Local MP Norman Baker appeared on the floor of the Commons earlier this week to encourage the government to issue further guidance to police forces to ensure that anti-terror laws relating to photography in public places are applied with common sense.
Mr Baker's appeal came after a local journalist was last week told to stop filming outside Worthing station. Under anti-terror laws, the police are allowed to stop a member of the public, including journalists, and confiscate articles they believe may be evidence of terrorism.
In December, the Association of Chief Police Officers admitted that some officers were having difficulty interpreting anti-terror legislation, leading to several cases in which photographers and tourists were stopped and searched.
Lib Dem Norman Baker told the Commons:
"The system is not working. Only last week, a journalist from Meridian Television, Phil Hornby, was threatened with arrest and confiscation and deletion of his tape merely for filming an exterior shot of Worthing station.
"Other individuals have been stopped for taking sunset photographs of St. Paul's and photographs of the Christmas lights in Brighton. Clearly, the guidance that the Minister has issued does not seem to be getting through. What further steps will he take to ensure that we do not slide towards East Germany in this country?
Norman Baker later commented:
"While the prevention of terrorism is of course important, the government and police must strike the right balance between upholding both the law and the civil liberties we all value.
"It is simply not right that journalists should be threatened simply for taking pictures or filming in the wrong place at the wrong time. These tactics are the sort of thing associated with a secret state, and have no place in modern Britain .
The Police have admitted that many officers are not interpreting the law properly. It is time that the government issued revised guidance, to ensure that these laws are applied only where appropriate, if we are to avoid sliding further towards a police state."
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