Police have issued a statement in response to a press photographer’s claim that an officer forced her to delete her photographs.
Photographer Carmen Valino said she was stopped from doing her job despite identifying herself as a journalist to police officers at the scene of a shooting in Hackney, East London on Saturday.
The photographer, who was on assignment for the Hackney Gazette, said she was photographing the crime scene from outside a police cordon.
Police have since released this statement to Amateur Photographer.
It reads: ‘Hackney Police is aware of the incident and is currently looking into the circumstances.
‘It is clearly not the intention of the MPS to prevent people taking photographs. Our officers do receive guidance around the issue of photography through briefings and internal communications and we continue to drive this work forward.
‘It is therefore disappointing when this guidance in not followed correctly.’
The spokesman said any complaint about police treatment of photographers will be taken ‘very seriously’ and ‘dealt with appropriately’.
