PRODUCTION ORDERS

The invasion of dale farm began at 7am.There was very little light at first apart from a searchlight provided by a police helicopter and NUJ filmmaker Jason Parkinson could at first hardly record anything on the video.Where the searchlight was operating seemed extra bright and the other places seemed unusually dark in comparison.These were not ideal conditions for the police to gather evidence of a quality suitable to be of use in court.As a result when the initial struggles were over the police asked Jason to surrender his unpublished footage.
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Here begins a new episode:Jason refused and the police went to a judge who gave permission for the police to collect all the material he and other broadcasters had acquired.
At this the NUJ,BBC,ITN,Sky news etc got together and  took the case to a higher court.
On the day of the hearing there was a brief exchange between the journalists and ACPO on the bbc Today programme in which ACPO claimed that the police do not take such steps lightly but only after much consideration.However they would agree to the judgement of the higher court.
The presiding Judge said that the earlier judgement had been faulty in that such production orders  should only be granted when police produced sufficient evidence but the Essex boys had come with no evidence to the first hearing and what is more they had brought no evidence to the higher court -their cupboard was bare and they were just fishing for evidence which they ought to have obtained by their own methods.
A free press  ought not to be coerced by the servants of he State the judges pointed out.
According to the NUJ this was an historic victory because it shows the police trying to act beyond their powers  and the case will act as a landmark by which further disputes might be settled.It was a setback for the forces of law and order - not that all constabularies have learned the lesson:Jason was in dispute with the greater Manchester police and had to wait ten months before they recognized that he had the legal rights established by this landmark case from Dale Farm.