continuing and rolling basis. Liberty has seen section 44 being used against legitimate and peaceful protesters as well as those documenting protests.”
SECTION 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 created an offence of collecting, making, or possessing a record (which specifically includes a “photographic or electronic record”) “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
The offence is committed whether or not the individual has any intention that the information or record be used for terrorist activity: all that is required is that the material is of a kind “likely to be useful”. This is an extremely broad definition: any photograph of a police officer might conceivably be considered useful to someone preparing for terrorism.
This provision was amended by Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, which makes it an offence (punishable with 10 years in prison) to “publish or communicate any information about a member of the armed forces or a police officer which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
The NUJ led a demonstration of photographers against this clause on February 16, the day it came into force. Police themselves have objected to it. In a statement the same day the Metropolitan Police Federation said it was “open to wide interpretation or, rather, misinterpretation.
“Police and photographers share the streets and the Met Federation earnestly wants to see them doing so harmoniously. As things stand, there is a real risk of photographers being hampered in carrying out their legitimate work and of police officers facing opprobrium for carrying out what they genuinely, if mistakenly, believe are duties imposed on them by the law.”
But Isabella Sankey says: “The danger lies more in the implementation of the law by police officers on the ground, and the potential chilling effect of the legislation, than it does in any real fear of many prosecutions. We already know, anecdotally, that the section 58 offence has been interpreted by police as outlawing any photography of police officers, without any real consideration of whether such photography is likely to be useful to terrorism.”
SECTION 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 allows any police officer in England and Wales to arrest any person for any offence, no matter how trivial and whether or not a power of arrest previously existed for that offence. People can now be — and have been — arrested and detained under Section 110 for not wearing a seatbelt; dropping litter; shouting in the presence of a police officer, climbing a tree, and building a snowman. Whereas police officers used to have to justify every arrest and be aware of whether or not a particular piece of legislation gave them power, they no longer have to do so.
Isabella Sankey says: “The power to deprive someone of their liberty should only be exercised in the most extreme circumstances, yet young and inexperienced police officers, and soon Police Community Support officers, are being trained that arrest and detention of a suspect is the first option in most encounters with the public. This sweeping power is being roundly abused on a daily basis.”