http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ipm/ipm_20080426-1932.mp3

Includes discussion of the Middlesbrough incident, interviews with Mark Whitaker of Flickr's Manchester group, Austin Mitchell MP, and Peter Smythe, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation. Worth a listen, if only to hear Smythe advise people how to deal with being stopped by police or PCSO's '...if the officer thinks they are of terrorist nature... he should be asked what terrorist nature he thinks they are all about. If there is any doubt, ask the officer to call a supervisor.' That does not always go down that well!

Predictably these conflicts were blamed on Government passing laws without providing adequate training packages, with Smythe saying he had been to find evidence of any training at all regarding how police or PCSO's should apply the Terrorism Act to photographers. Whilst no doubt true, pro's have heard the same excuses for many years regarding interference with press. There has to be a political will to change this that goes beyond PR blather.

Smythe also made an interesting observation that PCSO's have no stop powers under 'normal laws' but do have some under the Terrorism Act. The inference being that to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail.

Also reported at Amateur Photographer