Sussex Police detained a man who was taking photographs of Hove Town Hall on behalf of the BBC this afternoon (Thursday 4 May).

Eddie Mitchell was held under section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which permits police to stop and search someone if they have genuine reason to believe that he or she could be a terrorist.

An hour later Mr Mitchell was released even though he refused to play along and identify himself.

Colleagues suggested that police knew perfectly well that he was a bona fide member of the press going about his lawful business otherwise he would have been kept in custody.

Here is the picture that he took (below) that led to his being detained and his camera confiscated. A fellow member of the press suggested that if he were a member of the public rather than someone filming for the BBC, he may have needlessly ended up in the cells.

He said: “This is the sort of behaviour which prompts concern at the highest level when it’s Robert Mugabe’s thugs in Zimbabwe or it happens in somewhere like China. But I bet they just wash their hands of it here.

Detained for over an hour,searched & camera seized under section 43 terror act for taking a GV of Hove Town Hall pic.twitter.com/wKP8I0RV2k — eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) May 4, 2017

Mr Mitchell was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “I respect wholeheartedly that the police have a job to do but there should be clarity on people taking pictures in a public place – it is not a crime … As far as I am concerned, it is a total misuse and abuse of power.”

Section 43 of the Terrorism Act states: “A constable may stop and search a person whom he reasonably suspects to be a terrorist to discover whether he has in his possession anything which may constitute evidence that he is a terrorist.”

Sussex Police said: “A man who was taking photos of Hove Town Hall was politely asked by a member of police staff why he was doing so and declined to give a reason or identify himself.

“He was invited into the police front office where he was spoken to by two police officers but he continued to refuse to provide information or identification and as a result was searched under section 43 of the Terrorism Act.

“As a result of the search, which included the camera equipment he was using, it was established that his activity was not suspicious and he was allowed to leave.”

Chief Superintendent Lisa Bell, divisional policing commander for Brighton and Hove, said: “I am satisfied that the action my officers took was completely appropriate when the threat level is at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.

“If the man had identified himself, then the matter could have been resolved in minutes.”

Mr Mitchell said: “I wasn’t challenged by a police officer. I was asked what I was doing. I said I was a photographer taking pictures of the town hall, simple.”

@julesmattsson @NigelGreenMedia @DBanksy @PoliceChiefs @sussex_police They have to support their officers,its not going to say they were a couple of doughnuts,the use of the act was blatant abuse of the uniform — eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) May 4, 2017

Detained for over an hour,searched & camera seized under section 43 terror act for taking a GV of Hove Town Hall pic.twitter.com/Wi4HiMDxGx — eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) May 4, 2017



One of the other journalists present said: “If they genuinely believe that he might be a terrorist, why did they let him go?

“There were no reasonable grounds to suspect that someone who regularly takes pictures for the BBC and Sussex Police themselves could actually be a terrorist.

“It smacks of someone either abusing their position or wasting their time trying to stop Eddie lawfully doing his job when they could have spent that time properly protecting the public from the very real threat that exists – or even from the run of the mill crime that plagues places like Brighton and Hove.

“It’s no wonder the clear up rates are so dismal when they mess around like this, throwing their weight around.

“Almost everyone in Sussex Police knows Eddie. They’ve used his photographs in official documents like annual reports – and so has the fire brigade. And he regularly helps them by sharing pictures of people who are wanted or missing.

“To even try to pretend he’s a terrorist is to trivialise and devalue the really important job that so many of their colleagues do in protecting the public. It’s a waste of police time.

“It’s not just a farce but a triumph for terrorists everywhere.”

So far as is known, Mr Mitchell is the first person to have been detained for taking a photograph of a public building in Sussex.

Last week the journalism trade title Press Gazette said: “It is perhaps no coincidence that countries with the best record for press freedom are also the richest and most successful.

“On the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index map those at the top of the table are coloured white and include: Norway, Sweden, Germany, Holland and Denmark.

“It should be a source of shame and sadness to our elected politicians that the UK is coloured yellow on the map and ranks alongside Trump’s America on the ‘could do better’ list at number 40.”

Other countries ranked alongside Britain include Chile and southern African states where arbitrary detention can also be an occupational hazard.

The police have a tough job to do, but so does Eddie. Do we want to live in a society where the police decide which news pics get printed? https://t.co/vqoT31cuQZ — Jon Mills (@jonmillsphoto) May 4, 2017



In 2000 Britain ranked 21 places higher at number 19.

When the Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary she accepted a European Court ruling that stopped the police using section 44 of the Terrorism Act to stop and search journalists arbitrarily.

She said that police forces would have to rely on section 43, requiring them actually to have reasonable grounds to suspect that the person they had stopped to search was potentially a terrorist.

Sussex Police did not state what those reasonable grounds were in the case of Mr Mitchell.

@adey_67 No tat wasn't the case, misguided civilian staff caused all the aggro in her lunch hour, against standing orders to approach anyone — eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) May 4, 2017

@Foxtrot_Cop @EJWrites1 @meejahor Its a thankless job you do for sure, I know that, this just went very wrong from the outset, I stood my ground and others didn't like it. — eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) May 4, 2017