Quote:
Surrey Police said he was arrested following complaints his behaviour was "disrespectful and intrusive".
And what law says it is illegal to be disrespectful or intrusive?
The breach of the peace was caused by the onlookers and enacted by the police!
Police are very keen to control the media, it makes policing easier.
But an elevated picture of the house is more descriptive than from ground level, especially if the roof has collapsed.
Police will fight the deployment of drones over incidents as they will argue that in an ongoing investigation some details are best kept from the public gaze.
This was the excuse given for a massive size air exclusion zone that extended 20kilometers from an incident, all the way to the Thames heli lane whilst they dug up the back garden of a suspected terrorist in North London in full view of the adjoining terraces which backed onto the garden.
There are plenty of cases where cameramen have been illegally stopped from filming in public places due to "terror laws". In this case the problem is poor understanding of the law by bobbies on the beat.
A legal point to consider is that the taking of a photo is one thing and that publishing is a seperate act. One can be legal and the other not.
Those who think police should respond to any member of the public who is merely offended deserve to be arrested for having BO wearing distasteful clothes or humming within earshot out of tune.
Whilst filming a proper documentary about a HEMs doctor I was assaulted by a family member of a young boy who was being resuscitated in the back garden of the family home which was in a poor neighbourhood. The parents had arrived back from the pub, a little worse for wear, they had left the boy playing with his mate and he had hurt himself.
Although I was wearing same day glow outfit as the doctor the camera was a red rag to a bull and the father hit me. This is understandable! (The only time I have been assaulted)
The police grabbed him and I withdrew.
To my embarresment a few minutes later the police made the poor guy come up to me and apologise, all the while the doctor and para medics continued to work in vain, on his son
The point is that police make value judgements and are human, clearly they were stressed by the behaviour of the parents of not supervising their son.
Freedom of press must be maintained, the police enforce laws, they dont make them.